A record 6 months for Partech

‘Exceptional’. ‘Unprecedented’. ‘Remarkable’

Name your favourite VC marketing cliché. You’ve heard all these charming epithets from us, our competitors, our portfolio companies. 

It’s somewhat a shame that this delightful group of 3 words is met with quite the eye roll. Not only rendered meaningless by overuse from VCs; but also by your employer in their patronising email describing the ‘unprecedented’, ‘remarkable’ and ‘exceptional’ circumstances under which we have worked, and continue to work, throughout the COVID crisis.

But what if now were one of those times when, behind these words, we actually mean what we are saying. What if: by ‘exceptional’, we mean ‘exceptional growth’; by ‘unprecedented’, we mean ‘unprecedented investment’ and by ‘remarkable’ we mean ‘remarkable job creation’. 

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to get the picture. This is one of those times.

Partech has had the best 6 months since its creation in 1982. Here’s why. 

Number crunching 

Let’s look at (some) of the numbers to see how far we’ve come. Since the start of 2021, Partech has invested nearly $260M ($155M in 18 new companies and $105M in 42 follow-on investments). 18% of portfolio companies are unicorns or soonicorns (no, not quite in the dictionary yet...): with 8 companies having joined the unicorns’ ring since January (there was only one last year!). 

Amongst the unicorns are as follows: Toss, the Seoul-based fintech super-app (highest valued in our portfolio), Alan (the health insurance whizz-kid), Jellysmack (global content creator platform), ManoMano (online DIY superstore), Rohlik (healthy but affordable e-grocery player) and Made (homeware and home furnishings platform). 

And we’re not the only ones that see such potential in our portfolio. Yet again, Partech’s portfolio has attracted some of the best global funds – including Accel, Benchmark, Emergence, GA, Index, Sequoia, Softbank, Temasek... and more.

These past 6 months have also seen no fewer than 16 exits or IPOs: including the IPO of Made on the London Stock Exchange, the first European IPO of a Partech company. See also Volterra’s acquisition by F5 Application, and Brandwatch's transatlantic acquisition by Cision.

In only 6 months , the cumulative value of exits to date amounts to $2.8B!

But what we’re most proud of? 

You may have read about Partech before in the press: we’re often described ‘the French VC’ or ‘le fonds tricolore’. And these journalists are not entirely wrong: we are indeed headquartered in Paris.

But we’re also incredibly proud to be an international VC – recently coined the ‘Sequoia of Africa’ - we boast offices in Africa, the US and Berlin. We are proud to be a dynamic team made up of 20 nationalities across the world. 

We’re also proud that our 200 portfolio companies employ 25,000 people in more than 30 countries on 4 continents, providing a strong booster for economic development, by attracting funding and talent in each of the local tech hubs where Partech-backed companies operate.

This growth engine can also drive positive change for environmental and social issues and Partech encourages its portfolio companies to act as thought leaders on ESG criteria. A noteworthy fact to highlight: despite the unsettling events of 2020, our portfolio companies created nearly 2,000 permanent jobs during last  year.

These extraordinary 6 months have been made possible thanks to the work of our entrepreneurs, who have chosen to work with us. They, and their teams, are the heroes we are privileged to support. We are also grateful to our international investors’ continued trust with their long-term capital. Thank you. 

Here’s to the next 6 months, Partech.