Daphni is a venture capital fund investing in user-oriented, early-stage startups with a European DNA and strong international ambition.

Experience

Daphni was founded in 2016 by experienced investors. They experienced that the VC model was not optimized, neither for LPs nor for entrepreneurs and that is why they founded the first VC as a platform. They are supported by a closely knit community of entrepreneurs, executives, academics, artists and advisors dedicated to the growth of our portfolio. 

How much do they invest?

Their investments range from €200K to €5M and they are targeting shareholdings of 15-30 %, depending on stage. Daphni wants to act as an active shareholder in its portfolio companies, providing strategic business advice and a global network. 

How do they work?

Startups apply on Daphni's website where their project will be shared with our closed community. We discuss projects as a team and take input from experts in the community to make a decision. As an entrepreneur that is part of Daphni's portfolio, you have access to the entire community that can help you grow. 

This makes a difference to them

Daphni invests in strong and diverse teams with international ambitions. Daphni supports projects primarily carried out by European founders and invests preferably in companies addressing users, both personal and professional. 

Key People

Marie Ekeland - Co-founder
Marie is a co-founder and vice-president of France Digitale, an association joining forces between founders and investors to develop the French digital ecosystem. Marie serves as a board member for Parrot, Showroomprive, and is a member of the French Digital Council (CNNum). She began her career at J.P. Morgan in New York as a computer scientist. Marie holds a math and computer science degree from the University of Paris IX Dauphine and an economics degree from the Paris School of Economics
Linkedin

Pierre-Eric Leibovici - Co-founder & Partner
Pierre-Eric is a member of the board of directors for Societe Moderne d’édition,Fondation ADN andFondation Objets Connectés &Intelligents and a member of the advisory board for The Hardware Club. He is a professor of financial engineering at ESCP EAP. He holds an MBA in entrepreneurship from Babson College (Massachusetts, USA), an MSc in financial engineering from the Université Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris) and a BSc in Business Administration from the ESLSCA (Paris).
Linkedin

Pierre-Yves Meerschman - Co-founder & Partner
After developing a microcredit project in Cambodia, Pierre-Yves joined E&Y’s Paris audit team. In that position, he carried out numerous assignments in the oil and telecoms sectors. Pierre-Yves realized and managed various startup investments, including Menlook, Scoop.it, Liligo.com, Limonetik and Sensee.com. He studied at Universität St-Gallen in Switzerland and is a graduate of HEC Shool of Management in Paris.
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Startups they funded

Agricool, Butterfly.ai, Holberton School, Foxintelligence.