Nicolas Hourcard, CFA

I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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Time to step up Germany 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 Corporations have pledged to invest €15bn in France at the “Choose France” summit — an annual event held since 2018 to facilitate foreign investments in the country. A large chunk of the money will be dedicated to AI. Microsoft stole the show after announcing its largest investment in France to date, a €4bn cash envelope to build more data centres — and expand existing ones — across the country by the end of 2025. The focus is on increasing the capacity of GPUs, which are needed to run large AI models. Amazon also announced that it’ll invest €1.2bn to further develop its French cloud and AI infrastructure. Quantum computing was also on the agenda. IBM pledged to invest €45m to expand the company’s research efforts in France. Up to 50 quantum researchers and engineers will be recruited in the country in the next year.

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Soooo pretty much how French VC has always been. VC firms suing each other. LPs firing GPs. LPs taking funds back. VCs suing entrepreneurs. It's always been a dramatic scene. 🇫🇷 🐓🍷🥖 https://lnkd.in/eK8JbgDA #vc #venrurecapital #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #tech #technology #innovation #money #business

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Family Offices + Emerging Funds = a fantastic opportunity. Here’s why: Over the past few years we’ve seen more Family Offices wanting to get involved in venture, especially within the younger generation. I’m biased of course, but investing in emerging funds could be a great route for FOs, because… 1) Portfolio/asset diversification– FOs typically invest in traditional asset classes, investing in startups is a key way to diversify across asset class and industry. 2) Access to unseen deal flow– emerging funds offer a series of well-vetted investments for FOs. 3) High growth potential– typically FOs invest in later stage funds. Early stage ventures offer huge growth potential.   4) Access to expertise– directly investing and getting deal flow is tough, FOs benefit from the funds expertise in finding deal flow. 5) Ability to invest directly– after initial investment, FOs can double down on investment once they have access to these companies.  6) Higher return potential– while investing in traditional assets is less risky, investing in venture offers the ability to 5-10x investment in as little as 5 years. We’re at a turning point now with startup investment. Valuations are low but the ecosystem is strong so a great time for Family Offices to be getting more involved in venture. What do you think? ---- If you liked this post, I also have a newsletter where I speak about topics like this in more depth. You can subscribe in the comments below. Thanks! #familyoffices #investment #familyofficeinvesments

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What are some valuable insights into the European startup ecosystem? I recently had the opportunity to read an insightful discussion between two established investors in the European venture space - Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Raluca Ragab of Eurazeo. At the TechCrunch StrictlyVC event in London, they generously shared their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges facing founders and investors across the continent (for source or entire article see comment). While the fundamentals of starting and scaling a high-growth business remain similar everywhere, Saul and Raluca highlighted some key differences that impact the European landscape. One aspect they discussed was the relative lack of liquidity events compared to the U.S., which makes returns riskier for investors. With fewer large exits, it can be more difficult to attract later stage capital. 🔝 At the same time, both highlighted many promising qualities of Europe's startup hubs. Talent pools are deep, and multinational collaboration comes naturally to entrepreneurs in the region. Government programs also aim to foster innovation, and COVID has accelerated the digital transformation of traditional industries 🏭. However, Klein and Ragab's perspectives underscore the work that still needs to be done in Europe to catch up with the U.S. exit environment. Their balanced view got me thinking about how to strengthen Europe's network effects in the long term. As leaders seeking to build an inclusive world of shared prosperity, what innovative strategies could help connect the continent's many vibrant startup ecosystems? I'd love to hear your thoughts. #D11ZVentures #techcrunch #FutureOfTech #VCInsights

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For VI, I will modify a quote by Peter Kreeft to "We live and die; Vodafone Idea Limited died and lived!" The company has resurrected from near-death to walk into the perfect blue sky scenario where a 15-20% tariff hike is imminent across all industry players, pending AGR resolution is a given. Lastly, there is still a massive brand recall with customers who've stood by the company despite being the only telecom with no 5G! VI's stock is bolstered by a solid anchor list of long-term investors, which significantly reduces selling pressure. With a clear 12 rupee bottom, it's not far-fetched to anticipate VI reaching the 18-20 levels in the near future. It is my fundamental belief that a country as large as India needs more than 2 telecos, and #GoI will do all it takes to make this one fit rather than go back to the ventilator! #stock #stockmarket #trading #investing #money #stocks #investment #forex #finance #invest #business #trader #nifty #investor #sharemarket #daytrader #market #sensex #nse #financialfreedom #forextrading #trade #wealth #bse #daytrading #entrepreneur

