Vincent Deruelle

Feldhoff & Cie invests in Europe’s most promising female founders Yesterday, Auxxo announced the first closing of Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund II, raising €26 million to invest in early-stage European startups with female founding teams. We are proud to be part of this commitment to expanding access to capital and driving lasting change in the venture landscape. Congratulations to Bettine Schmitz, Dr. Gesa Miczaika, the whole Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund team and all fellow investors who share this vision. Excited to see what we can build together! 

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Good to see my colleague at AniVC , Vlad Cernouţan, featured in The Woof newsletter 🐾, sharing some sharp insights on what’s shaping investor decisions in the pet space 🔥. 😎 ☕ 🐾 💡 Vlad makes a strong case for what continues to matter: real defensibility — whether through IP, data, or brand equity, and the importance of teams that can go beyond just building products, but also being able to execute and scale business models. He also emphasizes that customer acquisition means little without long-term retention and trust, especially in regulated or care-driven parts of the market. He also highlights a few areas with strong return potential: 👉 Longevity and preventive health are moving from human to pet care, driven by tech and streamlined regulation. 👉 Functional nutrition (“Nutrition 2.0”) is evolving — no longer just about affordability, but about proven, evidence-backed benefits. 👉 AI-powered infrastructure is finally solving some of the stubborn problems in vet ops, insurance, and other fragmented parts of the ecosystem. 👉 Human biotech crossovers and integrated health platforms could reshape the next wave of innovation. 🐾 I am inspired about being able to move a needle in the pet industry, via our work at AniVC and for those who don’t know, our cofounder and partner Anna Skaya is a stellar founder herself—she built Basepaws, one of the first at-home DNA testing startups for pets, and led it all the way to acquisition 😎. Now she’s channeling that same passion into AniVC, helping back the next wave of innovators in the animal space 🚀. So, if you’re building something exciting in pet tech or animal health 🔬, or investing in it 💰, reach out. We’d love to connect! ☕ Last but not least, kudos to the Roy Ben-Tzvi from The Woof Newsletter for the article, link in the comments 👇 Image credit: The Woof.

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🎙️ Special IBC 2025 Episode – Retention Zone One of the most interesting conversations I had at IBC this year was with Gilles Domartini, CEO of Cleeng, right after the second edition of Retention Zone Live. We talked about how innovation in subscriptions is shifting — becoming more accessible and more intelligent. 👉 The big headline: Cleeng Pro. ➡️ A simplified way for any mid-sized publisher to launch a subscription service in under 60 minutes. ➡️ With just a few clicks you can create offers, set up a subscription page, consolidate app store data, and enable customer care. ➡️ And the real game changer? The first 10,000 monthly subscribers are free. ➡️ No contracts, no upfront cost — just the freedom to experiment, learn, and grow. For Vimeo users and smaller publishers frustrated by limited analytics, this could open entirely new doors. 👉 The second big announcement: ChurnIQ AI-ssistant. ➡️ Imagine a retention super-expert on demand. You ask: who’s at risk of churning, on which platform, and what’s the revenue impact? You get the answer instantly. ➡️ But more importantly, it doesn’t stop at insights. It suggests proven remedies, integrates with tools like Braze or Mailchimp, and can trigger campaigns automatically. It’s agentic AI in action — analytics flowing directly into decisions and execution. 📲 Finally, Gilles reminded me why we started Retention Zone in the first place: to create a space where the industry can share real challenges and shape better solutions together. That dialogue has already influenced Cleeng’s roadmap, and it shows the power of community in innovation. A guy with a scarf Benedicte Guichard Alexis Gaï Kirstin White Hjalmar Koedijker Joachim Bergman Kamila Palka Enzo Bermond Kübra Güven Chris Welsh #IBC2025 #RetentionZone #Subscriptions #AI #Streaming

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🍔 🧩 The Fast-Food Paradox France’s fast-food market is booming… but profits are collapsing. According to Xerfi, the French fast-food sector looks healthy on the surface: - €50.5B in annual sales 📈 - 86,000 restaurants and growing 🚀 But... - Net margins halved from 5.8% in 2018 to 2.9% in 2024 - 50% of operators in France are now financially at risk (loss-making) More restaurants. More sales. Less profit. Restaurateurs must protect margins, model scenarios, and optimise costs, or risk being left behind. Growth without profitability is a trap. SNARR - Syndicat National de l’Alimentation et de la Restauration Rapide Xerfi #Restaurants #Hospitality #Fastfood #Margins #Profitability #food

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Can you still launch an industrial startup in Europe? If I dared to ask bluntly: is there still room in the ring — or just marks on the mat? For years, one mantra has dominated public speeches and pitch decks alike: reindustrialize. And not just any kind of industry — local, low-carbon, sovereign. A magnificent ambition… and a formidable one. Because a factory means confronting the real world — machines, materials, regulations, delays. Here’s the paradox: we’ve seen bold industrial champions emerge — in France, across the Nordics, in the U.S. — and also some spectacular setbacks. Think of McPhy (hydrogen) or Ÿnsect (insect protein) in France. Industrial startups simply can’t follow the Y Combinator playbook: launch a minimum viable product, iterate quickly, pivot based on feedback, reach product-market fit, and scale. In manufacturing, customers want not only a price but also proof of capacity. Negotiations are tough, sometimes endless. The clock ticks in years, not months. Meanwhile, cash rarely flows in. So — should we give up? I don’t think so. Success follows stricter conditions, but it’s absolutely possible. And when it works, barriers to entry are massive, and breakeven becomes a rediscovered treasure. At Newfund, we saw it with Tageos, a pioneer in #RFID labels without adhesives. The right tech, the right position in the value chain, experienced founders with complementary skills — and yes, a bit of luck : the pandemic made digital object identification essential, and later, Fedrigoni Group’s acquisition helped Tageos scale globally. Other trajectories confirm the path. Take Verkor, in batteries: they secured purchase commitments from Renault early on — long before the factory ran at full speed. What do these successes share? → A clear industrial vision → Firm clients as early as possible → Execution that embraces every constraint of manufacturing And the ecosystem matters: without public-private alignment, strong suppliers, committed bankers, and supportive regions, the best tech ends up gathering dust at the back of the workshop. So, can an industrial startup succeed today? Yes — but. Forget the fantasy of the “magical scale-up” : a vision and a big round don’t make a factory. Factories are built on strategic understanding, solid partnerships, and flawless execution. The good news: those three levers are in our hands. The bad news: they require sweat, humility, and a lot of hard work. Gravity applies to everyone — even unicorns. Agnès Pannier-Runacher Olivier Sichel Godefroy Beauvallet Vincent Champain #VC #industry

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