XAnge Private Equity, a venture capital firm that invests on behalf of France’s main postal service, has raised E60m ($80m) for its second main fund.
The XAnge Capital 1 fund raised €65m in 2004 for investments in technology companies related to postal activities.
Xange’s founding shareholder, France’s La Poste, in partnership with its La Banque Postale division, committed E24m to XAnge Capital 2 to invest in companies in the digital economy. Other corporate limited partners in the second fund include technology provider Alten, logistics group Neopost and accountancy firm Deloitte Finance, and institutional investors, such as state-backed CDC Entreprises and insurers Allianz France and CNP Assurances.
The investment strategy of the XAnge Capital 2 extends the remit from the first fund, which focused on postal-related businesses, by looking at four areas: internet activities and trust services, such as secure data exchange; mobile services; enterprise software/infrastructure; and banking services.
XAnge Capital 2 will invest at all business development stages from first-round financing to pre-flotation financing and will also invest, on a highly selective basis, in seed capital for innovative new companies.
The fund will take minority interests with investments averaging E3m to E4m per deal in France and the euro zone in companies with sales generally ranging between E1m and E20m.
The fund will be invested, from Paris, France, and Munich, Germany, by a team led by chief executive Hervé Schricke and including François Cavalié, managing director, partners Inès Sen, Nicolas Rose, Cyril Bertrand and Bernhard Schmid (Munich) and Rodolphe Menegaux, senior investment manager.
XAnge has also hired Etienne Renoux as its chief financial officer and a lawyer in Christelle Plaire, while Fanny Corpet, investment manager, has joined one of its limited partners, Deloitte.
Schricke said: “XAnge Capital 2 brings together the know-how of a well-known backer and the skills of a closely-knit and experienced team of 22 experts to offer unparalleled added value.”
Marc-André Feffer, deputy managing director of the La Poste group, added: “By renewing the commitment taken on in 2003 with the creation of XAnge, La Poste confirms its support for venture capital financing in businesses of strategic interest and its determination to contribute actively to developing a base of innovative SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] that will generate growth and create jobs.”
Philippe Wahl, chief executive of La Banque Postale, said: “La Banque Postale’s backing of this new fund is aligned with the bank’s innovation approach which seeks the most appropriate solutions to meet the needs of all its customers, from the less well-off to the wealthiest. Developing simple, fast and secure multichannel products and services is one way of building a new form of banking for the future.”
Founded in 2004, XAnge now has E375m under management from funds on behalf of different types of investors.