After its 2020 edition was moved to Paris because of the health crisis, the Montpellier Capital Risque venture capital event is coming home. The 2021 event is being held on July 1-2 in Montpellier at the prestigious Domaine de Verchant. Investment funds and business angels have an opportunity to meet a selection of innovative startups and established companies with high potential whose growth they are in a position to support.
Over the years, the annual event organized by Montpellier BIC and Bpifrance has demonstrated its ability to consistently unite
the best investment opportunities of the moment.
"The Montpellier area is home to many startups that have encountered a level of nationwide or international success. A good number of those companies were selected by Montpellier Capital Risque in their early days. That is why our fund has become a regular participant in the event,” confirms Maximilien Bacot, one of the co-founders and managing partners of Breega.
Based in Paris and London, the venture capital fund picked up one of the companies in its portfolio at the 2018 edition:
IoTerop. Founded in 2016 by former Intel employees, the startup has become one of the world leaders in connected object security.
“The really great thing about Montpellier Capital Risque is that it brings together all the ingredients you need for that type of event, including careful applicant selection along with organization that includes time for people to get to know companies. Meetings are therefore both qualified and of high-quality. That’s the event’s biggest strength,” explains Maximilien Bacot, who also praises the “the organizing team’s professionalism.”
And for good reason. Though they may be experts in their own field, the founders of IoTerop were in no way ready to make their pitch to investors.
“We are engineers. Whereas we knew the growth potential for our solutions, we were not ready for a 7-minute timed exercise to incite investors’ interest,” admits Hatem Oueslati, CEO of IoTerop.
One of the big benefits of Montpellier Capital Risque is that two months of coaching are offered to help entrepreneurs learn how to convince investors and raise funds successfully. On the day of the event, the focus is on investment and successive company pitches, followed by an evening of networking. The program continues the next day with individual meetings between investors and companies at the Cap Omega startup incubator.
What about results? The event helped lead to several impressive rounds of investment. That includes
Magic Pallet, Teads,
CodinGame, La Brigade de Véro, and IoTerop, which raised 1.5 M€ from Breega, Frédéric Salles, co-founder of
Matooma, and
IRDI Capital Investissement, one of the partners for Montpellier Capital Risque.
IRDI Capital Investissement has helped select applicants for each edition of the event.
“Most of the selected companies are mature and ready for investment from funds or business angels. They were all selected, approved, and coached,” highlights Geneviève Blanc, Innovation Investment Director for the regional fund. She adds: “That is why the major investment funds always attend.”
