Announcing two major investments from our Summit Fund, new additions to the redalpine team, and agreements, approvals, acquisitions and much more for our portfolio - there's plenty to share this month! Read on for all the updates...
the summit fund invests in mistral ai & klarna
Introducing not one, but two new investments from our Summit Fund, bringing the fund's total investments to 15! The Summit Fund is our first multi-stage fund, supporting our ongoing commitment to back Europe's most promising growth champions. With the Summit Fund complementing our early-stage funds, we can invest in startups throughout their entire lifecycle — from pre-seed to pre-IPO.
Mistral AI
We recently participated in the €600M Series B funding round for Mistral AI, Europe’s most formidable LLM contender.
LLMs have become a cornerstone of contemporary AI and foundational modelling, deeply impacting and transforming diverse industries. Generative AI alone boasts a $137bn market opportunity this year. However, its operational costs remain significant in terms of computational resources, data requirements, and a need for top-tier talent. It has also, until now, remained a market dominated by American companies.
Founded in Paris just over a year ago, Mistral's trio of co-founders have combined their learnings from working at DeepMind and Meta with an aim to disrupt the industry status quo. Open-source and resource-efficient, Mistral is already overcoming some of the major challenges faced by established market giants to become the main European contender to the likes of ChatGPT.
We look forward to working with this truly game-changing company to transform the face of generative AI! Read more here.
Klarna
We're also delighted to announce our investment in Swedish FinTech powerhouse Klarna, the company transforming payment solutions worldwide.
In today's digital economy, flexible payment options are in high demand. High-interest rates and rigid payment systems are increasingly shunned, especially by younger generations, who seek less financially stressful alternatives.
Enter Klarna. Its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service provides an innovative and flexible payment solution to improve the shopping experience. With the BNPL market rapidly growing, accounting for over 5% of global eCommerce payments and projected to reach $680 billion by 2025, Klarna is set to maintain its rapid growth alongside it. Already serving 150 million consumers and 550,000 retailers, Klarna has a number of significant value inflection points ahead, including new AI capabilities, the broadening of its product portfolio, and increased internationalization.
Welcome to the redalpine family, Klarna! Read more about our investment here.
the redalpine team is growing
The redalpine team grew considerably this June, with additions to both the operations and investment teams. A warm welcome also goes out to our new Visiting Analysts, Nicolas von Klitzing, Nick Herger, and Felipe Souto Miebach!
portfolio news
The latest updates from our portfolio, in no particular order:
Sanity Group (RAC IV) secured an additional €17M in growth capital from the Jupiter Fund of Organigram Inc. The investment will be instrumental in further expanding Sanity's European market presence and accelerating its product development. Read more here.
Proxima Fusion (RAC VII) signed a framework agreement with Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute, initiating a long-term collaboration to fast-track the commercialization of fusion energy. This brings Proxima one step closer to its goal of leading Europe into a new era of clean energy, for good. Read more here.
Aktiia (RAC III) received regulatory approval for the world’s first optical blood pressure system, without the need for calibration with a regular cuff. This is a major game-changer for hypertension patients, allowing them to monitor their blood pressure using just their smartwatches and smartphone camera. Read more here.
Genialis (RAC III) welcomed pharma hematology and oncology veteran Krista McKerracher as the new Chairperson of its Board of Directors. She brings extensive experience in commercial and R&D efforts at Johnson & Johnson and Novartis Oncology.
the vc party
For the second time, we co-hosted the VC Party as part of SuperVenture in Berlin earlier this month. It was great to get together with over 600 investors, founders, and tech leaders from across Europe. Even the rain couldn't dampen our spirits, and we want to thank everyone who attended for a great evening!
what we're reading
The Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation - Startup Ticker
Why it matters: DeepTech in Switzerland is getting additional support to translate outstanding Swiss research work into commercially viable products. The aim of the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation is to mobilize 50 billion Swiss francs over the next 10 years for Swiss startups and scale-ups in the DeepTech sector and, as a result, create up to 100,000 new jobs. As a fund that invests heavily in DeepTech companies, we welcome this development and look forward to seeing the impact the framework will have on the tech ecosystem.
European VC outperforms North American VC on 10 and 15 year horizons - Sifted
Why it matters: New data published this month by industry body Invest Europe reconfirms the recent trend of European VC outperforming North American VC on a longterm basis, yielding 20.77% net IRR (internal rate of return) over 10 years, compared to North American VC’s 18.18%. Over a 15 year period European VC also achieves better returns: 16.57% IRR compared to 16.09% IRR. This is excellent news for LPs in European funds and a positive indication for the performance of European technology companies.
McKinsey DeepTech Report
Why it matters: A recent study by McKinsey highlights the superior performance of DeepTech-focused VC funds compared to traditional tech funds. With a weighted net IRR of 16% versus 10%, the graph below underscores the growing potential and value in investing in breakthrough technologies. It's a compelling reminder of the opportunities that arise from redalpine's focus on investing in companies at the continuum of software and science that feature a distinct tech hedge.