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Voodoo didn’t buy BeReal for €500MM. Per reporting, the cash consideration in Voodoo’s acquisition of BeReal is €166MM, with the remainder of the €500MM “valuation” being paid out if performance targets are met in an earn-out. I don’t think that Voodoo’s acquisition of BeReal is motivated by cross promotion. Voodoo states that BeReal features 40MM “active users,” which is vague. I’d estimate BeReal has MAU in the 5-10MM range, with the 40MM number representing a longer timeline. This isn’t enough MAU to justify the price solely on the basis of cross promotion, especially given that BeReal’s MAU is likely stagnant. Further, Voodoo’s own social media app, Wizz, is growing faster than BeReal in the US: it sits at Top Downloaded rank #17 in the Social Networking category vs. 27 for BeReal. The CEO of Wizz, Voodoo’s social media app, will become the CEO of BeReal. My sense is that Voodoo may integrate the functionality of BeReal into Wizz at some point to accommodate BeReal’s core demographic and serve a larger TAM. If cross promotion does factor into the equation, it’s likely from games into the social media properties. Voodoo is a much more valuable company with a scaled social media property than an operator of a hybridcasual gaming portfolio, the titles in which are volatile from a growth perspective (see the chart below). BeReal was something of a gimmick, and it may work better as a feature than a standalone app. If Voodoo can use BeReal’s core mechanic to grow Wizz into a scaled social media property, with strong retention and long-term engagement, it can pair its existing advertising infrastructure with Wizz to service ads not just in its social media footprint but against an audience network across its published titles. But in the meantime, I’d expect traffic to move from Voodoo’s games to Wizz as it scales that property.

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UNLOCKING THE SECREATS OF THE GLOBAL VC ECOSYSTEM : A SUMMIT FOR LIMITED PARTNERS AND VENTURE CAPITALISTS TO THE GLOBAL VC's ECOSYSTEM SUMMIT -------------- 💰💵 Check 1st post in features section in my profile 💵💰 -------------- #VCEcosystemSummit #VentureCapital #LimitedPartners #Investment #PortfolioManagement #GrowthStrategy #IndustryLeaders #Networking #Collaboration #Innovation #Startup #Entrepreneurship #Funding #Investor #LP #GP #VC #PrivateEquity #HedgeFund #AssetManagement #WealthManagement #FinancialServices #InvestmentBanking #CapitalMarkets #BusinessGrowth #Scaling #Expansion #Disruption #Volatility #RiskManagement #Resilience #Sustainability #ESG #ImpactInvesting #Diversity #Inclusion #Equity #Equality #WomenInVC #WomenInFinance #MenInVC #MenInFinance #VentureCapitalist #InvestmentBanker #FinancialAnalyst #PortfolioManager #InvestmentManager #AssetManager #WealthManager #FinancialPlanner #InvestmentAdvisor #VCFirm #StartupAccelerator #Incubator #CoworkingSpace #EntrepreneurialEcosystem #InnovationHub #BusinessNetworking #ProfessionalDevelopment #Leadership #Mentorship #CareerGrowth #IndustryTrends #MarketInsights #FinancialRegulations #InvestmentStrategy #RiskAssessment #DueDiligence #DealMaking #MandA #IPO #PrivatePlacement #HedgeFundManager #AssetAllocator #FamilyOffice #SovereignWealthFund #PensionFund #EndowmentFund #VentureCapitalInvesting #StartupFunding #GrowthCapital #ExpansionCapital #Buyout #Recapitalization #Restructuring #Turnaround #DistressedInvesting #SpecialSituations #EventDriven #CreditInvesting #DebtFinancing #EquityInvesting #MezzanineFinancing #GrowthEquity #VentureDebt #SeedFunding #SeriesA #SeriesB #SeriesC #IPOPrep #PreIPO #PostIPO #PrivateCompany #PublicCompany #MicroVC #NanoVC #SeedStage #EarlyStage #GrowthStage #LateStage #PrivateEquityFund #HedgeFundManager #InvestmentPortfolio #RiskManagementStrategy #InvestmentResearch #FinancialPlanning #WealthCreation #CapitalGrowth #InvestmentOpportunities #BusinessExpansion #MarketTrends #IndustryInsights #FinancialInnovation #InvestmentInnovation #VCDeals #StartupSuccess #InvestmentStrategy #PortfolioDiversification #InvestmentRisk #InvestmentReturn #InvestmentGrowth #InvestmentIncome #InvestmentManagement #InvestmentConsulting #PrivateEquityInvesting #HedgeFundInvesting #VentureCapitalInvesting #AngelInvesting #ImpactInvesting #SustainableInvesting #ESGInvesting #ResponsibleInvesting #InvestmentFirms #InvestmentCompanies #InvestmentPartners #InvestmentNetwork #InvestmentCommunity #InvestmentEvents #InvestmentConferences #InvestmentSummit #InvestmentForum #InvestmentRoundtable #StartupInvesting #EarlyStageInvesting #GrowthStageInvesting #LateStageInvesting #PrivateEquityFirms #HedgeFundManagers #VentureCapitalFirms #AngelGroups #ImpactInvestors

