Paris-based early-stage tech investment firm Motier Ventures unveiled a startup hub called La Maison on Tuesday evening local time. A relatively new investor in the French tech ecosystem is the family office of the Houze family – owners of luxury fashion retailer Galeries Lafayette Group.
Galeries Lafayette department stores’ core assets are its physical retail stores, so they believe physical space for startups gives them an advantage over other tech investment firms.
Early-stage startup founders based in Paris have more options than ever when it comes to raising a seed round. Many unicorn entrepreneurs turn to angel investors. Family offices have diversified their investment strategies amid renewed appetite for tech startups. And early-stage VC firms are still fighting for the best deals.
The most promising startups can choose who they want on their capitalization table. Some investors want to promise contacts with potential clients and business partners. Others promise speedy financial transactions so entrepreneurs can get back to work on their startup.
Motier Ventures is betting on an ecosystem-first approach. Over the past three years, the fund has rapidly expanded capital, including several promising AI companies such as Dust, H and Mistral, as it is now an investor in 85 companies.
They also organized several events that put many entrepreneurs and investors in the same room in the French tech ecosystem. The next step in that strategy is a physical space called la maison (a word that translates to house or house).
Spread over the first three floors of the Lafayette gourmet building next to the Opéra Garnier, La Maison hosts a dozen early-stage startups in this Haussmannian building. It will open in early 2025.
The fourth floor is a bit different as it functions as an event/demo day/hackathon/cocktail reception space. “This is a big project, and we are driven not only by Motier Ventures, but by the entire entrepreneurial and family ecosystem that we represent for five generations. Through Motier,” said Guillaume Houze, founder of Motier Ventures, at an AI-focused event held in Paris.
“With Galeries Lafayette, we’re trying to support those who ultimately make the best brands,” he added, adding that the fund’s mission for La Maison is simply to support “extraordinary teams” by providing work and meeting space. Creativity – or “a space where we collectively reflect on the vision of the society we want to build”, as he puts it.
In many ways, the pitch for La Maison recalls the early days of local tech hub The Family. Almost 10 years ago, The Family opened as a startup accelerator with a beautiful event space that quickly became the town square of the French tech ecosystem.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the family had no choice but to close the place to cut costs. Recently, it was back in the news for all the wrong reasons as one of the co-founders of The Family, Ussama Ammar, was sued for allegedly embezzling millions of euros.
For people who have been working in the French tech ecosystem for more than a few years, The Family’s meetups and dinners are now a distant memory. And nothing has really stepped in to replace it. While Station F is an amazing startup megacampus, it’s too big for casual and informal events. La Maison may become the new default space for hosting small gatherings.
“Our ambition is to foster an environment where the next generation of tech entrepreneurs in AI and beyond are supported, inspired and connected every day,” said Nicolas Essayan, partner at Motier Ventures, in a statement.
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