2020 at BlackFin Tech: an unexpected crisis but twice as many deals as 2019!

As 2020 was a year full of painful surprises to say the least, let’s stick to what we think is a healthy habit: taking a step back and reflecting on what has happened in the past 12 months.

The first thing coming to my mind when looking backward is “Humankind is so strong”! So much was achieved in 2020 to go through an unpredictable crisis. This is great to see how resilient our societies are. I am truly energized by the efforts made by each of us to mitigate the negative impacts of this crisis. Health professionals, volunteers, political leaders, entrepreneurs, business owners, employees, students, parents, family members, friends — we all took (and will take) our responsibilities to get through the crisis, stay up, and help other people to do so. The sole fact that several vaccines got ready in less than a year is mind-blowing to me! The World in Jan 2021 is not in the worst possible shape and this is something we should celebrate (on Zoom of course 🤷‍♂️)!

The second is “what a year at BlackFin Tech”! Did we really spend 50% of our time working from home!? What a year!

Bigger, broader and more diverse team

BlackFin’s team grew bigger with three new members: Pauline, who’s previously worked for a Canadian Fintech VC, Régis (Amazon, Rocket Internet) and Jean bringing a strong experience in late stage investing from Bpifrance Large Venture. We also started working with Anaëlle Gautier and Manon Caussade to reinforce our PR & content strategy.

I am really glad to work with such an amazing team.

At the same time, our Paris-based team has expanded geographically, with Pauline moving to Brussels and Romain settling in Frankfurt. BlackFin Tech’s DNA is European at its core and it’s important for us to be as close as possible to European founders.

Strengthening our support to portfolio companies

In such a tough period, it was important for us to find concrete ways of helping our portfolio companies. Our network of Venture & Operating Partners is undoubtedly a valuable asset when it comes to efficiently helping entrepreneurs building their businesses day after day. With strong and targeted expertise, Venture & Operating Partners bring all their operational experience to founders looking for advice or connections in the industry. We grew our Venture Partners’ program by adding seven talented experts: Anne-Claire Bennevault, Nelly Brossard, Audrey Gary, Stefania Maestroni, Pierre Monteillard, Guillaume Tessier and Laurence Willems.

Thanks to them, we’ve improved our focus on insurtech, wealth management and marketing. Because the world of VC and tech entrepreneurship is still mostly a white male game, we think it is crucial to notice when a part of it becomes more diverse. With five women out of seven new Venture Partners, we walk the talk.

Relying on our network of Operating Partners, we supported four of our portfolio companies to appoint independent board members. Former CEO of Axa Global P&C, Gaëlle Olivier sits on the Board of Descartes Underwriting. Ronan Le Moal, former CEO of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa was appointed chairman of the Supervisory Board of Memo Bank. Didier Valet, former deputy CEO at Société Générale joined the Board of Epsor. David Fisher, CEO at Enova International joined the Board of Friss.

At BlackFin, we truly believe in the value of independent directors for early-stage startups — you can check out why here.

Backing tomorrow’s champions all over Europe

In 2020, we closed twelve deals— including six fresh ones. BlackFin Tech’s portfolio is now composed of thirteen companies — two in payments, six banktechs, four insurtechs and one in wealth management; headquartered in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Estonia.

Here is the timeline of what our investing activity looked like in 2020:

These new deals were good opportunities to meet and work with fifteen new VC firms: Big Sur (Spanish), Bpifrance (French), Cathay Innovation (Sino-French), Draper Esprit (British), Daphni (French), Founders Future (French), Grazia Equity (German), Karma (Estonian), K Fund (Spanish), MTech Capital (US), PreSeed Ventures (Danish), Seed Capital (Danish), Serena (France), UVC Partners (German), Vaekstfonden (Danish). We are lucky to work with all of them!

Our greatest pride is what our portfolio companies achieved: despite the crisis, every fintech or insurtech in which we have invested are growing — most of them at more than 100% year-on-year and a good third at more than 300%! Congrats to them!

We are also amazed by what these companies are putting in place in order to have a positive impact. Epsor, which provides employee savings and retirement plans now offers to all its users a panel of twelve impact funds (known in France as ‘Investissement Socialement Responsable’). At the beginning of the pandemic in Europe, Agicap launched ‘Cash is King’: a community of 2,000+ CEOs and CFOs aiming at helping each other to deal with their unprecedented cashflow issues. French insurtech Akur8 partnered with advisory firm Gloria to raise awareness on the importance of diversity and put in practice more inclusive behaviors in its teams’s daily professional environment.

Happy New Year!

Michele Foradori will share next week our Fintech & Insurtech predictions for 2021. But before that, I am joined by all the team at BlackFin Tech to wish you a Happy and Beautiful New Year!