At a Glance
Alven is a venture capital firm based in Paris, France founded in 1982. Independent early-stage VC firm for 25 years The firm focuses on Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+ investments across sectors including Aerospace & Defense, Other, Consumer, Fintech, Climate. The firm manages €400M in assets under management. Notable portfolio companies include Algolia, Criteo, Dataiku, Front, Ledger, Meero, OpenClassrooms and Webhelp. European venture capital firm focusing on early-stage B2B technology companies, particularly in SaaS, fintech, and digital infrastructure.
“European venture capital firm focusing on early-stage B2B technology companies, particularly in SaaS, fintech, and digital infrastructure.”
Alven was co-founded in 2000 by Charles Letourneur and Guillaume Aubin, two college friends who left investment banking and corporate banking careers to build an independent French early-stage firm. Both serve as managing partners and have run every fund generation from the 10 million euro Alven I through the 350 million euro Alven VI.
The investment team is deliberately small. Partners Rodolphe Menegaux and Francois Meteyer sit alongside the two managing partners, with principals Maria Tahri and Victor Charpentier covering sourcing and execution. Aude Steinberg leads legal, Stella Walter runs people operations, and Leo-Paul Lajoinie handles financial control, a ten-person platform supporting more than 250 portfolio companies. Alven publishes titles rather than biographies, so individual board assignments are not disclosed.
Alven has raised seven vehicles since its first institutional fund. Alven I closed in 2000 at 10 million euros, followed by Alven II in 2003 at 36 million euros and Alven III in 2008 at 100 million euros. Alven IV launched in 2013 at roughly 120 million euros and was extended by a 2019 opportunity fund, bringing that generation to 190 million euros; Syntec Numerique, the French digital industry association, partnered on the Alven IV launch. Alven V followed in 2016 at 250 million euros. Alven VI closed in 2022 at its 350 million euro hard cap, above a 300 million euro target, and the firm describes it as the largest early-stage fund raised in France.
The firm reports more than 2 billion euros under management and over 250 startups backed across those seven funds. Alven is a French alternative investment fund manager and files no US Form D, so limited partners beyond Syntec Numerique are not disclosed.
Alven primarily invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+ stages. This means they focus on companies that are at the earliest idea or prototype phase.
Alven is headquartered in Paris, France. Many of their portfolio companies are also based in this region, though they invest across geographies.
Alven focuses on investments in Enterprise, SaaS, Fintech, AI, DevTools. Their portfolio reflects deep expertise and networks within these sectors.
Alven's typical investment check size ranges from $. to $.. Actual amounts may vary based on the stage, sector, and specific opportunity.
Alven manages approximately €2B+ in assets under management (AUM) across their funds.
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