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Nice overview of how we're using data to inform how we invest in early-stage founders. We'll be announcing more this summer but we're seeing some really interesting early data. https://lnkd.in/exU_Juf5

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I’m pleased to have contributed to Arianee’s position paper, "From A Production-Based to A Service-Based Economy: The Role of Tokenization in Decoupling Growth." This insightful paper tackles a topic close to my heart. This paper outlines numerous practical strategies for companies to progress on tackling overproduction while creating new economic opportunities. Thank you Arianee, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel and of course my friend Francois Souchet for the opportunity to collaborate. #circulareconomy #technology #circularbusinessmodels #sustainability

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Striking: Zenobē, a UK climate tech startup, raised £600m from KKR and £270m from Infracapital, bypassing VC entirely. Zenobe captures excess energy from wind farms to stabilize the grid and reduce gas power reliance. This means: Zenobe secured one of 2023's biggest startup fundraises — without any venture capital. #battery #fundraising #venturecapital #energystorage #infrastructure #growthinflection Sifted: https://lnkd.in/g8wF-xA5

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💡 I was discussing with Julien Hobeika about agents the other day. We had a typical VC question. What is gonna be grabbed by incumbents and what could be opportunities for newcomers. This conversation is endless but we started slicing the problem with 2 axis: Where automation sits in the enterprise: 🅰️ -"Top-down" sponsored automation. These are high volume areas and if not met properly can have business critical risk 🅱️ - Long tail user productivity, often underserved and sponsored by individual users or small teams, requiring a more DIY approach. I have around 10 automation ideas daily, but as a non technical user, I find the barrier to entry for using Zapier effectively to be non-trivial The complexity of automation: 1️⃣ - Sequencing friendly workflows with straightforward chains and finite branches 2️⃣ - Complex, non-sequencing friendly workflows that require a goal-oriented approach with potentially infinite branch and loop combinations. ➡️ Our initial hypotheses point towards: 🐘 There is an opportunity for incumbents (Workato, UIPath) to use genAI to add even clever 'steps' in their tool AND potentially ease the creation of workflow using "prompt to workflow" mechanism. This is already happening. I've been impressed by how aggressively they have been implementing more capabilities into their offerings 🦸🏻‍♀️🦸 This is a new paradigm. Existing sequencing friendly automation tools are failing at this. A new agentic native approach can build those automations. We’re excited about founders building here and have already partnered with teams like Qevlar AI | We're Hiring! (in security operations), and Parloa (in customer service). Who’s next? 😉 🪄 There is an opportunity to bring automation to the masses. We believe that delivering prompt-to-sequence automation to every individual holds a lot of promise. We expect teams to create a magical product experience enabling anyone in the organization to become a software creator 🤖  This is the more futuristic box. Is that basically automating yourself? Get your digital twin to work for you and you earn the money on its behalf? We will keep ideating on this framework. What do you think? Doreen Huber Tom Mendoza Sai Sriramagiri Ted Persson EQT Ventures Kaushik Subramanian

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Europe's tech market has some catching up to do. #eu #techmarket #technology #techcompanies #marketvalue #financing #growthcapital #scaleups #commercialisation

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The fall of seat based & the the rise of usage based pricing is a major trend in SaaS. Hear more about it from the experts at m3ter at Money20/20.

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Being a first founder isn’t currently the worst situation in the VC ecosystem ❌ Don’t get me wrong, raising funds is particularly tough right now, but the worst position to be in : Emerging Manager. [What's an Emerging Manager? According to Pitchbook it’s a Manager who has raised less than 4 funds] Currently, Emerging Managers are struggling to raise fund.  The total amount raised reached its lowest level since 2015. And here are a few other metrics to realize how bad the situation is: - 23% of funds where raised by Emerging Managers - 56 First time funds managed to raise in 2024 - 63% of Emerging Managers will be able to raise a second fund. On average, one out two funds will survive This can easily explained by the fact that LPs are preferring experimented managers.  So usually bigger funds. And data shows they have no problem raising in 2024. But this situation is also source of opportunities for Emerging Managers to make the difference 🤓 Facing well established funds with money, Emerging Managers VCs can rethink their way of working and their use of technology for 2 things to stay ahead:  ➡️ Gaining a technological edge by using tools and data to fin new investment opportunities ➡️ Automating as much as possible mundane tasks to free time to spend more time with founders of their portfolio companies

