Neo Founders is an investment group composed of twenty entrepreneurs and investors that were all former classmates at the same business school in France. In order to invest in promising startups and create a portfolio of impactful companies across Europe, Neo Founders launched a €2m fund and has plans to raise a €15m-20m fund by the end of the year.
Led by founder and CEO Vanessa Daurian Proust, Neo Founders joins a new wave of smaller investment funds that leverage the expertise of experienced founders. Other members of the team include Ilan Benhaim, cofounder of ecommerce company Veepee, Rémy Poulet, head of strategic venture investments at BNP Paribas, and Emilie Mercadal, cofounder of telemedicine startup Rofim.
The Neo Founders team does not just provide capital – it also provide mentorship, recruiting early-stage startups to their program and then assigning a mentor who will spend half a day per month with the startup. The Neo Founders team typically takes a 5% stake in the startups they invest in, but the combined ownership between the Neo Founders and the other angels often increases up to 15-20%.
Furthermore, Neo Founders is dedicated to give back to society and they decided to donate 10% of their profits to the Neoma Business School foundation, providing scholarships and equal opportunity initiatives. As a woman-led venture capital firm, this group is also on mission to tackle the gender imbalance in the industry and already four out of the five startups they invested in have been founded or cofounded by a woman.
Vanessa Daurian Proust herself is an experienced early-stage investor and has made over 40 investments. Her priority is to select the best startups and she puts an emphasis in the quality of the projects to ensure the fulfillment of Neo Founders’ mission. As of yet, the team have received more than 800 pitch decks and every month select the five best startups from the list to invite to a pitch session where the team makes the final decision.
With a bright future ahead and a known passion for creating impactful change, Neo Founders is bound to have immense success and make remarkable contributions to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
