Aquiti Gestion Research
Investment Thesis
Aquiti Gestion is a regional investor with a clear proximity model: it backs entrepreneurs where it can stay close to the company, the founders, and the operating reality of the business. The public website emphasizes three recurring ideas: commitment, proximity, and performance. In practice, that shows up as hands-on support, active governance, and a preference for teams that can build durable businesses in the Grand Sud-Ouest and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The firm is not a narrow single-sector fund. Its portfolio and sector pages show a deliberate spread across healthcare, biotechnology, climate, industrial software, robotics, consumer, and regional champions that need capital for development or transmission. That breadth is held together by a consistent philosophy: invest in companies that matter locally, create jobs, and improve quality of life in the region, while still backing teams with international ambition when the opportunity is strong.
Aquiti also frames itself as an investor with a responsible lens. Its ESG page says it has followed an investor-responsible strategy for 25 years, financing regional projects that contribute to economic development, job creation, and quality of life. That positioning matters because it clarifies the kind of founder-market fit they want: concrete businesses with real-world use cases, a territorial anchor, and enough operating substance to justify active support.
Stage Focus
Aquiti clearly operates in two main stages.
- Capital Innovation is the early-stage lane. The site says it backs teams in the Grand Sud-Ouest, often from day one and sometimes before the company is formally created. It explicitly references pre-seed and seed companies, with a strong bias toward technical teams, impact-oriented solutions, and founders who want a local partner that can help operationally.
- Capital Développement & Transmission is the scale and transition lane. The site says this activity targets PME and ETI in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, specifically companies with more than 1 M€ in revenue and profitability. It supports development, transmission, and relaunch situations, including growth capital, operational transformation, and family or management transitions.
The common thread is that Aquiti is comfortable spanning the lifecycle from first institutional money to capital for regional champions. It is therefore best understood as a multi-stage regional growth investor rather than a pure seed fund.
Check Size
I did not find a single firm-wide check-size statement, so I am keeping this section conservative. The public materials do show useful anchors:
- In early-stage innovation, Aquiti says it can invest or co-invest up to 2 M€ on the first round.
- It also references follow-up support up to 6 M€ for portfolio champions.
- In development and transmission, it says tickets can go up to 10 M€, in equity and/or convertible instruments.
The exact check size therefore appears to vary materially by vehicle and stage. The safest conclusion is that Aquiti writes small first-round innovation checks and can scale meaningfully into later development and transmission situations.
Lead Tendency
Aquiti appears willing to lead or co-lead in early-stage deals, and to be an active, governance-oriented partner in later-stage or transmission situations.
- The Capital Innovation page explicitly says it invests in lead or co-lead mode.
- The Capital Développement page says it may be a minority or majority shareholder, with active participation in governance.
- Recent announcements often name Aquiti alongside other investors or public institutions, which suggests it is comfortable syndicating when the situation calls for it.
My read is that Aquiti is not a passive follower. Even when it is not the sole lead, it behaves like a lead-quality regional partner.
Recent Activity
Aquiti has been visibly active across early-stage, growth, and transmission situations.
- 2026-03-03: supported Céréalog in a management buyout / transmission situation.
- 2025-12-21: accompanied the transmission of Groupe GMR, a major civil engineering group in western France.
- 2025-10-08: backed the management-led acquisition of EMAC through NACI 1.
- 2025-06-14: invested in Inside Therapeutics with AVA1 and existing investors to accelerate nanomedicine production.
- 2025-03-05: invested in Aquassay through ACI for water-transition software and analytics.
- 2025-02-19: led Speeral’s 1.7 M€ pre-seed round.
- 2025-02-19: renewed its backing of Activ’Inside in a 4 M€ growth round.
- 2024-01-30: reinvested in Dionymer in a 7 M€ seed round.
- 2024-01-19: led Synboli’s 3.5 M€ seed round with Wind Capital.
- 2024-01-19: backed Curlim in a 1.5 M€ seed round.
That sequence shows a firm that is still deploying actively, especially in regional software, biotech, and industrial transition stories.
