Early Bird better known as the Berlin-based VC who has backed a myriad of German and European startups like Soundcloud and N26, he is expanding his reach in Europe with the creation of a Paris-based team and deputy fund.
According to most surveys, France appears as the third largest startup ecosystem in Europe, after the UK first, and then Germany.
Startups raised more than €11.000 billion last year, more than double the amount in 2020. Some of the growth came from US venture capital forays into a previously undervalued and underfunded market. Some 76% of the money raised by French startups in 2021 came from foreign investors.
Earlybird's 'family of funds' structure meant that it supported a 'sister' fund in Turkey called the Earlybird Digital East Fund. Now he is doing the same in France with the 'Earlybird Digital West' fund.
Salomon Aiach, an executive with Facebook in France and Goldman Sachs in New York, will be the fund's director. He is joined by Cécile Treboit, an expert in crypto, web3 and gaming startups.
The fund's core focus is on early-stage companies, predominantly Seed and Serie A, and will support French entrepreneurs with initial investments of between €1 million and €10 million.
Aiach said: “France has simply become the place to be for tech investors from all over the world; Earlybird understood that and decided to go all out by creating a local team to be on the side of the founders from the opening round. Combined with Brexit and the need for faster internationalization, Germany has become the first European country when it comes to the international expansion of French entrepreneurs. Earlybird has the team, network, and best practices to help just about anyone succeed there."
Tim Rehder, Partner at Earlybird, said: “As a pan-European seed stage fund, we see proximity to local founding teams as one of the most critical points in ensuring teams receive the desired support from their investor. Together with Germany, we believe that France is one of the most dynamic technological ecosystems in Europe. Our goal is to bring our collective 24 years of venture capital experience to France and partner locally with young tech professionals.”
The background to this, of course, is that European venture capital is becoming more competitive as it feels the heat of both US venture capital and other Europeans using remote working and trading to soak up deals. outside their territories.
