Invested in your vision

Unleashing your team’s potential for your company’s acceleration

By entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs

By entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs

Serena was founded in 2008 upon a resolute eagerness to be the VC our team members dreamed of when they were entrepreneurs.

A huge part of our approach hinges on our understanding of founders’ top priorities and on our willingness to offer them compelling value. That’s why they can leverage extensive entrepreneurial know-how across all sectors and geographies thanks to our experienced team of Partners such as Bertrand Diard (founder of Talend) or Amélie Faure (founder of Generix, CEO of multiple SaaS companies), and reuse what they have already learned. 

A portfolio of fostered excellence

A portfolio of fostered excellence

Over the course of ten years, we’ve been very particular about the deals we close. It has translated into a steady commitment to selective standards at the assumed expense of quantity.

As a result, we have carried out 5 exits valued at over €100 million and witnessed many success stories out of Europe such as Aramis (acquired by PSA), The Fork (acquired by Tripadvisor), Cheerz (acquired by Cewe), Selectron, RSI Video Technologies and more recently, Dataiku, that have reached unicorn-status in 2019.

Your team at its fullest potential 

Your team at its fullest potential 

Our portfolio’s C-levels are active members of the Serena Squad, the largest and most active peer-to-peer community in Europe. They are handed access to exclusive templates, playbooks (D&I, Recruitment), best practices sharing, on-demand workshops (US Go to Market, scaling through M&A, sales process…), and a network of experts thoroughly selected, so they can tackle their daily challenges as smoothly as possible.

Our portfolio can also tap into the steady stream of qualified candidates to recruit key people thanks to our talent pool and achieve your diversity objectives.

Serena in essence

We back bold entrepreneurs who think big and are committed to becoming the next major tech players.

Investment strategy

We handpick on average four to five teams per year and focus on helping them reach their maximum potential. We are not looking for early exits. We back Europe-based entrepreneurs willing to build continental or worldwide category leaders. We strongly prefer to lead or co-lead rounds.

Stage

Pre-Seed to Series A, with check size ranging from €100K to €15 million for our first ticket.

Industry

We are not industry-specific as long as your business model is scalable and your product is digital. We have a special affection for DeepTech, enterprise software, marketplaces, and entertainment.

Location

Our focus is primarily in France, although we are able to invest (and have already done so) in exceptional teams from Europe and the US.

Dataiku team
LaFourchette team
AramisAuto team
Evaneos team
iBanFirst team

Dataiku

Leader in Enterprise AI, Dataiku reached unicorn status in 2019, four years after our investment in their seed round.

LaFourchette

Leading European online restaurant reservation platform, TheFork (La Fourchette) was acquired in 2014 for $140 million by TripAdvisor.

AramisAuto

AramisAuto is a leading online car dealership in Europe. The company was acquired by Peugeot in 2016, and is, to this day, one of the largest French B2C exits of all times.

Evaneos

Europe’s first online marketplace that allows travelers to book their vacations directly with local travel agents, Evaneos raised over $108M in three rounds.

iBanFirst

Founded by the former CEO of Saxo Bank, iBanFirst revolutionizes international payments for companies. The company has raised over $51 million to date.

Latest Serena News

Les Echos - Capital finance
Eric Gossart et Olivier Martret sont respectivement présents dans la société de gestion depuis 2015…
Venture Beat
The round was led by LEGO Ventures with support from long-term investors Makers Fund and…

Serena's commitments