Kima Ventures invests "150k one off tickets in 100 new deals per year. Any stage, deal size & sector", according to the kimaventures.com homepage, which adds "we back 2 startups per week". The portfolio page on the same site lists 984 companies as of September 2026. No other European fund claims that kind of volume: in 2025, Kima took part in 45 rounds in France, making it the most active private investor of the year after Bpifrance (JDN).
Kima is one of Xavier Niel's investment vehicles, alongside NJJ Holding and Station F. This profile covers where its model comes from, who makes the decisions, and what the single-ticket approach means for you if you're targeting it. To contact the fund, jump straight to How to apply to Kima Ventures.
Screenshot of the kimaventures.com homepage (March 2026)
The history of Kima Ventures
Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad (Free), and Jérémie Berrebi, an entrepreneur and angel investor, launched Kima Ventures in March 2010 to back 50 to 100 startups a year, anywhere in the world (Wikipedia, Jeremie Berrebi). Station F didn't exist yet, and French venture capital was funding only a few dozen seed rounds a year. The original bet came down to three things: high deal flow, modest checks and fast decisions.
A family office with no LPs
The capital comes from Xavier Niel: "We invest only his money", Jean de La Rochebrochard wrote in 2019 (2lr.substack.com). Kima has no institutional LPs to win over and no external investment committee, which goes a long way toward explaining its speed. The fund bets on founding teams rather than metrics, and relies on the sheer number of positions to absorb the risk of each individual check.
2015: Jean de La Rochebrochard takes the helm
Jérémie Berrebi announced his departure in May 2015. Jean de La Rochebrochard, a former investment banker who then worked at TheFamily, joined Kima in September 2015 and announced it in a Medium post. He has run the investment strategy, the team and the decision process ever since. In 2018, FrenchWeb described his desk: "400 to 500 applications come in every week", of which two on average make the cut (FrenchWeb).
2024-2026: the pace picks up again
Kima went from 39 investments in France in 2024 to 45 in 2025, according to the JDN tally. Dealroom counts 949 investments in total, 23 unicorns and 2 decacorns in the portfolio, and ranks Kima as the 35th most active investor worldwide in 2026 (Dealroom). The fund's homepages highlight Mistral, Deel, Photoroom, Pennylane, Pigment, Alan, Airbyte, Agicap and Sorare.
Timeline of Kima Ventures' key investments and milestones
Founders and team
Xavier Niel, the fund's owner
Founder of Iliad (Free) and Station F, and co-founder of the 42 coding school, Xavier Niel bankrolls Kima. The team screens the deals, sends him a green light for each one it wants to do, and he signs off. So if you want to pitch, go to the Kima team. Our guide to Xavier Niel's funds covers his other investment vehicles, including NJJ Holding.
Jean de La Rochebrochard, managing partner since 2015
He runs sourcing, evaluation and decisions. From 2008 to 2013 he advised startups on fundraising as an investment banker, then joined TheFamily in 2013 (Décideurs Magazine). Our profile of Jean de La Rochebrochard details his method, his interview criteria and his public writing.
The Kima Ventures team
Kima doesn't publish a team page. In 2019, Jean de La Rochebrochard described a three-person team. In 2026, five investors list the fund on LinkedIn:
- Jean de La Rochebrochard, managing partner;
- Alexis Robert, general partner, who built the fund's internal tools and hires an intern every year through a public post;
- Chloé Timsit, partner;
- Félix de Breucker, a former operator, who announced joining Kima in March 2025;
- Edouard Goût, investor.
The team stays small by design, trading process for decisions. Each member manages several hundred relationships with portfolio companies.
Kima's investment thesis
The fund's website sums it up in one line: a single check, a hundred new deals a year, any stage, any round size, any sector.
Sector-agnostic by conviction
Kima has no favorite sector. SaaS, fintech, biotech, marketplaces, deeptech, consumer: the portfolio page sorts its 984 companies into more than forty sectors, from e-commerce to space (Loft Orbital), including health (Alan) and finance (Pennylane, iBanFirst). The conviction is statistical: at the stage where Kima comes in, nobody knows which sector will produce the next unicorn, so the fund spreads its checks as widely as possible.
The single check
Kima's most distinctive rule is captured in "one off tickets": one check per startup. If you raise a Series A later, Kima won't put in more money. The fund would rather multiply its bets than concentrate capital on apparent winners. Across nearly a thousand positions, a handful of exits is enough to carry the model: Wise (formerly TransferWise) listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021 at a market cap of £8 billion (Fortune), and PayFit raised €254 million in 2022 at a €1.82 billion valuation (L'Usine Digitale).
Check size and pace
The standard check is a fixed €150,000, across roughly a hundred new deals a year, or two a week according to the website. At that check size, that works out to about €15 million deployed each year. Kima invests worldwide, and the portfolio page lists each company's country, with France in the lead.
Speed as a method
Receiving 400 to 500 applications a week and keeping two forces fast decisions, with no committee and no heavy due diligence. For you, that means a first answer in days rather than months, and a check that reassures later investors: having Kima on your cap table is a signal that seed and Series A VCs pay attention to.
