RTP is an international venture capital firm operating from offices in London, Paris, Amsterdam, New York, Dubai and Bangalore. The company launched its new fund, RTP IV, last year, which totals $1 billion. This fund is a continuation of its strategy of investing globally in founders who are reshaping the world through technology.
Fund IV has been deployed in North America, Europe, India and Southeast Asia. His particular focuses include AI and machine learning, enterprise software, fintech, e-commerce and edtech. To find out more about RTP and its vision of the French market, Maddyness spoke with Louis Dussart, Vice President of RTP Global and head of the Paris office.
An international player established on the French market
Louis Dussart began his career at White Star Capital. “I did a first internship spending two months in Montreal, two months in New York and two months in London. I had the opportunity to see ecosystems more mature than the French ecosystem”he says. “In 2017, when I returned to Paris, we began to understand that the French ecosystem was emerging. At the same time as my master’s degree, the founder of White Star entrusted me with the opening of the Paris office”he continues.
After an entrepreneurial experience, Louis Dussart returned to venture capital and joined RTP in 2020. “The French ecosystem was in the process of being structured and, based on my experience, my mission was to create an office complementary to that of London to cover Europe and establish a presence within the French ecosystem”shares Louis Dussart.
When he joined the fund in 2020, RTP was in the process of launching Fund III, a $650 million fund which was intended to be deployed for one third in North America, one third in Europe and one third in India and in Indonesia. Today, RTP begins deploying the billion-dollar Fund IV.
RTP IV, a fund continuing the RTP strategy
Fund IV invests tickets between $5 and $15 million, in Series A rounds, and at the margin, in Series B. “We are targeting companies that have found their product market fit and are starting to have replicability in their expansion and go-to-market strategy”specifies Louis Dussart. On the B2B SaaS side in particular, the challenge is to invest relatively early to help startups establish themselves in the United States and thus access a much larger market than the European market.
RTP is a generalist fund, but the focuses may vary depending on the geographic areas. “If we look at Europe, we have a fairly strong bias towards fintech. We believe that Qonto has paved the way for great success for European fintechs”shares Louis Dussart. “At the moment, I am also looking at climatetech a lot, assuming that Europe is ahead of the United States and Asia”he continues.
A positive look at the French ecosystem
RTP is very positive on the French market. “French talents are of exceptional quality. There was a lack of access to capital on the French market which has been partly resolved, particularly in the early stage”argues Louis Dussart, also citing the work of Bpifrance. “I think we are entering a phase where tech is leaving the Parisian ecosystem and will start to become much more structural in the French economy. This will bring longer-term value creation and that’s what we’re trying to capture.”continues Louis Dussart. “We look at the French ecosystem as a fairly diversified ecosystem, which gives us the possibility of being opportunistic rather than sectorized”he says.
To date, RTP has invested in two French startups: edtech Augment and fintechs Fintecture. The fund also invested in two startups founded by French people and based abroad, the fintech Primer API and Datadog, of which it led the series A in 2011. The money for fund IV also comes from the profits of the investment in Datadog. “We are therefore not serving LP’s interests. Our only clients are the founders in whom we invest”says Louis Dussart.
RTP also has a fund of funds activity, and has invested, as an LP, in French funds, such as Emblem.
