The €80m fund, created in partnership with French banking group Caisses d’Epargne, aims to identify and finance companies developing and providing products or services connected to sports.
As well as food or nutrition, the fund’s interests also include innovative clothing, connected devices, digital innovations and equipment or events that promote the practice of sports.
“Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been actively funding innovative French and European companies, especially within the evolving fields of health, food and nutrition, and digital technologies,” says Isabelle de Crémoux, Seventure Partners CEO and managing partner.
“The economics of sports are deeply disrupted by the innovations and we will work side-by-side with entrepreneurs selected by the fund, giving them full access to our team of investors and their expertise, networks and know-how.“
Seventure helping hand
Seventure have been most active in the field of sports food and nutrition, having contributed to an extra €27.2m to microbiome research firm DayTwo as part of a series B round of fundraising.
The financing, which brings DayTwo's total funding to €42.2m ($48m), will fund ongoing product and service development that target the gut microbiome for metabolic and gastrointestinal conditions.
More investment came in the form of Health for Life Capital II (HFL II) – the venture capitalists’ microbiome-focused fund, which raised over €200m in finance ring-fenced for gut health innovation and food technology.
Sports Nutrition Summit
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Bringing together industry and research professionals in the active and performance nutrition space, the Sports Nutrition Summit aims to bridge the gaps between cutting edge science, business strategy and key regulatory developments to shine a light on the key consumers in the sports and active nutrition industry, and what you can do to meet their needs.
Challenging you to know your athlete the 2019 programme will explore the latest scientific and product developments across the consumer spectrum - looking at active sports nutrition consumers by category, life stage and by geography.
Together with Caisses d’Epargne, the fund now looks to invest the €80m in French companies with “high growth potential,” selected for their innovation or know-how in the fields of sports and wellness.
The fund’s investment period will coincide with the beginning of the Paris Olympic Games in July 2024 with the investment team identifying around 15 candidate companies.
The fund, ‘Sport & Performance Capital,’ will then support these companies during their development in order to accelerate their growth, until 2029.
Through this French fund dedicated to the economics of sports, in the momentum of Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Caisse d’Epargne confirms its willingness to be a useful bank, eager to support, finance and accompany entrepreneurship in the fields of sports and wellness, everywhere in France,” said Fabrice Gourgeonnet, head of business development at Caisse d’Epargne.
Advisory committee
The fund will look to form an advisory investment committee consisting of Caisse d’Epargne managers and athletes past and present.
These include Sarah Ourahmoune, Rio Olympic Games vice-champion, founder and CEO of Boxer Inside, and Tanguy de La Forest, member of Archery French team and co-founder of Défi RH Consulting, and Seventure Partners’ experts.
Further investors are expected to invest in the fund and especially other branches of Groupe BPCE, among which the Banque Populaire.
Caisse d'Epargne are no strangers to food and nutrition investment. In February of this year, the group provided financial backing to Ÿnsect, a firm specialising in breeding insects and transforming them into premium ingredients.
The banking group were part of a consortium that raised a €110m as part of a Series C round to fund construction of an insect farm in Northern France and develop its presence in the US market.