Vauban: reflecting on Pi Labs Fund III’s first exit
Last month, US-based equity service platform Carta announced their acquisition of Pi Labs portfolio company Vauban for an undisclosed figure.
We first met co-founders Rémy and Ulrich in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taken by their global vision and unique drive, Pi Labs first invested in Vauban’s July 2020 seed round and followed-on in their April 2021 Series A. This is a reflection of our investment philosophy of taking bets on strong teams early and supporting them with follow-on capital through the growth journey. Realising our exit within a 24-month period, Vauban serves as the first exit for Pi Labs’ $90 million Fund III (which officially closed in February 2022).
Before diving into the details of our 24-month journey together, we would like to congratulate Rémy Astié, Ulric Musset and the entire Vauban team for achieving such a milestone.
Since their founding in 2018, Vauban created over 400 investment vehicles and managed over $1 billion in invested capital on its platform — making it easier for investors to back private companies. Private markets are notoriously difficult for investors to navigate, with issues such as transparency, regulation and networks all playing a role. In the world of real estate, this means many investors are relegated to listed investments which are exposed to share market volatility, or high-cost direct investments which serve as either an entry barrier or an obstruction to portfolio diversification. Carta is purportedly eyeing competitor AngelList’s investor-focused operations with its Vauban acquisition, therefore offering services to both founders and investors, from sub-million-dollar level into the billions of dollars.
From our perspective, Vauban’s successful growth can be attributed to a number of factors, the founding team being the primary one. As an early-stage venture capital fund, Pi Labs invests in people first. We were impressed by Rémy and Ulrich’s solid, driven, culture-obsessed focus and a unique ability to share their crystal-clear vision in a manner that attracted great talent and set a coherent direction of travel. Vauban’s execution was also noteworthy — the team showed the necessary agility and resilience at an early stage, adapting to lessons and pivoting the business when needed without adversely impacting performance. They also mastered network effects we often hear of in start-up pitches, creating a powerful flywheel from customers, to brand advocates, to investors. In summary, Rémy and Ulric displayed the characteristics we look for in founding teams: clear global vision, contagious passion, the energy necessary to attract talent, ability to stay focused on their goals and execute in an agile manner.
Vauban’s success story sheds light on the potential for ambitious founders to exploit opportunities in sub-sectors which are less obvious or trendy. While many founders were spinning their wheels on overhyped themes, Vauban instead took aim at pain points in fund creation and administration. Their success story also sheds light on Pi Labs’ view of the widening interplay between the built world and technology entrepreneurship. After our 2020 research into the future of real estate investment management, we identified real estate investment management as an area ripe for disruption. Vauban is a clear example of a tech-first solution addressing time and cost efficiency improvements in the way the real estate sector, and the wider private assets sector, create and manage funds.
VC investment is a long-term partnership build on trust and real value add. Our journey with Vauban from the early days has been a great example of the power of bringing together an exceptional founding team and a like-minded group of investors, sharing complementary expertise and a strong belief in providing support to the founders only when and where required.
We will continue making investments in this area and are keen to hear from founders continuing to disrupt business-as-usual in antiquated sectors with transferable insights for the built world.