Portfolio Highlights
Aquiti’s portfolio is broad, but several patterns stand out.
- Healthcare and biotech: Ceva, Activ’Inside, RelaiSanté, Inside Therapeutics, Curlim, Aelis Farma, Boli, Emulseo, and Somno Engineering show a real appetite for science-heavy and health-adjacent companies.
- Climate and industrial transition: Dioxycle, Sunna Design, Technima, Carbon Waters, NGX Robotics, and Bulq AI point to a thesis around decarbonization, industrial efficiency, and hard-tech implementation.
- Software and digital tools: BeTomorrow, Packmind, Tantor, Effinity, Speeral, and Little Worker show that Aquiti does invest in software, but usually in service of a real operating problem.
- Regional champions and transmission: Groupe Bernadet, Biscabois, GMR, and other development/transmission assets show that the firm is comfortable backing established businesses through ownership change and expansion.
- Exited or ceded names on the portfolio page suggest a long operating history and meaningful recycling of capital, including Eurekam, Oncomedics, and other ceded holdings.
The portfolio says Aquiti is not trying to be a generic sector specialist. It is trying to be the default capital partner for high-quality regional businesses with a practical path to scale.
Team
Aquiti’s team page shows 19 experts across 3 offices, which fits the firm’s proximity-led model.
- Bérenger Delmas, Président
- Régis Lucas, Directeur Général Exécutif
- Thomas Bernard, Directeur Associé | PE
- Jean-François Cochy, Directeur Associé | VC
- Cindy Charlot, Dir. de Participations | PE
- Alexandre Aimé, Dir. de Participations | PE
- Liana Chauvel Sabadus, Dir. de Participations | PE
- Xavier Hittos, Dir. de Participations | PE
- Fabienne Mazeau, Dir. de Participations | Prêt d'Honneur & VC
- Jean-Baptiste Parpant, Responsable Prêts d'Honneur
- Savéria Desert, Dir. de Participations | VC
- Maxime Lambert, Charge d'Affaires | VC
- Mélanie Saint-Sever, Responsable Juridique et Conformité
- Nicolas Delaunay, Directeur Associé | PE
- Rayan SIDAT, Analyste Senior / PE
- Véronique LARA, Assistante de gestion
- Slimane MAALAOUI, Gestionnaire back / middle office
The website also surfaces a clear public-facing VC bench around Jean-François Cochy, Savéria Desert, Maxime Lambert, and Fabienne Mazeau, which reinforces the early-stage and growth-deployment posture.
Decision Process
Aquiti does not publish a formal committee workflow, so I am inferring from its governance language. The available evidence suggests a partnership-style process rather than a solo-GP model.
- The firm emphasizes active board participation.
- It explicitly supports both minority and majority positions in development/transmission.
- It describes itself as a proximity investor that acts as an operational first supporter.
That combination suggests a deliberative, relationship-heavy decision process with meaningful partner involvement, but not a rigidly centralized public process.
Founder Preferences
Aquiti seems to favor founders and management teams that fit one of three profiles:
- Early-stage founders with a strong technical or product edge and a business that can benefit from close operational support.
- Regional founders building companies with clear economic or societal usefulness, especially in health, climate, or industrial transition.
- Management teams or succession buyers who can preserve and grow regional businesses through ownership change.
The site repeatedly stresses team quality, proximity, and regional impact. For early-stage deals, Aquiti explicitly says it invests based on what matters most: the team. For later-stage deals, it wants credible operators who can execute growth, transformation, and international expansion.
Geographic Focus
Aquiti is fundamentally a Grand Sud-Ouest / Nouvelle-Aquitaine investor. Its contact page lists offices in Bordeaux, Limoges, and Poitiers, and its stage pages repeatedly reference regional teams, regional growth, and regional economic development.
That said, the firm is not purely local in a limiting sense. It looks for teams with international ambition, and several of its portfolio companies operate beyond the immediate region. The right framing is: regional by default, internationally open when the company quality justifies it.