Close has develop into one other VC company that has launched a fund dedicated to climate technologies, for which it plans to lift as much as EUR 150 million (roughly USD 162 million). The company hires investor Pierre-Edouard Berion to guide the fund and co-founder Lucie Basch Too good to gowill support the fund as a enterprise partner.
If you are not familiar with Blisce, the VC firm is based in Paris, has an office in New York, and is higher generally known as an investment vehicle Alexander Mars (pictured above). Mars is an entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist who founded several technology firms in the early 2000s and sold them to big brands like Publicis and BlackBerry. Blisce raised $240 million (roughly EUR 225 million) for its goal. last fund.
Mars recently launched Blisce, a classic for-profit VC firm, although it carries the B Corp label. He also began Epica non-profit foundation that funds organizations that reduce inequalities among children in education and health and supports organizations fighting climate change.
It’s difficult to speak about Blisce without mentioning Epic, because part of Blisce’s profits are reinvested in Epic to cover the foundation’s operating costs. Similarly, the Blisce team is donating 20% of its shares to Epic.
It appears to be working well, especially since Blisce has invested in several unicorns like Spotify, Pinterest, and Headspace. The company recently invested in Brut, Sorare and Welcome to the Jungle. As you’ll be able to see, the company’s portfolio is a mix of consumer technology firms and is not yet focused on climate technologies.
With the company’s recent fund, Blisce goals to speculate in technology startups that have a positive impact on climate change, especially in polluting industries equivalent to materials, food, construction, mobility and energy. The company intends to build a dedicated team for this fund and, as mentioned above, has hired one Pierre Edouard Berion manage it.
Berion is a familiar face in Paris’s VC circles. After several years as investment director at Eurazeo (he invested in Zenly, Withings and Vestiaire Collective), he joined Raise ventures as a partner.
As for Lucie Basch, she already knows the Blisce team quite well, as the company is an investor in her company Too Good To Go. It will develop into a enterprise partner of a recent climate fund – in VC jargon, which means it should remain at Too Good To Go and help the fund. Blisce is still raising money for their recent fund, so it should be interesting to see how much they will raise.