Daphni is a Paris VC founded in 2015. It invests €500,000 to €8 million at pre-Series A and Series A through its Blue fund, which held its final close at €260 million in January 2026. The fund takes applications through an online form, and the steps are in the section How to apply to Daphni. To compare it with other VC funds in France, see also our list of VCs in Paris.
Daphni announced its first fund, Purple, at €150 million in October 2016, eighteen months after Marie Ekeland, Pierre-Eric Leibovici, Pierre-Yves Meerschman, Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix founded the firm (Maddyness). Ten years later, it has backed two French unicorns, Back Market and Swile, and has just closed Blue, a €260 million fund focused on startups that come out of research labs (Maddyness, January 2026). In between, three of the five founders left and Marc Simoncini merged his fund, Jaïna Capital, into Daphni. This profile walks through those three periods, then covers the team, ticket sizes and portfolio listed on daphni.com as of September 2026.
Screenshot of the daphni.com homepage (March 2026)
The history of Daphni
Daphni has changed its leadership team twice and its investment thesis once. The name, the community model and two of the five founders have stayed.
2015-2016: the first fund and the "VC as a Platform" model
Marie Ekeland left Elaia Partners, where she had invested in Criteo, and founded Daphni in April 2015 with Pierre-Eric Leibovici, Pierre-Yves Meerschman and two France Digitale alumni, Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix. The Purple fund closed at €150 million in October 2016 (Maddyness).
The model had a name: "VC as a Platform." When the fund was announced, Daphni described itself as "a pan-European community fund bringing together an ecosystem of more than 200 players in the digital economy" (institutional investors, corporates, family offices, entrepreneurs), with an online platform where startups apply and get access to members. Those members, the "daphnipolitans," help with sourcing, evaluating and supporting portfolio companies. The community page on daphni.com now lists "400+ minds," meaning more than 400 members.
2016-2019: the original thesis and the first wins
Purple targeted European startups with international ambitions, around three themes: the collective, quality of life and inventiveness (Maddyness). According to the portfolio page on daphni.com, the fund invested in Swile in 2016, then Back Market and Memo Bank in 2017. In June 2020, Société Générale acquired Shine, a neobank for freelancers backed by XAnge, Daphni and Kima Ventures, for an undisclosed amount that TechCrunch put at €100 million (Maddyness).
2019-2020: the founders leave and Marc Simoncini arrives
In 2019, Marie Ekeland, Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix left Daphni. The same year, the fund announced a merger with Jaïna Capital, the firm run by Marc Simoncini and his partner Charles-Henry Tranié (Maddyness, July 2019). Marie Ekeland went on to launch 2050, an impact-focused endowment-style fund, in November 2020 (Maddyness).
The combined teams launched Yellow in September 2020: a €90 million first close, a €150 million target, and tickets of €1 to €5 million at pre-Series A and Series A. At that point, Daphni managed €350 million across three vehicles: Purple, Yellow and Jaïna (FrenchWeb).
2025-2026: the Blue fund and the pivot to science
Daphni announced Blue in 2025 and reached its final close at €260 million in January 2026, above target, nine months after a €200 million first close (Maddyness). The fund backs research-driven startups (life sciences, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, AI) and already holds nine companies spun out of labs such as INRIA, INSERM and Institut Curie. Part of Blue's carried interest is tied to ESG criteria (Tech.eu).
Timeline of Daphni's key investments and milestones
The founders and the team
Marie Ekeland, founder, left in 2019
Marie Ekeland designed Daphni's community model, then left the fund in 2019. She now runs 2050, which she launched in November 2020 as an endowment-style fund: a vehicle with no shareholders, built for long-term, impact-driven investing (Maddyness).
Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix, co-founders, left in 2019
Both France Digitale alumni, Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix left Daphni at the same time as Marie Ekeland (Maddyness). According to the daphni.com portfolio page, all three still follow some of the Purple fund's companies. Willy Braun later co-founded Galion.exe, a seed fund backed by The Galion Project community.
Pierre-Eric Leibovici and Pierre-Yves Meerschman, co-founders and managing partners
They are the two founders still running the firm. The daphni.com team page lists both as "Co-founder & Managing Partner." Pierre-Eric Leibovici is the fund's voice on Blue: in his view, "the path from French labs to market remains underexploited" (Maddyness).
Marc Simoncini, venture partner since the Jaïna merger
Meetic founder Marc Simoncini joined Daphni in summer 2019 along with the Jaïna Capital team (FrenchWeb). He is now listed as a venture partner on the team page.
The team page on daphni.com lists 26 people as of September 2026, plus six operating partners and scouts attached to the Dastore fund. The firm is headquartered in Paris.
Daphni's investment thesis
Two things run through all three funds: the community as a tool for sourcing and support, and an appetite for business models that generalist funds tend to overlook. Everything else changed with Blue.
The "VC as a Platform" model
Once you join the portfolio, you get access to the daphnipolitans. The community brings together entrepreneurs, executives, academics and investors, connected through an in-house digital platform. Members surface deals, share market insight during due diligence, then open their networks to funded founders (customers, hires, operational advice). A traditional fund keeps that network limited to its partners and a handful of LPs.
Blue's shift toward science
Blue invests in lab spin-outs and plans around forty investments at a pace of about ten per year, with tickets of €500,000 to €8 million at pre-Series A and Series A (Maddyness). The first companies are Owlo (real-time 3D microscopy), Karavela (a brain foundation model built on functional MRI) and Neotis (immunotherapy for age-related chronic diseases). The fund also finances the Blue Fellowship, a six-week hybrid program for European PhD students, postdocs and research engineers who want to build a company from their work (daphni.com).
