Acceleration of
entrepreneurial projects
C4 Industries, which manages the entire C4 platform portfolio, backs startups with C4 Ventures, champions craftsmanship and industrial companies preserving heritage with C4 Manufactures, and places direct strategic investments through C4 Participations.
In 2024, we launched C4 Manufactures, a bold initiative to become an anchor investor in industry. We support companies that preserve French and European heritage and embody the French art de vivre. Our mission: to preserve and create jobs in France and Europe.
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 Baccarat.
This has led us to our first investment: in September 2024, we became anchor investor in Maison Lelièvre,followed by Faïencerie de Gien in September 2025 and Duvivier Canapés in November 2025.
All three have been awarded the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (EPV) label, while Lelièvre and Gien are members of the Comité Colbert. These French maisons, renowned for their exceptional artisanal and industrial savoir-faire, now benefit from a long-term strategic project designed to support their international expansion, backed by an exclusively family-owned and management-led shareholding structure with no constrained exit horizon.
May 22, 2026, marks the official launch of C4 Manufactures group.
All support functions are being consolidated, while product creation, brand management and manufacturing operations remain fully distinct. With 380 employees, three manufactures and a logistics center in Compiègne, C4 Manufactures already showcases French savoir-faire in more than 45 countries.
C4 Participations, established in 2011, focuses on fostering growth in the dynamic world of tech through direct strategic 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:
- Future of Compute
- Physical AI
- Augmented Enterprise
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 12 became unicorns.