Acceleration of
entrepreneurial projects
C4 Industries, which manages the entire C4 platform portfolio, backs startups with C4 Ventures, champions small and medium companies preserving heritage and promoting green transition with C4 Manufactures, and places direct minority investments through C4 Participations.
In 2024, we introduced C4 Manufactures, a bold initiative to be the anchor investor in companies that contribute to preserving national heritage, and epitomize the French “Art de Vivre”, or enable a faster green transition – two sectors where France leads the way.
Brand, Manufacturing, and Go to Market
With a Buy & Build approach, we look for small and medium companies with strong immaterial assets – embodied by a strong brand, exceptional savoir-faire or intellectual property -, which often have under-invested manufacturing facilities, and need for Go to Market optimization.
Being an Anchor Investor, we strive to provide these companies with the right kind of support and resources to achieve a sustainable and lasting transformation.
This means that we can be opportunistic and include companies that have interesting value-propositions to speed up the ecological transition, re-shore industrial production or foster digital sovereignty.
A long-burning conviction in Heritage
We are deeply rooted in the Heritage sector: since 2015, we have led discussions with more than 20 companies that preserve national heritage, highlight the “intelligence of the hand” or contribute to the success and influence of France, among them: Lalique, Saint-Louis, Taillardat, Craman Lagarde, Emaux de Longwy, Zuber, and we audited Baccarat.T
his led us to our first investment: in September 2024, we became anchor investor in Maison Lelièvre, a symbol of French excellence for over 300 years, renowned for its exceptional patrimonial heritage and its unique ability to seamlessly blend tradition with modernity.
C4 Participations, established in 2011, focuses on fostering growth in the dynamic world of tech through strategic minority investments.
C4 Ventures is a leading European Venture firm led by former Apple and Microsoft executives, a team of business operators backing ambitious tech entrepreneurs.
More than an investor
More than an investor, we strive to create value through deep understanding, strong involvement, and concrete operational support. Leveraging on the team’s second-to-none authority in European go-to-market, we notably strive to accelerate companies’ expansion into and across Europe.
Our strategy is based on the team’s operational and investment background in three major themes:
- Smart Hardware
- Future of Commerce
- Future of Work
People, Products, and Technology
People, Products, and Technology drive our investment decisions. We look for founding teams who are not afraid of challenging the status quo and making a global impact on business, society, and our planet.
We invest from Series A onwards and we can act both as lead and co-investor, with the same level of dedication and support.
Since inception in 2014, C4 Ventures has backed over 50 companies of which 9 became unicorns.