The conviction behind Blue rests on figures the fund highlights in Maddyness: France has more than 330,000 researchers and Europe 2.2 million, and French research spending reaches €60 billion a year. Daphni wants to turn that scientific capital into companies, with tickets large enough to sustain the long timelines of biotech and physics.
Stages, tickets and geography
Ticket size depends on the vehicle. Yellow invests €1 to €5 million at pre-Series A and Series A (FrenchWeb), and Blue €500,000 to €8 million at the same stages. The fund invests across Europe, with its headquarters and team in Paris.
Specialist funds
Dastore, launched in 2022 with Carrefour, has €80 million for digital commerce startups: retail fintech, data, impact food, e-commerce and the future of grocery (Carrefour press release). Time4 backs founders from underrepresented, rural or working-class backgrounds, with a €50 million first close and three partners: Les Déterminés, Live for Good and HEC (Finyear). The daphni.com site gives 2026 as Time4's launch date and lists it as the third active fund alongside Blue and Dastore.
How to apply to Daphni
The daphni.com site has a "Pitch us!" button that leads to the apply.daphni.com form (checked on September 23, 2026). Daphni points to the same address in the Blue fund announcement: "apply today at apply.daphni.com."
Ways to reach Daphni
- The apply.daphni.com form. Daphni links to it from its website and in its fund announcements. Have your deck ready before you fill it in.
- An intro through the community. A daphnipolitan or a portfolio founder can pass your deal to the team with two lines of context.
- The Blue Fellowship. If you are a PhD student, postdoc or research engineer, Daphni funds this six-week hybrid program for researchers who want to build a company from their work.
Your deck and your ask
Size your ask to the published tickets: €500,000 to €8 million at pre-Series A and Series A for Blue, €1 to €5 million for Yellow. If your startup comes out of a lab, name it in the first slides of your deck, since Blue specifically backs research spin-outs.
Raising €50,000 to €500,000 with swanbase
swanbase invests €50,000 to €500,000 at seed and Series A, in France and across Europe. Our six investment theses and the application form are on the raise funds with swanbase page.
Notable portfolio
The portfolio page on daphni.com lists 97 companies as of September 2026, spread across Purple, Yellow, Blue, Dastore and Time4. The companies below shaped the fund's story.
Daphni's main investments and notable exits
Back Market, a marketplace for refurbished electronics, joined the Purple portfolio in 2017. In January 2022, the company raised €450 million at a €5.1 billion valuation, the highest for a French startup at the time (Boursorama).
Swile, formerly Lunchr, an employee benefits card, joined the Purple portfolio in 2016. In October 2021, the company raised $200 million led by SoftBank and crossed the $1 billion valuation mark (FrenchWeb).
Pasqal, a neutral-atom quantum computer built on the work of Alain Aspect (2022 Nobel Prize in Physics), joined the Yellow portfolio in 2021, according to daphni.com.
Société Générale acquired Shine, a neobank for freelancers, in June 2020, two and a half years after its launch (Maddyness). It is the Purple fund's most visible exit.
Memo Bank, an SME bank built from scratch with its own banking license, joined the Purple portfolio in 2017, according to daphni.com.
Key figures
The figures below come from Daphni's official pages or a named press article.
| Item | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015, Paris | Maddyness |
| Purple fund | €150M (2016) | Maddyness |
| Yellow fund | €90M first close, €150M target (2020) | FrenchWeb |
| Blue fund | €260M, final close January 2026 | Maddyness |
| Dastore (with Carrefour) | €80M (2022) | Carrefour |
| Time4 | €50M first close | Finyear |
| Blue tickets | €500K to €8M, pre-Series A and Series A | Maddyness |
| Listed portfolio companies | 97 (September 2026) | daphni.com/portfolio |
| Team | 26 people, plus 6 operating partners and scouts | daphni.com/team |
| Community | more than 400 members ("400+ minds") | daphni.com/community |
| Deals in 2025 | 17, third most active investor in France | JDN |
| Certification | B Corp, earned in 2022 (score 105.8), renewed in 2025 (score 160.8) | daphni.com |
FAQ
How do I contact Daphni to pitch?
Daphni takes applications through the apply.daphni.com form, linked from the "Pitch us!" button on its website. You can also get an intro from a community member or a portfolio founder. Researchers can apply to the Blue Fellowship, a six-week program funded by Daphni.
What is Daphni's ticket size?
The Blue fund invests €500,000 to €8 million per startup at pre-Series A and Series A. The Yellow fund (2020) invests €1 to €5 million at the same stages.
How big is Daphni's Blue fund?
Blue closed at €260 million in January 2026, above its target. It backs research-driven startups (biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, AI) with tickets of €500,000 to €8 million at pre-Series A and Series A. At the time of the close, nine portfolio companies had already come out of labs such as INRIA, INSERM and Institut Curie.
Is Marie Ekeland still at Daphni?
No. Marie Ekeland left Daphni in 2019 along with two other co-founders, Willy Braun and Mathieu Daix, and launched 2050 in November 2020. Daphni is now led by the two remaining co-founders, Pierre-Eric Leibovici and Pierre-Yves Meerschman, with Marc Simoncini as venture partner since the merger with Jaïna Capital.
Who are the daphnipolitans?
The daphnipolitans are Daphni's community: entrepreneurs, executives, academics and investors connected through an in-house digital platform. The fund's website counts more than 400 of them. They surface deals, share their views during due diligence and open their networks to funded founders.
Does Daphni invest in lab spin-outs?
Yes, through the Blue fund, which plans around forty investments at a pace of about ten per year. The first companies, Owlo, Karavela and Neotis, come out of French labs. The fund also runs the Blue Fellowship, a six-week program for European researchers preparing to start a company.
Further reading
- top VCs in Paris
- VC funds in France in 2026
- raise funds with swanbase
- accelerators and incubators in France
