Nicolas Autret

So pleased to be supporting you, Mathieu Nohet and Marie Rouquette, PhD! There are many reasons we’re excited to lead baCta's seed round - here's three: ✅ Founder–market fit. As a pair, you bring a rare combination of hard-earned entrepreneurial experience (including selling complex software into local government), deep scientific expertise in CRISPR and microbiome therapeutics, and a clear conviction that AI and synthetic biology will reshape how industrial ingredients are made. ✅ Scale of opportunity. Your vision is to build a global, AI-native industrial biomanufacturing platform. If successful, meaningful parts of the €100bn+ ingredients market can shift away from agriculture and petrochemistry toward a more predictable, low-carbon model. ✅ Early results. Starting with astaxanthin — a high-value red carotenoid with constrained supply — you’ve identified a compelling biomanufacturing wedge. The speed of strain improvement, scale-up evidence and early commercial signals make the progress to date hugely impressive for a company at this stage. Thanks so much to Clement Renault for the introduction.

8

2 commentaires

Last week Wiliot announced its partnership with Walmart, resulting in the first large scale deployment of Wiliot’s ambient IoT technology to optimize supply chain. This deployment of million of tags have already increased business efficiency and customer satisfaction.   I thought it's a good opportunity to share what it takes to build and deploy such a technology to support customers at this magnitude. * The team - not everyone can build such a deep technology! Actually, very few teams can. It must be a unique combination of experience with semiconductor development, wireless communications, and out-of-the-box analog development. Can't find a better team than Tal Tamir, Yaron Elboim, and Alon Yehezkely to build it. And they did! * The technology - when we invested in the seed stage, people did not believe it was possible to build a Bluetooth beacon with no battery! We were not sure then how the energy harvesting would even work but the direction was clear. Add to that: tag price (cents), distance (as many meters as possible), arm processing for computation and encryption, sensing capabilities (accurate temperature, motion, humidity, light), manufacturing costs and yield, cloud services, etc., and you get the idea of the complexity and innovation required to get to the product we have today.   * Finding the right use-case - Wiliot’s #AmbientIoT technology can be used for many use cases. We imagined many ideas early on. At some point, the supply chain use case seemed to be the one where the technology provides the best business value. After years of servicing some of the largest supply chain related companies, the decision to focus on this use case turned out to be a critical milestone for the company.   * Patience - it's not trivial to build a deep tech start-up. Not a good fit to anyone who expect a quick exit in 3-4 years. Norwest invested in the seed stage 9 years ago. And - we have many plans for years to come! It's just the beginning of this new category. https://lnkd.in/gWA5_V-f

43

1 commentaire

It's been a long journey but we finally finished the buildout. Come tour the space. In addition to the wet labs, we have cleanrooms and a vivarium to support from early R&D to manufacturing. Plus, we excited to announce the launch of our Digital Lab. A virtual space to provide access to computing power for AI/ML companies. #AIML #incubator #accelerator

69

11 commentaires

**Yann LeCun's AMI Labs Raises $1.03 Billion to Build World Models** The recent funding round for AMI Labs, founded by Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun, demonstrates the growing interest in AI-driven ventures. The $1.03 billion raise signals a robust belief in the future of generating sophisticated world models that can enhance various industries. At ElevenX Capital, we see this as a critical moment where innovative thinking meets substantial investment, setting the stage for significant advancements in AI. How can we ensure that such technologies ethically align with societal needs? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

2

"Age is a poor predictor of the quality of engineers. I'm looking more into curiosity, ownership, passion, motivation." Martin de Gourcuff and I have known each other from the early days of Harmattan AI, France's first defense unicorn. Harmattan went from zero to 100+ people across Europe, the Middle East and the US. We discuss how they built a talent culture that compounds on itself, how Harmattan is contributing to the next generation of combat aircraft, and why vertical integration is the real moat. 🎙️New episode live: https://lnkd.in/eBVKnezD 

128

1 commentaire

Congratulations R3 Robotics! A successful €20 million raise. Ready to preserve Europe's Critical minerals with smart local mining, with an agile and hungry continuous learning team. From waste to value. The EU’s EV‑battery rules are now governed by the new Batteries Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542), introducing strict, phased‑in recycling, recovery, carbon‑footprint, and producer‑responsibility obligations across the entire battery lifecycle. Key Objectives: ⚡Ensure batteries are sustainable and circular across their entire lifecycle. ⚡Strengthen EU strategic autonomy in critical materials. ⚡Mandate collection, recycling, and recovery of materials, especially lithium, nickel, cobalt. The full regulations become operational through 2025–2031, with major implications for OEMs, recyclers, and second‑life operators. Manual disassembly is simply too slow and costly. From 2025, OEMs and battery manufacturers must: ⚡Take full responsibility for collection, recycling, and proper disposal of EV batteries. ⚡Use certified channels for end‑of‑life management. ⚡Implement digital battery passports for traceability. R3 Robotics solves this with a platform that blends computer vision and AI with Automated dismantling of complete electric vehicle systems, including e-drives, power electronics, and other high-value components at industrial scale. Reducing costs, increasing throughput, and improve operational safety. Offering fully traceable systems support of efficient recycling, reuse, and material recovery at scale. ⚡Pleased to be part of the (ad-)venture as a shareholder. Press release: https://lnkd.in/eT8d3v7v Congratulations to: Antoine Welter Dr. Xavier Kohll Suma Capital HG Ventures Oetker Collection KG BONVENTURE EIT Urban Mobility EIC - European Innovation Council FLOBAS Ventures #BatteryRecycling, #CircularEconomy, #DeepTech Endless Frontier Labs #EVBattery, #BatteryRecycling, #CircularEconomy, #AutomotiveRecycling, #BatteryData, #robotics, #evbattery, #recycling

