Parisian seed fund dedicated solely to French startups, Frst has announced the first close of its newest fund at €72 million. According to the firm, this makes them the largest of their kind with over €200 million in assets managed or advised.
Having already backed the likes of Pigment, Electra, Poolside, Doctrine, Payfit, Shippeo, and Owkin, Frst intends to stay true to its thesis and support early-stage French entrepreneurs. The new fund aims to support around 30 companies over the next four years, issuing tickets between €1 and €3 million. Frst then intends to actively support these startups for 18-24 months of the seed phase until a Series A round.
The fund is backed by institutional investors including the European Investment Fund, the Fonds National d’Amorçage 2 managed by Bpifrance as part of the France 2030 Plan, Axa Venture Partners, and Isomer as well as a number of undisclosed entrepreneurs.
"The rapid developments observed in the field of Artificial Intelligence over the past few months and the disruptions they are creating make an extremely favorable context for startups. From work to medicine, defense, education, or natural resource management, the economy and society as a whole are preparing to undergo unprecedented changes," comments Frst co-founder Pierre Entremont.
Entremont's counterpart, Brun Raillard added, "France is particularly well positioned to play a leading role in this upcoming revolution, notably due to its production of top technical talent. This is why Artificial Intelligence has always been a very present theme in our investments, with, for instance, Owkin or Doctrine 7 years ago. We have also already made several investments with Frst 3 in teams with remarkable technical quality."
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments