ISAI EXPANSION III REACHES ITS €300M HARD CAP AND CLOSES ITS FUNDRAISING
One year after a 1st closing at €190m, ISAI Expansion III, ISAI's Tech Growth / Tech Buyout fund, closes its fundraising after exceeding its target size of €250m and reaching its hard cap of €300m.
ISAI has successfully closed its third Expansion vintage fund, dedicated to profitable tech SMEs. In keeping with its DNA as a fund for entrepreneurs, ISAI has once again benefited from the strong support of the Tech and Digital entrepreneur community.
Pierre Martini, Managing Partner of ISAI and head of the Expansion strategy, commented: « Every time we raise funds, we expand our community of entrepreneur-LPs, which now numbers almost 500 members, mainly from the tech and digital sectors. Almost all the new LPs are either entrepreneurs we have supported as investors or are recommended by our community. »
ISAI Expansion III's unique positioning has also won over new high-profile institutional investors, who account for more than 60% of the fund's final size. These include several funds of funds (such as Flexstone Partners or Swen Capital Partners, which are joining Eurazeo and an international fund of funds); several public entities (such as the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites, which is joining Bpifrance and the European Investment Fund), as well as banks, insurance companies and family offices.
In total, half of the amounts raised came from historic investors, and the other half from new investors.
Caroline Gibert, Head of Investor Relations & ESG, added: « ISAI benefits from a high level of confidence among its existing investors and a consistent investment discipline that has demonstrated its ability to deliver a high DPI. These two factors were decisive in establishing relationships with new LPs, particularly institutional investors, to meet the hard cap set for this fundraising effort. »
A fund designed to pursue the same strategy as its predecessor
ISAI Expansion III, which initially had a target size of €250m, closed its fundraising with a hard cap of €300m, double that of its predecessor. This reasonable and well-considered increase in size will enable the Fund to pursue the ISAI Expansion strategy that has proved to be successful for over 12 years.
« We are, and wish to remain, an investment company serving entrepreneurs who are generally undertaking their first expansion capital or LBO transaction. Although oversubscribed, we decided to close the Fund at the hard cap. This will enable us to remain perfectly in line with our core strategy without compromising our growth and profitability criteria. Our first two funds have achieved 'top quartile' performance to date in Europe, and we want to maintain the discipline that will enable us to maintain this level of performance. » explained Jean-David Chamboredon, CEO and co-founder at ISAI.
« You don't change a formula that works. Since 2013, we have supported 20 companies in Tech Growth / Tech Buyout transactions, and successfully managed the exit of 12 of them, including aDvens, Labelium, Pandat Finance, Invoke and Ascentiel Groupe, the most recent at the end of 2024. Most of our exits are secondary LBOs, typically led by private equity firms. » continued Nicolas Martineau, General Partner at ISAI Expansion.
This new Fund will support between 12 and 15 companies with investments between €10m and €50m (excluding co-investments by our LPs for investments up to €80m), taking minority or majority stakes in France, Southern Europe, Switzerland and the Benelux countries, via Growth Buyouts (companies with sales of at least €10m and EBITDA of €2m) or Tech Growth deals (profitable companies with annual growth of more than 25-30%).
A first portfolio investment, representative of the Fund's strategy
ISAI Expansion III's first investment was announced last September, with Staffmatch, a leading player in the temporary employment sector in France with a proprietary digital platform combined with its own network of agencies.
The deal, which supports the growth acceleration of the business, is a minority OBO with limited financial leverage.
« Staffmatch is a perfect illustration of our Tech-enabled approach, which aims to select companies operating in traditional sectors whose digital approach delivers above-market growth and profitability. ISAI Expansion III could invest around 1/3 of its portfolio in companies of this type, with the remainder targeting tech companies such as Saas, managed services or marketplaces. » concluded Christophe Poupinel, General Partner at ISAI Expansion.
ISAI Expansion III is classified as Article 8 under the SFDR regulations.
Advisors
Law firm: Goodwin Procter (France) LLP, Arnaud David et Barbara Botbol
About ISAI Expansion
For over 12 years, ISAI Expansion has been supporting Tech and Digital entrepreneurs who have chosen the path to profitability via Tech Buyout or Tech Growth operations. ISAI Expansion selects profitable, fast-growing companies with revenues of at least €10 million and invests, either as a majority or minority shareholder, alongside the founders and/or managers. ISAI Expansion has also supported numerous successful Tech successes, including Labelium, aDvens, Theodo, Invoke and Ascentiel Groupe.
ISAI Expansion is a strategy of ISAI Gestion (« ISAI »), one of the pioneers in the French Tech ecosystem. Co-founded in 2009 " by and for " Tech entrepreneurs, ISAI gathers today near to 500 Entrepreneurs-LPs alongside major Institutional investors.
With offices in Paris and NYC, ISAI manages more than €1.0bn across four investment strategies: Early-Stage Venture, Corporate Venture, Growth Lending and Tech Buyout.
The company is a UNPRI signatory and a committed player in inclusive and low-carbon Tech.
For more information: www.isai.fr
About Bpifrance
Bpifrance Investissement is the management company that handles Bpifrance's equity investments. Bpifrance is the French national investment bank. It finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export…).
For more information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr and presse.bpifrance.fr - Follow us on Twitter: @Bpifrance - @BpifrancePresse
About the European Investment Fund
The EIF is part of the EIB Group. Its main goal is to support microenterprises and small businesses by helping them to access finance and venture capital. The EIF also actively supports climate fund investments with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. Its activities foster EU objectives promoting innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and job creation.
Website: www.eib.org/press; Press Office: +352 4379-21000 — press@eib.org
Contact: Christophe Alix, c.alix@eib.org tel.: +352 4379-84303; mobile: +33 6 11 81 30 99
Press contacts
ISAI |Caroline Gibert | caroline.gibert@isai.fr | M : +33 (0)6 99 91 06 60
Kablé Communication | Catherine Kablé | catherine.kable@kable-communication.com |M : +33 (0)6 82 25 73 85
Illy Benyoussef | illy.benyoussef@kable-communication.com | M : +33 (0)6 28 09 65 41