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🚀 Calling all institutional investors who are interested in Pre-seed to Seed stage startups! You might have heard about London’s Largest Demo Day we hosted in April, where we had 100 pre-selected Pre-Seed to Series A stage #startups  #pitching to hundreds of #investors . We managed to gather high-quality startups to pitch on the day with the help of our 40+ investor partners. 🙌 We’re doing it again on the 14th of October and are expanding our investor partner list. This will help us rate the applicants and raise event awareness. In return, each investor partner gets early access to the deal flow and a couple of complimentary tickets for the event! 🎟️ If you’d like to join other investors and support us, please fill in the form (link in the comments). The form also includes more details on the process, expectations, and timeline. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿: • VCs • CVCs • Family Offices • Angel Syndicates 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲? • 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁: Driven mainly by applications and ratings, but we are aiming for full representation in hardtech, deeptech, and fintech. • 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁: All applicants will take a psychometric test designed by ETA Technologies to assess their team’s potential for survival. The results will be available to investors post-event. • 𝗦𝗣𝗩 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: We plan to create an SPV to invest in the top 2-3 companies, decided by the investor committee. • 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: We will host “The First Money In” pitching event for pre-selected founders who have undergone due diligence. Individual angels can commit up to £100k with a £1k ticket. We hope to have you on board with us. We will be announcing our investor partners next week. 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 (𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀). Looking forward to your applications! 🚀 Each application will be manually reviewed before it is approved.

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We recently sat down with Jennifer Sieg from City AM to discuss Belong, our vision for the platform, and how we are rallying a new generation of long-term investors. TL;DR Money x Time = Wealth. And we will never have more time ahead of us than we do today; but many of us struggle to get going, whether that’s due to a lack of confidence around investing, a sense of inertia, or feeling like we don’t have enough upfront cash available to make it worthwhile. Enter: the Belong Boost loan. Ps. When Avion and I were younger, one of us wanted to be a litigation attorney, and the other wanted to be a Power Ranger. Read to the end of the article to find out who’s who 😂 https://lnkd.in/dJq9ufYe -- Please note, as with all investing, your capital is at risk, and adding a Boost loan to your investment increases both the risk of loss, as well as the opportunity for higher returns.

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In a recent Sifted article, I share thoughts on emerging managers esp. Solo-GPs, here's what I think 👇🏽 https://lnkd.in/eYx7h5Qv I’m a solo-GP building OpenseedVC, here’s what some think this means; 🔻That there is key-person risk 🔻That there is little accountability or governance 🔻That it is a one-person show Here’s what it ACTUALLY often means; 👇🏽 ✅ We've set up governance that foster accountability, not bureaucracy ✅ As a fund, we have a dizzying depth of complementary skillsets ✅ We build conviction and move quickly; critical for early stage ✅ We are process geniuses, automations and efficiency is in our DNA ✅ We have a lean, mean team optimised for high for efficiency There is no "founder-like fund" quite like a Solo-GP emerging manager. For us at OpenseedVC, we invest up to $150k at the angel stage, and are flexible. We can lead your angel round. We can follow if the terms work for us. We don't take board seats. Whatever it is, we are first investors in ambitious and experienced operators just as they start their technology companies! We are founders ourselves, and have parallel experiences to the most ambitious and resilient founders, and this is ultimately superpower 💥 Solo-GPs are outliers, and in the business of #VC #venturecapital, outliers signal potential for outsized opportunity. #operators #openseedvc #europe #africa #soloGPs

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Tomorrow I’m lucky to be hosting a panel with three exceptional founders: - Gilles Gaillard - Co-founder of Animaj, raised 100m EUR (in equity and debt) in 2023 to build an AI-powered animation studio that counts 𝗮 stunning 15 billion (!) YouTube views per year. Animaj acquires animation and cartoon franchises to turn them into digital-first content and amplifies their distribution using AI. - Baptiste Jamin - Co-founder of Crisp IM, 42 alumni, also can be called the “King of Bootstrap”. He started building chatbots in 2015, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹. Crisp centralises all customer interactions through live chat, chatbots, and a shared inbox. Today Crisp serves over 600,000 companies without raising any funds. - Vincent SIMON - Co-founder of Relationchips and founder of Simundia. Vincent is a serial entrepreneur & investor who founded a coaching platform that raised over 15m EUR & is currently working on a no-code sales workflow platform. What do they have in common? They started their career as freelancers and worked their way up to become highly successful entrepreneurs. 👉 Join us at Le Wagon tomorrow at 7pm to hear their story. We’ll also host a networking session for you to meet people from our community who are working on projects that might interest you. 🔗Link to register in the comments.

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