Paris-based VC IRIS is aiming to raise €150 million for its fourth fund, picking up dry powder from existing investors including the likes of Orange and the state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, as well as advertising agency Publicis Groupe.
And that's just for starters, IRIS is announcing the first close and expects to announce a second close towards the latter end of next year.
IRIS typically backs seed or series A-stage investments in France, Germany and other European markets. The LP roster for this fund also includes a healthy slate of European family offices, tech entrepreneurs and portfolio founders; the pioneer behind smart home startup Netatmo (Fred Potter), for example.
As VC markets become tighter across Europe, the fourth fundraise means IRIS will have more capacity to support existing portfolio companies, including its lead investments in French maritime data platform Spinergie and Austrian financial data startup Helu.io.
Julien-David Nitlech, managing partner, said the aim was to find market differentiation by startup founders who know where their new product is headed.
"With this new Seed and Early-stage fund we intend to pursue our successful journey of selecting, backing, and scaling differentiated tech platforms developed by out of the ordinary founders who know their market well," Nitlech said.
"To do so, we have structured a new team of investors bearing our selective DNA and methods."
IRIS has investment personnel in Paris, Berlin and Munich. Aside from Spinergie, Netatmo and Helu.io, the portfolio also includes IIoT in manufacturing platform Braincube, warehouse crate carrying robots from Exotec, and Yubo, a startup that aims to add community and serendipity to digital social networking.
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