Purple (Purple Fund) Research
Source caveat: purple-fund.vc did not respond during this research (connection reset on every attempt, including through the Wayback Machine). Everything below comes from third-party sources: Tracxn, Getoka, LinkedIn posts by the founders, Seedcamp and tech.eu deal announcements, and a LinkedIn post about the Mountside Ventures Emerging VC Manager Programme. Fields that only the firm's own site could confirm (fund size, exact check size, thesis wording) are left empty or low-confidence. This is the Paris firm Purple SAS, not Purple Ventures (Czech Republic, CEE focus) or Purple Arch Ventures; one aggregator page conflates Purple Fund with Purple Ventures and was ignored.
Investment Thesis
Purple is a small Paris-based early-stage fund founded in 2022 by Arnaud Mauduit and Raphaël Mosca. Mountside Ventures' announcement of its Emerging VC Manager Programme cohort described Purple as hyper-localized in France, sector-agnostic and conviction-driven, focused on contrarian pre-seeds in high-potential markets. Mosca is described as investing in consumer AI companies at pre-seed from Paris and New York. A directory listing quotes the firm as seeking to partner with great founders at the early stages of their ventures. The fund is described by OpenVC as the venture capital arm of Laurent Ritter, co-founder of Voodoo, the French mobile gaming company, who appears alongside the founders on announcements and is an apparent backer.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed, with occasional later entries. Tracxn records 8 seed first-rounds and 1 Series B entry (Woodoo, April 2023, alongside Lowercarbon Capital). Getoka lists pre-seed, seed and Series A. Recent deals are pre-seed rounds led by others: Lupin & Holmes ($5.9M pre-seed, March 2026, led by 20VC and Seedcamp) and Revox (about $3M pre-seed, January 2026, led by Seedcamp).
Check Size
Not stated by the firm. Getoka shows a very wide band of EUR 100K to EUR 10M that looks like a directory default rather than the firm's own statement, so no check size is submitted. Given a team of two and participation in rounds of $3M to $6M, Purple most likely writes small tickets as a follower or co-investor.
Lead Tendency
Follows. In the deals found (Lupin & Holmes, Revox, Autone, Welfaire) Purple participated alongside lead investors such as 20VC, Seedcamp, Speedinvest and Daphni. Kima Ventures is its most frequent co-investor, appearing in 5 portfolio companies, per Tracxn.
Recent Activity
Tracxn counts 40 portfolio companies over four years but only a handful of tracked rounds: 3 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 1 in 2024, none tracked in 2025, and 2 in 2026 (Revox in January, Lupin & Holmes in March). The pace has slowed from earlier years but the firm remains active. In early 2025 it was selected, with 19 other funds from over 500 applicants, for Mountside Ventures' Emerging VC Manager Programme, which provides LP introductions and fundraising mentoring. That suggests Purple was preparing a formal fund raise in 2025. No fund size or close has been publicly confirmed.
Portfolio Highlights
PayFit (payroll, unicorn since 2022), Woodoo (engineered wood, Series B led by Lowercarbon Capital), Welfaire (seed, Daphni co-invested), Autone (Italy, seed with Speedinvest), Aria (Paris private-markets platform), Voggt (acquired by Fanatics Live in October 2024), Neat (embedded insurance, Bordeaux), Zealy, Tulipshare, Join Stories, Ten Ten, Evina, FastLane Labs, Comet, Grace, YZR, Jump, Daigest, Asap.work, MentorShow, Boilr, Stracker, Fipto, En Cavale, Heedjy, SnackThis and Ditto. Recent: Revox (voice AI for outbound sales) and Lupin & Holmes (software supply-chain security). The mix spans consumer, fintech, enterprise software, security and materials, consistent with a sector-agnostic stance.
Team
- Arnaud Mauduit, Founder, Paris ([email protected]). Studied at Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.
- Raphael Mosca, Founder, Paris ([email protected]). Sciences Po; earlier roles included Edda. Focus on consumer AI at pre-seed from Paris and NYC.
- Laurent Ritter (Voodoo co-founder) is the apparent capital backer, not a listed team member.
Tracxn lists a team of two partners and no board seats.
Decision Process
Two founding partners, effectively a partnership of two with a backer close to the fund. Fast, conviction-driven decisions are implied by the contrarian framing, but no process or timeline is documented.
Founder Preferences
Contrarian pre-seed founders in high-potential markets; French-rooted founders are the home market ("hyper-localized in France"), but the portfolio includes Italy, Luxembourg and US companies (Revox). Strong young technical founders appear in several deals (for example Lupin & Holmes, built around a teenage bug-bounty hunter).
Geographic Focus
France first, with Europe and the US as secondary. Tracxn geography of first rounds: France 6, Italy 1, Luxembourg 1, United States 1.
Gaps
Fund size and vintage, exact check size, and the firm's own thesis text are unconfirmed because the website was unreachable. A re-run once purple-fund.vc is back would add portfolio logos, bios and thesis wording.