Meet Singular, a new VC firm primarily based in Paris that simply completed elevating its preliminary fund. The firm was based by two former Alven companions — Raffi Kamber and Jérémy Uzan. They have some bold targets and an attention-grabbing funding mannequin that might assist them stay concerned even throughout late-stage rounds. Overall, the firm raised €225 million, or $265 million at right this moment’s change price.
If you browse Singular’s web site, you’re not going to search out a lot of knowledge. Here’s what it at the moment seems like:
Image Credits: Singular
The Singular staff doesn’t need to be secretive. But they don’t like speaking about themselves. That’s why you might have seen Singular’s identify in a few articles I wrote over the previous few months. But now it’s time to speak a bit about what the firm has in thoughts in the case of startup funding.
Jérémy Uzan and Raffi Kamber spent 11 and eight years at Alven. They’ve been behind a number of the firm’s most profitable investments, reminiscent of Dataiku and OpenClassrooms. “But every time you raise another fund, you sign up for a long time,” Uzan informed me.
The duo left Alven fairly naturally as they felt it was time of their careers to take their future in their very own palms. There’s no onerous feeling with their earlier fund.
It was the appropriate timing personally but in addition the appropriate timing for the tech ecosystem. While Singular is primarily based in Paris, the firm plans to construct a true European VC firm with its headquarters in Paris. Singular desires to be Index Ventures, besides that it doesn’t assume London ought to be the middle of gravity for European tech funding.
Singular began fundraising in late 2019 and early 2020. Kamber and Uzan didn’t know something about elevating a fund and didn’t work with an exterior monetary firm to deal with the fundraising effort.
When requested concerning the coronavirus pandemic and the influence on the method, they each mentioned that the lockdown really helped as everybody was caught at dwelling. Around two-thirds of the restricted companions that invested in Singular are primarily based exterior of France.
“These are historic VC investors. They really believe in tech — and Europe too. They have seen that Europe has been taking off for the past two or three years,” Kamber informed me.
Just like a startup, Singular wished to be backed by some well-known traders. And a few of these traders are injecting cash in a French VC fund for the primary time. Limited companions embrace a mixture of pension funds, funds of funds, sovereign funds and household places of work.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Bpifrance, Vintage Investment Partners, Axa Venture Partners, Sofina, MACSF and Mubadala Capital are a few of Singular’s backers. Unless you’ve raised a VC fund previously, chances are you’ll uncover a few of these names for the primary time. And but, these traders are vital. For occasion, whilst you won’t be acquainted with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, they’ve over $200 billion in internet belongings.
Singular began closing funding offers round October 2020. So far, the corporate has invested in six totally different startups:
- A Series B round in Gtmhub, an OKR administration service
- A Series B round in Indy, an accounting automation software program suite
- A Series A round in Soda, an enterprise-grade knowledge monitoring platform
- A seed round in Moka.care, a psychological well being answer for workers
- A seed round in Resilience, a full-stack software program strategy to enhance most cancers remedy
- Another undisclosed Series A spherical
It’s onerous to search out some frequent tendencies round this listing of investments, however I’m going that will help you. First, let’s begin with the common verify measurement.
“We are mostly focused on Series A/B because we think there’s a lot of room to grow at that stage,” Kamber mentioned. And Singular can make investments as a lot as €20 million in a single spherical ($23.6 million at right this moment’s change price).
When it involves verticals, Singular overtly says that it doesn’t need to deal with a particular space specifically. “We are a generalist fund and we are quite opportunistic,” Uzan mentioned. Singular doesn’t need to select between B2B and shopper, between AI and e-commerce, and so on.
Where Singular stands out is that it has a distinctive strategy to late-stage rounds. When a portfolio firm reaches the Series C or Series D stage, Singular won’t find the money for beneath administration for infinite follow-on investments.
The VC firm didn’t need to increase its personal late-stage fund. So Singular will be capable to construction special-purpose funding autos with its restricted companions. Just a few restricted companions might put some cash on this funding car straight and the startup might settle for to lift a new spherical with this new funding car as a substitute of a late-stage fund.
This approach, Singular stays very a lot concerned with the portfolio firm in query. It might preserve a board seat and have a say in the case of the startup’s subsequent phases.
It’s nonetheless too early to see how it could work in actual life and it’s going to occur on a case-by-case foundation. But the truth that Singular can provide that type of investments is vital — it could possibly be interesting for some entrepreneurs. You don’t have to simply accept it and also you’re not tied with Singular endlessly, however the provide is on the desk.
So that’s Singular — Eva Mayoud, Alexandre Flamant and Sonia Pélisson additionally joined the staff. It’s not that always that a French VC firm begins from zero and raises a €225 million fund in a 12 months. It’s going to be attention-grabbing to trace the firm’s upcoming investments. In the meantime, right here’s some TechCrunch protection of Singular’s previous offers:
