Cathay Innovation

📍Today, we’re celebrating a huge milestone with the official launch of Cathay Innovation Fund III. This €1B global venture capital fund will be one of the largest multi-stage venture funds which we’ve dedicated to the transformation of industries & society 💫  Cathay’s Denis Barrier digs in to the vision behind Fund III, our evolution as a global firm and what we see as the next-gen VC playbook. Highlights: 💥 $2B+ AUM, 5 continents, 120+ startups, 19 unicorns — since starting in 2015 ⚙️ Activating the sustainable transformation flywheel with: - A global team & platform - A corporate ecosystem as investors & strategic partners - A sustainable investment framework 🚀 The next-gen VC playbook incorporates purpose & returns in a new phase that takes us from open innovation to transformation More here: https://lnkd.in/g2h-MJjX  CC: Cathay Capital Ming-Po Cai Sanofi TotalEnergies Valeo BNP Paribas Cardif Groupe SEB Groupe ADP #venturecapital #digitaltransformation #technology #startups #globaleconomy #investing #frenchtech

🎤 Earlier today, Marguerite de Tavernost was a guest at BFM Business’ “Crypto, le Club” to provide an overview of 2024 in crypto, and share a few insights on how things might evolve in 2025   So what happened this year?   🐻 After what was quite a lengthy bear market period, these past few months have re-energized Bitcoin and the market overall, bringing a much-anticipated breath of fresh air to the industry. Back in January, the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs by the SEC, and later Ethereum spot ETFs increased general interest and trust in cryptocurrency – an omen for upcoming regulation, and a momentum that BlackRock’s $1 billion milestone only kept going   Already beginning in the US, this regulation trend is expected to spread across Europe and redefine the business framework more clearly, building legitimacy as the industry moves from a gray zone and becomes more durable   And how did all this factor in Ledger Cathay’s strategy?   💸 As Marguerite put it, VC cycles are quite similar to Web3 ones (even though the latter are slightly more intense), and a bear market can be a convenient indicator of a company’s health and potential for growth – if it manages to pull through those quieter phases. For instance, that very aspect boosted our belief in Flowdesk’s longevity and gave way to an increase of our backing ticket!   🐂 We have our bull market, now what?   This new cycle is timely for us at Ledger Cathay, as we find ourselves fully set for the next chapter: having secured the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) – France’s approval, we are now the only French fund to be authorized to invest in crypto tokens, allowing us to be present at the root of the crypto & web3 ecosystem   ✨ We sure are excited to see what 2025 has in store for the industry as well as for our future endeavors!   Watch the whole interview ⤵️

🩺The future of medical research is here, and AQEMIA is the driving force behind it.   This week, we announced AQEMIA’s new $38 million funding round, which brought its cumulative funding to $100 million, an awe-inspiring milestone.   💡Full of promise for upcoming drug discovery, AQEMIA has already made tremendous progress in pharmaceutical research by using quantum physics to train generative AI, a game changer for tomorrow’s clinical treatments all over the world.   🤖 “Ever since its series A funding round three years ago, we have been impressed by the team’s dedication and vision. They’ve created a technology that is powerful enough to process an incredible amount of data at a much lower cost than we’re used to, something that had yet to be seen in the pharmaceutical milieu. We have no doubt about their potential to reinvent the way we approach medical care at a global level, something that they’ve already initiated with their recent expansion to the UK”   Read Jacky Abitbol’s interview in Les Echos Capital Finance Cc: Denis Barrier Jacky Abitbol Paul Pouyanne Maximilien Levesque Emmanuelle Martiano Rolland

It’s been such a pleasure to sit on a panel with Innovation leaders, tech diplomats, consul generals, such as Oliver Schramm, Emilia Pasquier and representatives from #Khazakstan, #India, #Brazil and #Indonesia (Nazira Nurbayeva, Mariana Ferreira Thiele, Srikar Reddy Koppula, and Gita Irawan Wirjawan) talking about diplomacy, the always changing evolution of tech, and the impact there of to businesses at scale locally and globally. What a great discussion with with our two inspiring moderator Olaf J Groth, PhD and Martin Rauchbauer all organised by the incredible Zahar Barth-Manzoori and her Team at German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) San Francisco pushing for insights, changes and awareness for future economic growth and global peace. Photo credit to @Barak Shrama #AI #emergingtech #corporateinnovation #techdiplomacy #startups

In today's WSJ VC newsletter — Cathay Innovation's Simon Wu weighs in on what to expect for venture fund distributions in the year ahead 🔮 “We remain cautiously optimistic for 2025, as a confluence of factors could improve the environment for venture fund distributions. IPO conditions and M&A activity may see positive shifts, supported by stronger growth prospects and improving market sentiment. We anticipate a potential uptick in strategic acquisitions, including smaller M&A deals driven by the increasing scale and activity of large tech companies. Additionally, we expect to see an increase in secondary transactions and private-to-private mergers.” Thanks to Marc Vartabedian and read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gJmvZuqv CC: Cathay Capital #venturecapital #2025

Science and Tech is a core issue for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as it continues to shape the UK’s role on the world stage over the coming decades 🌏   Fantastic to have Jenny Bates – Director General for Economics, Climate and Global Issues – visit us in the Bay Area to meet with thought leaders in the role of Science and Tech in Geopolitics. It was also a great opportunity also to host an event with our marvellous British Bay Area Science and Tech Network, where Jenny spoke about how the UK Government sees S&T from a foreign policy perspective, how it will integrate S&T into the new Industrial Strategy, and how it will back homegrown capabilities.   A special thanks to Matthieu Soulé and the team at Cathay Innovation for hosting the event. #innovation #science #tech

✨Nine years ago, Ming-Po Cai and Denis Barrier met, and the rest is history ✨   United by a common vision and the ambition to build an innovative ecosystem of international companies, with an investment platform that spans across the globe – an approach that was particularly well suited for Europe, where corporations already took center stage of everything business, but pension funds were still a rare commodity.   📈With a first fundraising round of €300 million, supported by Valeo and Bpifrance among others – and our very own cofounders, CI’s Fund I was built around an entrepreneurial approach and a real trust in its upcoming success. And just as planned, Cathay Innovation kept growing!   🌍 “We are now an undisputed player and an investor that helps corporations and startups build long lasting and fruitful partnerships. With offices all around the world and a clear understanding of AI’s impact on the industry, our philosophy has always been “global vision, local leadership”. The way we see it, companies all around the world can inspire one another, from the US to China by way of Europe. For instance, CAC40 corporations can strengthen and maintain their industrial sovereignty by keeping an eye one what the competition is doing and developing products and services that are attractive on an international scale – that’s where CI investment outlook makes a difference”.   Get to know the origin story of Cathay Innovation in Maddyness ⤵️  

🔎 Go Behind the Term Sheet of our latest investment in AQEMIA — the French Quantum DeepTech startup that's closing the loop for AI-driven drug discovery. Fresh off leading its latest $38M round, CI's Denis Barrier digs into how this pioneering biotech is revolutionizing molecule research and the pharma industry as a whole. 💡A few highlights: 🤖 💊 AI in drug discovery has big potential — combining the power of genAI & quantum mechanics creates promising drug candidates faster and reduces the chances of failure in clinical trials. 🔬French scientists are embracing entrepreneurship — Aqemia Founder Maximilien Levesque, an alum from elite Paris institution École Normale Supérieure, represents this shift — transforming cutting-edge research into practical applications. 🤝 Aqemia brings innovation to the real world — with meaningful collaborations like its $148M partnership with Sanofi or its major achievement with Servier, addressing an “undruggable” target in immuno-oncology. Thrilled to partner with Max, Emmanuelle Martiano Rolland and the entire Aqemia team on their mission to accelerate the discovery of new medicines and life-changing treatments for patients 🚀 🌐 📖 Read more on the blog here: https://lnkd.in/gVQpxDaz CC: Cathay Capital, Jacky Abitbol Paul Pouyanne #venturecapital #FrenchTech #DeepTech #QuantumMechanics #AI #drugdiscovery

Today, we’re proud to announce that AQEMIA, our portfolio company, has hit the $100 million mark in cumulative funding, another milestone that strengthens its leadership in terms of AI-powered clinical trials.   💊AQEMIA is a pioneering techbio that trains generative AI in atomic scale physics to reinvent the way we approach drug invention and discovery, something that the company intends to spread on a global scale, starting with the opening of brand-new offices in London.   🔍AQEMIA’s new $38 million funding round occurs less than a year after its first round, showcasing its potential to positively transform the health tech industry and deliver life-changing treatments to patients in need.   🤝For Jacky Abitbol, Managing Partner at Cathay Innovation, “AQEMIA embodies the future of molecular and pharmaceutical research as a whole. Maximilien and Emmanuelle carry a vision that struck a chord for Cathay Innovation, and gave birth to something that goes beyond a financial partnership. Our aim is to put our expertise in the development of AI-oriented businesses to good use, and support AQEMIA’s expansion on a global scale”.   Read our press release for more info ⤵️ Cc: Denis Barrier Jacky Abitbol Paul Pouyanne

🌉 “Like the Golden Gate Bridge that majestically spans San Francisco Bay, C.Lab aims to be a true bridge of innovation between continents, particularly between Europe and the United States.”   Great article in Maddyness outlining our latest initiative, C.Lab — our new strategic advisory arm out of San Francisco dedicated to helping corporations with the open transformation of their organizations.   📈 Since 2014, the Bay Area has attracted $117B of venture capital funding for AI startups – 3x the amount generated by all of Europe during the same time period. Simply put by Matthieu Soulé: “SF is the place to be for AI”. With direct access to emerging startups in Silicon Valley and other major tech hubs and an experienced team led by Matthieu and Arnaud Auger, we believe C.Lab can be a game changer, especially for European businesses who, now more than ever in the AI era, need to keep up with the latest trends to build resilience.   🙏 Many thanks to Maxence Fabrion for their time. Read the full article here: Cc: Denis Barrier Matthieu Soulé Arnaud Auger