Campus Fund, a fund based in Paris that supports creative enterprises established in France by students or recent graduates, announced that it had secured a second round of funding of €1.5 million from more than 50 CEOs, family offices, and funds.
According to Maddyness, the list of investors includes Guillaume Sarkozy, the former general director of Malakoff Mederic, as well as senior business experts including Thierry Petit, co-founder of Showroomprivé, Justin Ziegler, co-founder of Priceminister, and Jade Francine, co-founder of WeMaintain.
According to Campus Fund, it would use the most recent money infusion to invest in 20 firms run by young businesspeople on college campuses.
Campus Fund: Dedicated to student- and recent graduate-founded enterprises.
The Campus Fund was established in 2022 by Nicolas Rizk and Romain Baranger to remove obstacles that prevent student entrepreneurship.
The young VC fund provides tailored help, finance (from €20 to €60k), and knowledge structures to increase student entrepreneurs’ likelihood of success.
The American Dorm Room Fund concept, the world’s first student investment fund, which has already demonstrated its premise’s validity, inspired the micro-VC.
“We think that the big businesses of tomorrow are being built on campuses right now and that student entrepreneurs are most suited to develop disruptive ideas. However, there was a significant financial deficit for this group of entrepreneurs.
So, to build a French-style Dorm Room Fund, we spoke with every fund that has already entered the market to acquire their views and adjust the model to the demands of the marketplace. Explains Campus Fund co-founder Nicolas Rizk.
So far, five of the seven investments Campus Fund has made—Kleep, Luniwave, Selvitys, Estale, and Meteory—are now open to the public.
Despite being sector-neutral, the VC fund concentrates on IT, B2B, and scalable businesses.
According to Maddyness, the French VC intends to raise a second round in 2025.
