Today we are happy yo welcome Bruno Raillard, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Frst, a “Day 1” VC focused on founders building global-scale companies out of the French ecosystem. Launched in 2015, Frst now has over 200m€ under management and has invested in the likes of Payfit, Owkin, Pigment, Electra and Shippeo. Before launching Frst, Bruno has built his career in financial consulting and general management working with startups, SMBs and large enterprises across a broad spectrum of industries.

In this episode you’ll learn:

-The journey from financial consulting, to running a family office and finally launching Frst

- Bruno’s reflections on the French tech and VC ecosystem, why it’s considered closed by many and why an old adage would have said that French startups are destined to max out before unicorn status

- Bruno’s reflections on pivoting from running an FO to running an independent fund

- A deep dive on Frst’s recently launched paper “Appel au Génie Français” (loosely translated to “Call to French Genius”) and how it relates to their investment thesis and strategy


The paper discussed in the episode can be read in English on episode page on eu.vc and in original French on https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/appel-au-génie-français-bruno-raillard