The European Capital Venture is changing. In 2025, startups must meet increased profitability and scalability requirements, while artificial intelligence is an essential investment criterion. In this context, investment funds must adapt their strategies to identify and support future technological champions from their beginnings.
This is precisely the mission of FRST Capitalan investment fund Day Oneco -founded by Pierre Entremont And Bruno Raillard. Their approach is based on a clear postulate: finance entrepreneurs even before the registration of their business, by focusing on exceptional profiles capable of building the next European unicorns.
To talk about it, Richard Menneveux receives, this week, Pierre Entremontco -founder and general partner of FRST Capital, in the Frenchweb club in partnership with Canalchat.
For a decade, FRST Capitalco -founded by Pierre Entremont And Bruno Raillardhas established itself as a key player in the financing of French startups. Specializing in pre-built investments, the fund claims a radical approach: to finance entrepreneurs even before their company is registered. A strategy that is based on a central principle: to bet everything on the founder.
An investment model focused on humans
FRST is distinguished by a rapid investment process, often in 48 hoursand a rigorous selection of project leaders. The objective is not simply to detect promising ideas, but to identify entrepreneurs with three fundamental qualities: ambition, vision, execution.
“Ambition is a raw energy, often linked to a deep psychological engine. The vision makes it possible to stack complex concepts to sail in a moving market. Finally, the execution demonstrates the ability to focus its efforts on a long -term objective, ”explains Pierre Entremont.
Another essential criterion: theunique insight. For FRST, an entrepreneur ready to be funded must have a intimate understanding of rupture technology And identify a problem that this technology can solve. A key point that distinguishes high potential projects from those who struggle to find their market.
An exponential growth funding strategy
Contrary to popular belief, the model of burning cash startups to accelerate their growth remains predominant. “A startup that makes profits too early is a company that does not know how to invest in growing faster,” said Pierre Entremont. The objective of FRST’s investments is to allow startups to cross significant growth thresholds, in the hope of reaching a valuation of several billion euros.
In this logic, the fund prefers to focus on a small number of ultra-selective investments. “We are studying around 3,000 files per year, we are filting 500 startups for interviews, and investing in ten of them. »»
AI and Venture Capital: an obligatory passage
Artificial intelligence has become an essential criterion for investment funds. FRST is no exception. “We can no longer finance a startup without a strong AI component. Whether in the development of models such as Openai or in their application to specific sectors, AI is today a sine qua non condition for considering rapid and sustainable growth ”, analysis Pierre Entremont.
In this context, FRST has made several strategic investments, notably in Poolspecialized in the generation of code by AI, Owkina bio -a startup, or Commandedpositioned on AI applications in defense.
A European market still late in the United States
Despite notable progress, the venture capital ecosystem in Europe remains behind the United States. “In Europe, startups are less often great successes, and when they achieve it, they reach less sizes than their American counterparts,” notes Pierre Entremont.
Several factors explain this gap. The European economic fabric is less digital, with less than 10 % of French SMEs using SaaS tools, compared to 60 % in the United States. The too strong presence of Biaise public funding The fundraising strategy and encourages investments in moderate successes. Risk culture is also less developed among entrepreneurs and investors.
Well identified sectoral opportunities
Despite these challenges, certain sectors have great potential in Europe. Health offers major opportunities to digitize hospitals and revolutionize care management. Finance, illustrated by the success of Revolutvalued at 45 billion euros, shows the capacity of the European market to bring out Fintech champions. Defense is a underfunded sector where AI and robotics offer major perspectives.
A future under regulatory constraint
The impact of European regulations is a divisive subject. Pierre Entremont Critique an too early and rigid approach, especially on the GDPR and AI Act. “Europe regulates technologies it does not yet understand, which risks slowing down its ecosystem,” he warns. Despite everything, he believes that the trend could be reversed. The Draghi report marks an awareness of the excessive weight of certain standards, with in particular a questioning of compulsory environmental reporting for startups.