26

1 commentaire

Excited to be doubling down on Rapidata alongside IA Ventures and Canaan, after leading the pre-seed a while back. Looking forward to see them build out their real-time AI x humans RLHF cloud https://lnkd.in/dFJDGkrJ

24

3 commentaires

I’ve been working on the theory of why small, shippable factories are the perfect inversion to the centralized prefab factory model. It all collapsed into one line of math (credit to Gilles Retsin): Factory Efficiency = Usage × (Throughput × Product Value ) / ( CapEx + Deployment OpEx) The idea is that the closer you can drive Usage to 100 % while keeping the denominator tiny, the faster the flywheel spins.  A shippable microfactory tackles this by primarily focusing on a high Usage factor. Because the microfactory can be packed up afterwards and reused, its CapEx gets amortized over multiple projects, effectively raising its overall Usage across the year. If one project alone doesn’t fully occupy the factory, it can simply roll over to another job to maintain high Usage. Its CapEx is often an order of magnitude lower than a centralized factory (< $1M vs. $10-50M min), so the breakeven throughput is more achievable on a small pipeline of work. The real breakthrough here is portability. There is near-zero stranded capital and almost no idle time. To flesh this theory out, I wrote 3000 words on the topic for Brad Hargreaves and Thesis Driven. The article breaks down: - why “fixed factories, shipped goods” is being inverted to shipped factories, fixed goods - what a sub‑$1 M robotic cell does to CapEx per home versus a £45 M off‑site plant - early production/cost data on a shippable microfactory from Mollie Claypool, Gilles Retsin, Sam Baker and the Automated Architecture (AUAR) team - the hybrid reality of robots tackling the heavy structural components and human crews assembling faster and cheaper - technical constraints to pull this model off and future considerations on the optimal business model (own vs. rent) Major shoutout to Gilles Retsin for helping me pull this together. https://lnkd.in/eRTnbZPa

54

2 commentaires

Thrilled to share that we’ve led the Series B1 in Muon Space 🚀 🌏 As the world confronts increasingly complex environmental challenges, the ability to precisely measure, monitor, and model our planet is becoming mission-critical. Muon is taking a systems-level approach, from spacecraft to software, unlocking high-fidelity climate data at a global scale Grateful to support the entire Muon team and work alongside an outstanding group of co-investors cc: Congruent Ventures Joshua Posamentier Read the press release: https://lnkd.in/gACCUaCb More about the FireSat Mission: https://lnkd.in/g9pky5UR

84

𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬. This week on #WomenRaisingTheBar ⚖️, we spotlight brilliant founders securing funding and building bold solutions across Europe. From AI-powered photonics to infant health innovation — these women are showing what’s possible. 🇫🇷 Sylvie Menezo – SCINTIL Photonics raises €50M to scale integrated photonics for AI factories 🇬🇧 Lydia Mapstone, Dr. Sioned Fôn Jones & Tara O'Driscoll, – BoobyBiome secures €2.8M for infant health with breast milk microbiome breakthroughs 👏👏👏 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 — 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. The bar keeps rising. The capital is following. — 👋 I’m Anais, founder of Amela — a global network supporting women founders. Every Saturday, we spotlight the women raising the bar. #WomenRaisingTheBar #FemaleFounders #VC #Startups #Amela ♻️ Found this inspiring? Repost to amplify women raising capital. ⚡ Want more stories like this? Hit follow.

34

4 commentaires

🚀 Today we launch the Seraphim SpaceTech Ecosystem Map 2026. Covering 300+ companies, this year’s map introduces a new three-layer framework that reflects a maturing space economy: 🛰️ Space Access → the industrial backbone 🌍 Space Segment → in-orbit infrastructure 💡 Downstream → where value is captured on Earth The update highlights where innovation is accelerating, from supply chain and satellite operations to the rapid growth of the in-space economy. This is a clearer view of how value is created across SpaceTech today. Explore the full map in this blog: https://lnkd.in/eCjBq6jM #SpaceTech #NewSpace #VentureCapital ICEYE D-Orbit ALL.SPACE HawkEye 360 LeoLabs SatVu AST SpaceMobile Xona Skylo Zeno Power Voyager Technologies ATMOS Space Cargo Auriga Space AscendArc Privateer Array Labs Hubble Network Ubotica Technologies Delos Insurance Solutions Renoster Taranis General Galactic Opteran Nu Quantum Edgybees PlanetWatchers constellr Pixxel Quadsat Adaptive Insurance PiLogic Inc. Tomorrow.io LambdaVision, Inc. Astroscale

55

7 commentaires

Great to see Physical Intelligence's $600M round in the news this week. Physical Intelligence is building the next generation of industrial robots – one that enables simpler deployments, makes changing environments easier to navigate, and creates real impact for the workers and consumers using them. Welcome to the Emergence family, PI! Check out more from Kevin Spain and Rishub Nahar about why we invested. [link in the comments]

25

3 commentaires

Until we have a unified European market, lower taxes and real pension funds, I believe European deeptech firms need to expand to the U.S. as early as possible if they are to become international champions. Doing so will surely put them more at risk in the near-term but it will give them access to more capital, more customers, and more potential acquirers, and ultimately creates more high-paying jobs in Europe than if they stayed solely focused on the local market. This is the recipe to create the European decacorns of the next two decades. There will be exceptions but let's not miss the software revolutions like we did these past 20 years. My perspective in FW.MEDIA: https://lnkd.in/eTqqmpxg

55

7 commentaires

€83 billion committed to European space in recent weeks. Honored to contribute to this Sifted piece alongside Thierry Vandewalle, Christian Reitberger, Bulent Altan, and Tom Vroemen on what this means for European spacetech founders. The question isn't IF startups will capture some of this. It's HOW MUCH. From procurement bottlenecks to incumbent partnerships, we break down the real opportunities and obstacles. We're seeing early proof points of upcoming changes, such as our portfolio company Infinite Orbits, which is featured in the article for its €50m French contract to protect space infrastructure. As Balnord continues backing Europe's most ambitious frontier companies, this policy shift couldn't come at a better time. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dbE8_BVd Big applause to Daphné Leprince-Ringuet and Anne Sraders for covering this vital topic. #EUspace #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

67

3 commentaires

ANNOUNCEMENT: WE ARE PREPARING A FUND TO INVEST IN AI+SCIENCE / Building on our most recent exits — including the acquisition of Esobiotec by AstraZeneca — we are now preparing our fourth fund, with fundraising now underway, a €100M vertical vehicle dedicated entirely to the intersection of AI and Science. This fund is special: Josep M. (Pep) Martorell Rodon (former director at BSC - Barcelona Supercomputer Center) will join as Partner of Fund IV. Pep is one of the most exceptionally intelligent and driven people I’ve ever worked with. It is one of those rare times when deep friendship and professional vision align — and for me, it feels like a true privilege. Our thesis: AI is no longer a tool. We are entering an era where AI doesn’t just accelerate science — it becomes the driving core of science, reshaping how we design drugs, engineer new materials, and tackle climate and sustainability challenges. In deep tech, the rule is clear: no company in this field will survive without AI. This fund is built to back the teams turning that shift into world-changing companies. Company creation is in our DNA. Few funds in Europe have created as many #succesful ventures from scratch as we have. Over the years, we’ve built and scaled companies at the frontier of science. This experience is the backbone of Fund IV: we know how to turn raw discovery into lasting companies. What’s next: ● We will be recruiting actively in the coming weeks and months to add seniority and further strengthen the team. ● We are already opening the door to new projects and founders — if you are building in this space, we would love to hear from you. ● We will continue to advance our own AI tools to support the fund’s operations — improving how we find, analyze, choose, manage, and eventually exit companies. (I’ve shared some of these approaches in my recent LinkedIn videos.) 👉 Founders, start sending us your projects. 👉 Operators and investors who love the VC ecosystem, stay tuned — this is just the beginning. #AI #Science #DeepTech #Biotech #VentureCapital #AIinScience

978

62 commentaires

Excited to finally share what we’ve been building over the past year. Today we’re announcing the first investment from ARKITEKT EQUITY. Over the past year, we have been closely observing the structural shifts occurring within semiconductor ecosystems. As manufacturing systems become more complex, the infrastructure enabling those systems becomes increasingly strategic. These environments demand operational clarity, coordination, and long-term alignment. ARKITEKT was built around a simple idea: durable value is created where frontier technology meets pragmatic execution. Our investment in BBTech reflects this conviction. This is just the beginning of what we aim to build at ARKITEKT EQUITY. Stay tuned! https://lnkd.in/g_pQiBZY

7

I’ve spent a lot of time lately talking to founders about where the "hype" ends and the real value begins. For Fintech, its Embedded Finance: not just a buzzword but reality; it’s the hard work of building financial tools directly into the platforms people use every day. We just released the latest Metis Emerge, and I’m really proud of the stories in this one: - Why we’re backing teams like wamo, Eloquent AI, Kamion, and Getmobil. - How we’re actually using AI / data to make better decisions (and help our founders do the same). - Metis is growing. I’m thrilled to welcome some brilliant new faces to the Metis Ventures family who are helping us move the needle.

29