Orange Ventures, established in January 2021, is the operator Orange’s corporate fund. This investment firm, endowed with 350 million euros, takes over the activities and assets of the previous fund, Orange Digital Ventures, which was established in 2015. Jérôme Berger, now chairman and managing partner of Orange Ventures, was tasked with creating this updated version.
A corporate fund that advertises its ability to act quickly
flexibly and independently in making financial decisions, Jérôme Berger’s initial qualifications for Orange Ventures are as follows:
“We aim to combine the best of both worlds: Orange’s commercial knowledge as well as the decision-making agility and quality of financial monitoring of the finest venture capital managers,” Jérôme Berger said in a statement at the fund’s debut.
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As a corporate fund, Orange Ventures grants access to the Orange ecosystem to the startups it invests in. This access to the Orange ecosystem, according to Jérôme Berger, “contributes to our desirability” in the ultra-competitive universe in which we live. One of the various Orange processes interacting with startups is its staff of roughly fifteen individuals.”
“Interactions with digital ecosystems, and especially with startups, serve as a common ground for many different entities, each of which plays a specific role. Direct investments in companies are handled by Orange Ventures. Our major goal is still to make a profit, thus we must look for the top competitors in each industry,” Jérôme Berger said.
The fund closely collaborates with each of the group’s business units to determine their needs and potential growth areas. “We pre-synergize in startups while putting our money on the success of the meeting between the group and the startups. For the 2021–2022 class, 90% of startups have signed contracts with the group, thus it has so far worked out fairly well,” Jérôme Berger said.
Multi-country investment theses that span various maturation phases
At the conclusion of 2019, Orange Ventures was officially revealed as a component of the group’s strategic plan. According to Jérôme Berger, the goal was to “amplify the investment capacity, broaden the investment theses, and rethink the synergies between the startups and the business.”
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The primary strategy targets established European companies and invests up to $20 million per round, primarily in series B. The fund has changed its strategy to invest in these businesses since they are more likely to complement the Orange Group. IT network, digital transformation, security, and fintech are the four key topics covered, all of which are connected to the group’s prior business ventures. B2C marketplaces, media content and gaming with companies like Brut, and e-health with the newest investment, Sêmeia, are three additional areas of investment that have been introduced.
Orange Ventures Impact, based in Europe, is funding three themes — energy efficiency, inclusion, and assisting people — with seed and series A investments ranging from 750,000 to 3 million euros.
Additionally, 50 million are earmarked for Africa, where the Orange Group has a longstanding presence. One goal is to support the growth of future tech leaders from Africa both within the continent and outside of it. Jérôme Berger says, “In Africa, innovation is less segmented and more numerous; as a result, our investment sectors are more diverse, and we invest in the broad concept of the digitalization of the economy. Orange Venture, on the other hand, wants to help revitalise the environment in the eighteen nations where the company is present.
According to Jérôme Berger: “We have already invested in about ten startups, and our goal is to help one hundred startups by 2025.”
Three major areas of development
Around fifty startups have received funding from the fund, which has offices in Cairo and Paris, including 18 in 2021. Orange Ventures plans to expand in three key areas over the next few years. The fund’s primary goals are to promote investment in the area and engage with regional ecosystems. Additionally, it wants to expand its ability to make direct investments in the nations where Orange is active.
According to Jérôme Berger: “Today, the majority of investments in Europe are centred on the Nordics, London, Berlin, and Paris, but there are tremendous opportunities to be taken advantage of in Romania, Poland, and Belgium.”
Finally, the fund wants to shift its focus from mostly investing in software startups to more industrial startups.
Orange Ventures African startups Orange Ventures African startups
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard