(EN) Believe & Ventech: The Recipe for a Venture Capital Success Story
By Alain Caffi, Founding Partner and Senior Advisor at Ventech, investor in Believe
You’ve probably heard of musicians like Milky Chance, The Blaze, Inigo Quinterro, Saran, MC Stan, Grupo Frontera, Vianney, PNL, and Jul, the most-streamed French artist on streaming platforms. They all share one common factor — not their music style, but their partnership with Believe for music distribution, audience development, and closer engagement with their fans.
Believe was created in Paris in 2005 by Denis Ladegaillerie, following a career start as a lawyer in New York and later managing the internet activities of Vivendi in the US, a global leader in the emerging internet sector at the time.
Denis’s mission for Believe was to “be the partner of choice for local artists, supporting their ambition to become top artists in their country, region, and beyond.” Believe serves artists at every stage of their careers.
In September 2008, Ventech led Believe’s €4 million Series A round with Xange. On April 26, Ventech exited this extraordinary adventure, having supported the company steadfastly from start to finish. This exemplifies their “from 0 to exit” investment and governance strategy.
The reward for this involvement is significant: the largest venture capital exit in France in the last decade, with a total return on investment of €175 million, and a 36x multiple for Ventech’s Fund III, which initiated the investment in Believe.
What is the Secret to This Success?
The recipe may seem simple, but it is incredibly demanding in practice:
A success story requires three basic ingredients:
1. Vision of a technological and/or usage disruption
2. Execution capability
3. Company values
We were convinced that Believe had these ingredients, and history has proven us right. We will always remember the pioneering team of about ten people and our meetings around a small table at Denis’s place — a table we superstitiously kept.
Disruption:
A meeting with Denis was enlightening for anticipating the reconstruction of the music industry.
This meeting was made possible by Thierry de Passemar, an outstanding entrepreneur turned Business Angel after selling his company in 1998. Thierry, an early investor in Believe, advised Denis during his fundraising and had previously worked with Ventech at www.meilleurtaux.com, contributing to its success story.
We met Denis in 2008 when the music market, after a 15-year decline, was stabilizing thanks to digital changes. Although still risky, the turnaround materialized later with the radical change brought by streaming. During this meeting, Denis shared his vision of reconstructing the music industry from creation to distribution through the digital revolution. This transformation would shift music focus from a few heavily marketed artists by Majors like Universal, Sony, or Warner to numerous talents emerging often outside traditional networks, primarily through social media and concerts. None of this would have been possible without technology, which first commoditized recording, previously dominated by Major studios. Distribution and promotion followed this democratization, with platforms like Believe capable of distributing and promoting thousands of artists to new distributors like Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, and Tencent.
Execution:
Consistently meeting forecasts and always anticipating.
Since our entry in 2008, Believe has flawlessly grown from less than €2 million in revenue to nearly €1 billion across over 50 countries. The Group has 1,900 employees worldwide and has successfully completed around twenty external growth operations on several continents, including acquiring the digital music distributor TuneCore, the metal label Nuclear Blast, the French label Naïve, the Indian label Ishtar, the UK music publishing company Sentric, and more.
Against giants like Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner, Believe, positioned as a challenger, presents itself today with its next-generation digital model as a unique alternative for artists of all notoriety levels.
Technologically, Believe remains at the forefront, heavily investing in AI, which will further revolutionize the music world. AI will allow every musician, regardless of their status, to have a virtual team to assist in their work, a privilege once reserved for the most renowned artists. AI will also refine audience targeting, making it easier for artists to showcase their musical creations.
Values:
Four cardinal values and strong convictions
Believe is built on four cardinal values: “respect, expertise, fairness, and transparency.” These values are instilled in all activities to build long-term trust with artists, labels, employees, and partners.
Simultaneously, Believe holds strong convictions, particularly promoting local artists and labels of all genres and communities, and respecting artists’ independence to fully express their potential.
A Story of Trust with Our Investors
We are grateful to our investors who accepted this challenge and supported Ventech’s strategy. We are pleased to provide a return on investment that meets our expectations — a 36x multiple for Ventech Capital III and a “fund returner” for its tech compartment. We also thank them for enabling us to raise a fund dedicated to preparing this exit, Ventech Opportunity I, an innovative GP-Led approach in Europe, allowing Ventech to remain involved in governance and resulting in a 2x multiple over a short period for the fund’s investors.
An Even More Ambitious New Chapter
Believe will continue its mission to “serve local artists and labels at all stages of their development” in the digital ecosystem with “fairness, expertise, respect, and transparency.” The new adventure of Believe now unfolds with TCV, a long-time Ventech partner, and EQT, Europe’s largest Buy-out fund and one of the world’s largest, sharing Believe’s values. Founder Denis Ladegaillerie and his passionate teams are poised for a new, even more ambitious growth phase in the service of music.
