Spotlight Interview: Seventure Partners' Bruno Rivet

Helen O'Reilly-Durand -

Seventure Partners is one of France's earliest and most influential tech investment firms. Founded in 1997 as a joint subsidiary of Banque Populaire (now part of banking giant BPCE) and Natixis, Seventure has €1 billion under management and over 40 funds, including 10 currently active, it ranks among Europe's leading investment funds. Over its history, Seventure counts 465 investments, 150 exits, and 26 IPOs.

Last month, at the CCI’s perennial startup, investor, and enterprise gathering, Techinnov, we had the opportunity to catch up with Bruno Rivet, Director of Investments at Seventure Partners. With a career spanning nearly 26 years, Rivet is a seasoned investor who has been at the forefront of tracking digital trends while vetting, investing in, and advising the companies shaping the future.

With entrepreneurship firmly encoded in his DNA – both his grandfather and father having founded their own companies – Rivet’s career trajectory seems almost predestined. Seeking to bridge the worlds of entrepreneurship and banking, Rivet began his career as a credit analyst at a regional branch of Banque Populaire. He then transitioned into the role of Compliance Officer, where he explored various avenues of corporate finance, including stock market introductions, advisory services, and Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs). However, it was his involvement with innovation teams that truly ignited his passion, ultimately leading him to join Seventure Partners in 1999.

Headquartered in France, Seventure has partners in Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. Its 20-person team supports tech companies from Seed and Series A rounds through to venture, Growth, pre-IPO, and IPO stages. Investments typically range from €1.5 to €15 million per financing round, with up to €20 million per company.

Notable investments include Talent Soft, an HRtech acquired by Cegid in 2021, PrestaShop (an open-source CRM for retail companies), Mister Print (a printing company), Sum Up (a payments solution), Enterom (a biotech producing targeted cancer treatments using microorganisms), and Maat Pharma (an international pharmaceuticals company).

Traditionally, Seventure Partners are investors in two key sectors: Life Sciences (encompassing Health Tech, Biotech/Microbiome, Blue Economy, Aquaculture, and Animal & Agriculture companies from Seed to Series B stage) and Digital Tech (with a focus on retail and Fintech companies at Series A/B stage). 

However, over the past four years, Rivet has led the firm's charge into the burgeoning Sportstech sector where it concentrates on Seed to Series A companies. Given the scarcity of Sportstech-specific funds, we were curious why Seventure Partners decided to enter this turf and what role the upcoming Paris Olympic Games is playing in the evolution of France's Sportstech ecosystem.

Q: What prompted the decision to devote a specific fund to Sportstech?

BR: Seventure has long been specialized in Life Sciences and Digital Tech. However, as we observed an increasing number of Sportstech companies emerging through our Life Sciences and Digital tech funds – spanning from medical technologies for athletes to digital software for sports clubs – we began to see the potential of this up-and-coming sector.