Cleo Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Cleo Ventures is a Paris-based venture fund that invests exclusively in AI-native companies. Its homepage frames the mission as "backing exceptional humans in the era of abundant intelligence." The firm argues that dedicating all of its time to AI builds deeper conviction, a stronger network, and more value for founders. The firm describes itself as "built for founders in the AI era" and says its partners have founded companies themselves, make decisions quickly, and help founders with key hires, fundraising, and strategic positioning.
Stage Focus
Cleo writes pre-seed and seed checks and describes itself as a "Day-1 partner," often investing before the first line of code or the first hire. It is not a growth or Series A investor, though it keeps reserves for follow-on participation in existing companies.
Check Size
The firm states checks of 300k to 1M euros. Press coverage describes a roughly 30M euro fund (about 34M USD in one Dealroom headline), which supports 30 to 40 first cheques with reserves.
Lead Tendency
Because the checks are meaningful relative to pre-seed round sizes and the firm positions itself as a Day-1 partner, it likely leads or co-leads many rounds. The sources do not state this outright, so lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
In May 2026 the trade press (Fund Momentum, Vestbee, Dealroom) reported that Cleo Ventures closed a roughly 30M euro fund for European AI-native founders, anchored by Otium Capital. Reports differ on whether to call it Fund I or Fund II, because the team previously ran an angel vehicle called Resonance, so the fund number is not recorded. The firm appears to be actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists these named companies:
- AMI Labs: a new breed of AI systems that understand the real world (frontier lab).
- MatX: hardware built for the world's best AI models (infrastructure, deeptech).
- Fintool: AI equity analyst, marked as exited; the firm links to a post saying Microsoft acquired it.
- DeepIP: AI patent copilot.
- Animaj: AI publishing platform and studio for kids' animation IP.
- Linc: AI-native payroll engine.
- Metomic: protects sensitive data in SaaS applications.
The page also shows three stealth companies, including a full-stack AI research infrastructure company run by an in-house-trained AI scientist, a full-stack AI cloud provider, and an agentic platform automating administrative work for healthcare professionals. Some are tagged with the Resonance or previous-fund source, so not every company was invested in through the current fund.
Team
- Maxime Le Dantec, Co-founder and General Partner: previously a Principal at Balderton, leading its France efforts and investing in GitGuardian, Kili Technology, Sweep, Photoroom, and Numeral. Earlier he was CTO of conversational AI startup convai. MSc in Data Science from Centrale Paris.
- Antoine Veret, Co-founder and General Partner: previously Partner at Breega, leading pre-seed and seed investments across Western Europe. Earlier COO of Green-Acres and co-founder of fintech Bizzdata. MSc from Centrale Nantes and HEC Paris.
- Cleo Trailblazers Club: Olivier Pailhes (co-founder and former CEO of Aircall), Lucie Buisson (former CPO of Contentsquare), and Thomas Scialom (Senior Staff Researcher at Meta Superintelligence Lab, led Llama 2 and 3). They are advisors who hold carried interest, not partners.
Decision Process
A two-partner GP structure with fast decisions. The site emphasises speed, and the partnership is small, so decisions are most likely made jointly by the two General Partners.
Founder Preferences
AI-native founders building at or before the earliest stage, with a preference for exceptional, technically deep people. The Trailblazers Club offers coaching on go-to-market, product, research, and org building. The firm is backed by 40+ AI entrepreneurs, including co-founders of Animaj, Revibe, Linc, Fintool, MatX, and Zeliq.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe, centred on France, with selective US exposure according to press coverage. The firm is headquartered in Paris.