Daphni Research
Investment Thesis
Daphni is a Paris-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 that describes its approach as "human-driven, community-powered, tech-augmented." The firm explicitly rejects purely algorithmic or formulaic VC practices, instead prioritizing people, vision, and founders' willingness to dive deep into hard problems. Daphni's stated mission is to back "real shifts" - scientific, societal, and environmental - and the firm is B Corp certified with ESG commitments embedded in its fund structures, including tying part of carried interest to ESG performance in its newest vehicle.
Sector Focus
Daphni operates as a generalist early-stage investor with a growing emphasis on deep science. Its portfolio spans:
- Climate and energy tech (TerraSpark, Astral Systems, vorteX-io, Epyr)
- Biotech and health (Generare, baCta, Neotis, Karavela, Owlo, GraphTx)
- Fintech (Memo Bank, Swile, NG.CASH)
- E-commerce and retail (Back Market, Hubcycle)
- AI and enterprise software (Reduck AI, AMI Labs, Ankar, Pruna, Kerys Software)
- Deeptech and quantum computing (Pasqal)
- Education (Edumapper, Animaj, Wilgo)
The firm runs multiple thematic vehicles rather than a single generalist fund: daphni Blue (science-driven deeptech spun out of European research institutions), Dastore (worldwide retail innovation - e-commerce, grocery tech, robotics, embedded finance), and Time4 (France-focused, backing underrepresented founder backgrounds across all sectors).
Stage Focus
Daphni invests primarily at Seed and Series A, with selective pre-seed activity through programs like the Blue Fellowship, which supports European PhDs, postdocs, and research engineers moving from academia into venture-backed companies.
Check Size
Reported ticket sizes range from roughly $225K to $11M depending on stage and fund. Seed checks typically run €300K-€1M, with the broader range across seed-to-Series-A reported at €500K-€6M and an average seed round size around $6M. Check size and structure vary meaningfully across the firm's three active funds.
Lead Tendency
Public reporting does not consistently confirm whether Daphni typically leads or follows; the firm participates across both lead and syndicate positions depending on the fund and deal. Treated as unknown pending deal-level confirmation.
Recent Activity
Daphni closed its daphni Blue fund at €260 million in January 2026 (above its initial target, closed within nine months), dedicated exclusively to science-driven startups spinning out of European research institutions - covering fields like techbio, physics, and mathematics. In its first nine months, the fund had already backed nine companies, including Owlo (spun out of Institut Langevin), EverDye, and Karavela (spun out of Inria). This follows the firm's third fund, which TechCrunch reported closing at $215M in March 2025. As of mid-2026, Daphni is an active investor in roughly 120+ companies with over a dozen new investments in the trailing twelve months, indicating an actively deploying posture across its fund family.
Portfolio Highlights
Daphni's portfolio includes three unicorns (BlaBlaCar, Back Market, Swile), one IPO, and roughly 22 acquisitions to date, including New Relic. Back Market and Swile in particular are widely cited as the firm's flagship outcomes, with Swile reaching unicorn status roughly four years after Daphni's initial investment. Recent deeptech bets through daphni Blue (Pasqal in quantum computing, Owlo, Karavela) reflect the firm's pivot toward science-driven company creation.
Team
- Pierre-Eric Leibovici - Co-founder & Managing Partner
- Pierre-Yves Meerschman - Co-founder & Managing Partner
- Alexandra Dubar - Partner
- Aurelie Van Peteghem - Partner & Chief Marketing Officer
- Claire Tanguy - Partner & Chief Legal Officer
- Paul Bazin - Partner
- Samir Matki - Partner
- Shabir Vasram - Partner
- Sofia Dahoune - Partner
- Marc Simoncini - Venture Partner (also founder of Meetic)
- Alain Dinin - Venture Partner
- Additional investment team members: Cristian Pinto, Jonas Simonin, Madison Lenormand, Marie Bardinet, Marie Ferri
The firm has a broad, dedicated operating bench beyond the investment team, including a VP of Engineering, CTO, and Head of Sustainability - unusual staffing depth for a fund of Daphni's size, and consistent with its "tech-augmented, community-powered" positioning.
Decision Process
Not publicly disclosed in detail; the firm's structure (multiple managing/general partners plus a dedicated investment team) suggests a partnership-style decision process rather than a solo-GP model.
Founder Preferences
Daphni explicitly states that "talent is everywhere, and access should be too," and describes actively meeting founders in rural areas and deeptech labs rather than relying only on traditional venture networks. This is most visible in the Blue Fellowship, which specifically targets scientific researchers (PhDs, postdocs, research engineers) who are not typically part of the standard founder pipeline, and in Time4, which explicitly targets underrepresented entrepreneur backgrounds.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe, with a strong France/Paris center of gravity, and explicit attention to European founders operating in the US. Dastore, the retail-focused fund, has a worldwide mandate rather than a strictly European one.