France-based venture capital firm Axeleo Capital has secured $51m for its debut fund following commitments from corporate limited partners including energy and infrastructure services group Vinci Energies, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The fund also sourced capital from French state-owned investment bank BPIfrance’s French Tech Acceleration fund and financial services firms Crédit Agricole Group, BNP Paribas and Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes, as well as the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and unnamed family offices and private investors.
Axelelo was founded as an accelerator, and will continue to operate its Axeleo Scale scheme, which will help approximately 10 startups reach series A stage each year. The successful companies from the 18-month accelerator can then secure investment from Axeleo’s fund.
The vehicle will invest in seed and series A rounds, providing approximately $560,000 to $4.5m per deal. It will focus on France-based enterprise technology startups, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and software-as-a-service developers.
The firm has already invested in 20 companies since reaching its $28.5m first close in July 2017. Its portfolio includes cybersecurity technology developer Alsid, mobile marketing insights platform Happydemics, real estate software developer ForCity and human resources software provider 365Talents.
Axelelo has also agreed a partnership with investment firm Hi Inov that will involve it managing the latter’s $11.3m seed fund.