Eurazeo bets €1 billion on AI-first European companies
With a decade backing companies like Doctolib and Qonto, the French firm's female-led team is raising €1bn to find Europe's next wave of AI-first tech champions
With a decade backing companies like Doctolib and Qonto, the French firm's female-led team is raising €1bn to find Europe's next wave of AI-first tech champions
Eurazeo Growth has raised €650 million towards a €1 billion fund targeting one specific slice of the European tech market: companies building artificial intelligence into their core business model from day one.
The firm isn't chasing companies adding AI features to stay relevant. It's backing founders who build their entire business around AI, fundamentally changing how industries operate. Early investments from Growth Fund IV are already growing at over 50% annually, proving the approach works before the fund even closes.
Why building AI-first matters
Most European tech companies are retrofitting AI capabilities onto existing products. Eurazeo Growth is betting that approach loses to businesses built with AI from the ground up.
"Our mission is to support founders who are scaling globally and reinventing the way business is done by leveraging artificial intelligence," says Hala Fadel, Managing Partner leading the growth team. The distinction matters because when AI is built into the foundation, companies can do things that are impossible to add later. Think real-time personalisation or automated decision-making that improves with scale.
The fund targets European growth-stage companies with global ambitions. These businesses have proven their products work and customers want them, ready for the capital and expertise to expand internationally. Eurazeo invests between early venture rounds and late-stage mega-financings. It's the point where execution determines whether a company becomes regional or global.
This focus on AI-first businesses sharpens the thesis for Fund IV. Eurazeo Growth has always backed tech companies, but the explicit AI mandate reflects where the firm sees the biggest opportunity over the next decade.
The portfolio proves it works
Eurazeo Growth built its reputation over 10 years by investing in more than 30 European tech companies that achieved global scale. Several show what building AI-first looks like in practice.
Dataiku, the AI and machine learning platform, helps enterprises build their own AI applications. Cognigy specialises in conversational AI for customer service automation. Both companies built AI into their foundations instead of treating it as an add-on.
Other major portfolio companies include Doctolib, which digitised healthcare appointments across Europe; Qonto, the business banking challenger expanding across the continent; Neo4j, pioneering graph database technology; commercetools, offering headless commerce infrastructure; EcoVadis, providing supply chain sustainability ratings; and Fever, the live entertainment marketplace.
These investments span different sectors (fintech, healthcare, data infrastructure, e-commerce) but share common traits: European founders with global vision, technology that crosses borders, and business models that scale beyond their home markets.
The financial performance backs the approach. In 2021, Eurazeo created a continuation fund for select growth assets, which generated a 25% IRR and valuations aligned with the firm's net asset value. That transaction attracted €340 million in commitments from international institutional investors seeking exposure to the portfolio.
Eurazeo Growth now manages €4 billion in assets across its strategy, making it one of Europe's largest dedicated growth investors.
Team rebuild after 2023 shake-up
The successful fundraise follows a turbulent 2023 when four managing directors departed to launch their own firm, Noteus Partners. Growth managing director Yann du Rusquec left along with colleagues Nathalie Kornhoff-Brüls, Zoé Fabian, and Guillaume d'Audiffret. That was a significant portion of the investment team.
Eurazeo postponed Fund IV fundraising for over a year to rebuild. The delay allowed limited partners to evaluate team stability before committing capital. Fundraising finally launched in September 2024 with a reconstituted roster.
The new team includes partner Raluca Ragab from Goldman Sachs and operating partner Philippe Vimard, former CTO at Doctolib and Klarna. Vimard's operational experience scaling two of Europe's most successful tech companies shows the hands-on value Eurazeo brings to portfolio companies beyond capital.
The 17-person investment team spans France, Germany, the UK, and Spain, supported by five operating partners. This geographic spread gives them local market knowledge whilst maintaining a pan-European investment view.
The team is female-led under Fadel's leadership, still rare in European tech investing. Co-CEOs Christophe Bavière and William Kadouch-Chassaing highlighted this distinction when announcing the first close, noting its uniqueness in the ecosystem.
How Eurazeo invests and why investors are interested
With €650 million committed and momentum towards €1 billion, Eurazeo is actively deploying Fund IV. The firm's approach reflects patterns established across three prior growth funds.
Eurazeo typically invests in companies past initial venture rounds but before late-stage mega-financings. This is the growth stage where execution determines outcome. The sweet spot: businesses that have proven their product works and are ready for international expansion.
The five operating partners set Eurazeo apart. Instead of just joining the board, the firm embeds operational expertise directly into portfolio companies. This hands-on model helps founders navigate scaling challenges, such as technology infrastructure and international market entry, drawing on lessons from prior successes.
Initial commitments for Fund IV came from prominent European institutional investors, reflecting strong interest in AI-first businesses. In a funding environment where many venture managers struggle to raise capital, Eurazeo's momentum stands out.
The €1 billion target represents significant growth for Eurazeo's growth strategy. The size reflects both the firm's expanded track record and investor conviction that AI represents the defining technology shift for the next decade of European tech.
What sets Eurazeo apart
Eurazeo operates in a crowded European growth market, where established players such as Index Ventures, Atomico, and Balderton compete for deals. Its differentiation comes from three elements: the explicit AI-first focus, the operational partner model, and the publicly traded parent company structure.
The public company status, rare among European venture firms, provides transparency into portfolio performance and firm operations. This visibility appeals to institutional investors evaluating manager track records.
The focus on AI-first companies also narrows the competitive set. Other growth firms write cheques to AI companies, but few focus so specifically on businesses built on AI from the foundation up. This helps Eurazeo position itself to founders who want investors who understand their technical approach.
As AI reshapes industries from healthcare to financial services, Eurazeo is betting that companies building on AI foundations from day one will deliver outsized returns. The €650 million first close suggests that institutional investors agree and believe that Eurazeo has the team and track record to identify winners.
With early Fund IV companies already growing 50%+ annually and a clear pipeline ahead, Eurazeo Growth will test whether its AI-first focus produces Europe's next wave of global tech companies.