How to apply to Kima Ventures
The kimaventures.com website has no application form and no contact address: it consists of a homepage and the portfolio list (checked on September 23, 2026). Kima sources most of its deals itself.
How Kima screens deals
In 2019, Jean de La Rochebrochard described the fund's internal process:
- Every week, an in-house scouting tool surfaces around 200 startups, and the team receives more than 50 others by email.
- Every team member goes through the entire list.
- The first meeting lasts 30 minutes. After each meeting, the team pins down the two or three questions that will decide the deal.
- When the team wants to invest, it sends a green light to Xavier Niel, who signs off.
- Kima signs the paperwork and sends the wire from its own interface, built with iBanFirst.
Three ways to reach the fund
- An intro from a portfolio founder. With 984 companies listed, someone in your network probably knows a Kima-backed founder. Ask them to forward your deck with two lines of context.
- A direct email to a team member. According to RocketReach, 88% of Kima's addresses follow the [email protected] format. Write to one person only, attach your deck as a PDF and put your numbers in the body of the email. Our guide to cold emailing VCs includes templates.
- LinkedIn. Kima announces every investment on its LinkedIn page, and Félix de Breucker posts about the fund's day-to-day there. A thoughtful comment on one of his posts gives you a first touchpoint before you email.
The deck to send
The fund's Medium blog sums up the rule: a deck should be "complete & short" (Kima Ventures). In his pitch deck guide, Jean de La Rochebrochard puts the founder profiles in the last section of the deck, with the highlights of their backgrounds. Our pitch deck guide walks through the structure slide by slide.
Keep the check size in mind: a fixed €150,000, with no follow-on. Position Kima as one line in your round and plan to raise the rest elsewhere.
Raise €50,000 to €500,000 with swanbase
If your round is bigger than Kima's check, 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
With 984 companies listed on kimaventures.com/portfolio, Kima's portfolio is larger than that of any other French fund. The fund's website and the press document the following companies.
Kima Ventures' main investments and notable exits
Wise (formerly TransferWise): international money transfers. Direct listing on the London Stock Exchange on July 7, 2021, with a market cap of £8 billion at the open, more than double the valuation of its 2020 round (Fortune).
PayFit: payroll and HR software for SMBs. €254 million Series E in January 2022 at a €1.82 billion valuation, with €433 million raised in total (L'Usine Digitale).
Zenly: a location-sharing app for friends. Snap acquired it in 2017 for $213 million in cash, according to its SEC filings (TechCrunch).
The website also lists iBanFirst (B2B international payments), Alan (health insurance), Sorare (digital trading cards), Pennylane (accounting) and Loft Orbital (space), which reached unicorn status in 2025, five years after Kima's first check, according to Dealroom.
Key figures
The figures below come from the fund's website or a named source, as of the date shown.
| Data point | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | March 2010, Paris | Wikipedia, Jeremie Berrebi |
| Check size | €150,000, single check, no follow-on | kimaventures.com |
| Pace | 100 new deals a year, 2 a week | kimaventures.com |
| Listed portfolio companies | 984 (September 2026) | kimaventures.com/portfolio |
| Deals in France in 2025 | 45, up from 39 in 2024 | JDN |
| Unicorns | 23, including 2 decacorns | Dealroom |
| Stage and sector | any stage, any round size, any sector | kimaventures.com |
| Structure | family office, Xavier Niel's capital only | 2lr.substack.com |
| How to apply | no form, intro or email to the team | kimaventures.com, September 2026 |
FAQ
What is Kima Ventures' check size?
Kima invests €150,000 per startup, a fixed amount stated on its website. The check doesn't vary by sector or stage: the fund writes "any stage, deal size & sector". It doesn't reinvest in later rounds.
How do I contact Kima Ventures to pitch?
Kima's website has no form and no contact address. Get an intro from a portfolio founder, or email a team member: according to RocketReach, addresses follow the [email protected] format. In 2019, the fund surfaced around 200 startups a week with its scouting tool and received more than 50 by email.
Who is on the Kima Ventures team?
Five investors represent Kima in 2026: Jean de La Rochebrochard (managing partner), Alexis Robert (general partner), Chloé Timsit (partner), Félix de Breucker and Edouard Goût. Xavier Niel funds the fund and signs off on every deal the team brings him.
Does Xavier Niel own Kima Ventures?
Yes. Kima is Xavier Niel's family office and invests only his money, according to Jean de La Rochebrochard. Xavier Niel owns other investment vehicles, including NJJ Holding, covered in our guide to Xavier Niel's funds.
How many startups has Kima Ventures funded?
The kimaventures.com portfolio page lists 984 companies as of September 2026. Dealroom counts 949 investments and 23 unicorns. The fund targets around a hundred new deals a year, or two a week.
Does Kima Ventures do follow-on investments?
No. The website talks about "one off tickets": one check per startup. If you raise a later round, Kima won't take part. This rule lets the fund spread its capital across more companies instead of concentrating it.
Further reading
- Xavier Niel's investment funds
- Jean de La Rochebrochard, Kima's managing partner
- cold emailing VCs: templates and follow-ups
- top VCs in Paris
- raise funds with swanbase
