FFT x BPI: Fundraising March 2023 & first quarter 2023 of French fintech

March 2023

March is in line with the trend observed for almost half a year, namely a reduced level of fundraising with €177 million in 10 operations.

Bravo KillBills, Ledger, Koala, Carbonable, Roundtable, YMO, Respaid, N2F, Elyn and SESAMm!

First quarter 2023

The first quarter recorded a cumulative amount of €302m in 33 transactions compared to a quarterly average of €731m in 2022 and €568m in 2021. The main sectors concerned are functional services (32%) and crypto following in particular Ledger's fundraising of €100 million.

This low water level is obviously the result of a wait-and-see attitude among investors due to the international macro-economic situation and a lower need for financing due to the reduction, by many start-ups, of recurring costs and the postponement of certain investment projects ( especially international ones) in this climate of uncertainty. The slowdown observed in France is in line with that of the main European markets. The rounds have involved, for 3 quarters, mainly investors from previous rounds. Note the good performance of seed operations (3/4 of operations and more than 1/3 of the amounts raised), mobilizing in particular a high number of Business Angels (39% of the raisings include at least one BA) and recourse more debt-backed.

Ledger as the swallow?

Ledger has announced a new fundraising of €100M as an extension of its Series C. This will simplify the user experience to strengthen its position as a leader in securing cryptoassets for the general public. Ledger thus maintains its valuation at 1,3 billion euros.