France-based enterprise technology acceleration platform Axeleo has raised €25m ($28.5m) from limited partners including energy and infrastructure services group Vinci Energies for the first close of its Axeleo Capital I accelerator fund.
Axeleo invests in France-based enterprise technology developers, covering areas such as organisation, financing, managerial functions and marketing, and more specifically in subsectors like big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and the internet of things.
The fund’s other LPs so far include French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance’s French Tech Acceleration fund, financial services firms Crédit Agricole Group, BNP Paribas and Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and unnamed family offices and tech entrepreneurs.
The fund will invest at seed and series A stage, providing between €100,000 and €2.5m for each deal. It has so far backed mobile marketing insights platform Happydemics, as part of a €2m seed round, data security platform Yogosha and advertising inventory management service OnFocus.
Eric Burdier, co-founder and CEO of Axeleo Capital, said: “With Axeleo Capital I, we hope to renew the models for venture capital and the acceleration of startups in France to provide them with a support platform tailor-made for enterprise technology.
“By combining operational and financial support, we are capable of proactively contributing to the quick growth and internationalisation of these startups. We bring tangible answers to what many call ‘death valley’, the period where startups are in a fragile state of balance and their business maturity is evolving.”