Raise Ventures

What is Raise Ventures?

Raise Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Paris, France, specializing in financing innovative startups across various stages of growth, specifically from Seed to Series B. They are known to take both lead and co-lead investment positions in a wide array of sectors, highlighting their generalist yet opportunist investment approach.

Some of their notable investments include the B2C marketplace Bergamotte, which has digitalized flower delivery services; Mooncard, a B2B fintech providing solutions for business expense accounts; and Livestorm, a Software-as-a-Service platform competing with Zoom in videoconferencing and webinars.

Raise Ventures focuses on a diverse range of industries, including FinTech and Financial services, Retail and E-Commerce, CleanTech, AI and Big Data, HealthTech and Fitness, Blockchain and Cryptos, Web Security and Privacy, Analytics, Developer Tools, Logistics and Distribution, Healthcare and Wellness, as well as Woman Focused ventures.

Their investment amounts range from a minimum of 200,000 to a maximum of 5,000,000 euros, with a sweet spot of around 1,500,000 euros for investments, targeting Seed, Series A, and Pre-seed stages. The fund is part of the larger RAISE group, which also includes RAISE Impact targeting companies with an impact and transformational focus in Europe, RAISE Invest financing growth companies, and RAISE REIM investing in tertiary real estate in France. The RAISE group prides itself on its mission-oriented and philanthropic vision, where 50% of their carried interest is dedicated to their foundational initiative RAISE Sherpas, offering accelerator support to startups and associations at no cost.

They also focus deeply on parity, diversity, economic and environmental impact, and innovation for the common good, reinforcing their commitment to a responsible and sustainable economy. Additionally, the group is involved in activities like Domaine La Plume and RaiseLab, promoting seminar creativity and open innovation.

With a strong ESG policy, the firm is dedicated to transformative sustainable investment, fostering a unique ecosystem that supports visionary entrepreneurs, and engages in various philanthropic activities to drive economic success forward.

What they say:

We have an evergreen structure allowing us not to pressure entrepreneurs thanks to our "patient equity" logic.

What we look for: We invest in growing innovative technological companies from Seed to Series B (lead or co-lead).We are generalists but opportunists. We invested in varied sectors and business models:(i) the B2C marketplace Bergamotte that digitalized the offer to deliver flowers, (ii) in the B2B fintech Mooncard that offers a solution for B2B expenses account or (iii) in the Saas solution Livestorm, the competitor of Zoom for visioconference and webinars.