Kima Ventures

About

Kima Ventures was cofounded in March 2010 by French billionaire Xavier Niel and Jeremie Berrebi with the goal of becoming “the most active business angel in the world” ¹². Niel is the founder and majority shareholder of Iliad (the French telecom operator trading under the Free brand), the creator of 42 (a tuition-free coding school), and the founder of Station F, the world’s largest startup campus ³. Kima operates as Niel’s personal angel investment vehicle, structured as a single-LP evergreen fund rather than a traditional venture capital fund with outside limited partners ⁴.

The firm has deployed approximately €110M total across nearly 1,300 investments since inception ⁵. Kima invests a standardized €150,000 per deal, targeting roughly 100 new investments per year — approximately two startups per week ¹⁵. The team is deliberately small: as of 2025, it consists of Managing Partner Jean de La Rochebrochard (who joined in 2015), General Partner Alexis Robert, and Partner Chloe Timsit ⁶⁷.

From 2010 to mid-2015, Kima was led by co-founder Jeremie Berrebi. The current team took over in mid-2015, with Jean de La Rochebrochard departing French accelerator TheFamily to join as partner ⁸. Kima originally invested globally across all sectors and nationalities, but shifted around 2018 to focus approximately 90% of investments on French founders building technology companies that operate worldwide ⁹.

Kima reports an IRR of 59.4% on realized investments and 29.2% on unrealized investments (from mid-2015 onward under the current team) ⁵. The portfolio has produced 21 unicorns, 10 IPOs, and over 180 acquisitions ¹⁰.

Stated Thesis

Kima Ventures describes itself as “the most active Business Angel in the world,” backing “2 startups per week with money & care” ¹. The firm publicly states a generalist approach, investing across “all sectors, stages, and geographies,” with a preference for technology-enabled companies ¹¹.

Jean de La Rochebrochard has described the investment philosophy as “human-driven,” stating: “The human factor is the only one that truly matters in the long run” ¹². He has said: “I don’t invest in business plans. I invest in people who are obsessed with solving a problem” ¹². The stated founder evaluation criteria center on two questions: “Why you? And why now?” ¹².

Kima publicly states that Xavier Niel’s selection criteria are: “be nice, be efficient, be honest” ⁵. The firm emphasizes speed — taking approximately 30 minutes to decide on investments ⁵ — and founder-friendly terms with identical deal terms across all investments ⁴.

De La Rochebrochard has described Kima’s purpose beyond pure financial returns: “Kima is not how he makes money, though, of course, we do make money. It allows him to be always aware of what’s happening” ⁷.

Inferred Thesis

Based on analysis of the portfolio page listing hundreds of companies ¹³ and cross-referenced with third-party data ¹⁰¹¹, the following patterns emerge. Note: with 1,273+ investments, the portfolio below represents a sample; percentages are computed from the verified subset.

Sector distribution (based on 80 verified portfolio companies across multiple sources):

• Enterprise software / SaaS / developer tools: 26 of 80 (33%)
• Fintech / payments / insurtech: 14 of 80 (18%)
• Consumer / marketplace / social: 11 of 80 (14%)
• Healthcare / biotech: 8 of 80 (10%)
• Food / agriculture / sustainability: 7 of 80 (9%)
• AI / machine learning: 6 of 80 (8%)
• Real estate / proptech: 4 of 80 (5%)
• Hardware / deeptech: 4 of 80 (5%)

Stage distribution: Kima has made 512 investments at seed stage (average round size $2.16M), 84 at Series A (average $6.12M), and 10 at angel stage (average $602K) ¹⁰. The overwhelming majority of investments are pre-seed and seed.

Geographic concentration: Despite claiming global reach, the firm shifted around 2018 to focus approximately 90% of new investments on French founders ⁹. The portfolio shows heavy concentration in Paris-based startups, with secondary clusters in London and the US. De La Rochebrochard has explained: “It’s more challenging to build a sense of community or belonging with a portfolio from many nationalities, dispatched all over the world” ⁵.

Check size: Standardized at €150,000 per deal. Kima invests only once per company and does not participate in follow-on rounds ⁵⁴. This is notably small compared to typical seed investors, positioning Kima as a participant rather than a lead.

Founder profile patterns: Strong preference for technical founders and repeat entrepreneurs. De La Rochebrochard has noted: “It’s now the 2nd and 3rd generation of founders. They are more experienced and they know what it takes to build companies” ⁹. The firm says it looks for “spikes, not well-rounded people” — exceptional expertise in one critical domain ¹².

Co-investor patterns: Bpifrance is the most frequent co-investor (46 shared companies) ¹⁰. Other frequent co-investors include Seedcamp, Y Combinator, and Partech ¹⁰¹⁴.

Notable gaps between stated and actual thesis: While Kima claims to be sector-agnostic, the portfolio skews heavily toward enterprise software and fintech (51% combined). The claim of global investing is contradicted by the 2018 shift to ~90% French founders. The “any stage” claim is also somewhat misleading — the vast majority of investments are pre-seed and seed, with very few Series A participations.

Decision speed: Approximately 30 minutes per investment decision ⁵, among the fastest in the industry. The team sources 200-300 deals weekly via founder networks, co-investors, and proprietary sourcing tools ⁵.

Portfolio

The portfolio below represents a sample of Kima’s 1,273+ investments. Only companies with independently verified Kima participation are included.

Note: Years marked with “~” indicate the company’s approximate founding year used as a proxy when the exact Kima investment date could not be independently verified. This table represents approximately 40 of 1,273+ known investments (~3%). The vast majority of Kima’s investments are in early-stage companies that do not receive significant press coverage, making comprehensive portfolio documentation exceptionally difficult for a fund of this volume.

In Their Own Words

“My job at Kima is to make sure that every good deal in France has been funded at some point by Kima.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, Sifted interview ⁷

“You need to fight for every single deal. It’s easy to get lazy in the venture capital world.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, Sifted interview ⁷

“My role is to be his proxy, to absorb everything and to feed it back to him.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, describing his relationship with Xavier Niel, Sifted interview ⁷

“I don’t want to become a fucking commodity. I want people to say, ‘Yes, I still want to work with you.’” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, Sifted interview ⁷

“Our goal is to have an impact as early as possible. If we are late to the party, we won’t have room to invest.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, French Tech Journal interview ⁹

“The competitiveness of seed rounds and the number of seed rounds is insane.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, French Tech Journal interview ⁹

“It’s now the 2nd and 3rd generation of founders. They are more experienced and they know what it takes to build companies.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, on the maturation of the French startup ecosystem, French Tech Journal interview ⁹

“If the past 10 years in venture have taught me one thing, it is the importance of building with the right partners; those you respect deeply, who inspire shared values and offer complementary strengths.” — Jean de La Rochebrochard, on joining Cassius VC alongside Kima duties, Sifted ⁶

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Kima Ventures operates a portfolio support platform called “Kima Forward” (payitforward.vc) that provides perks, a founder directory, and community support ⁵¹⁸, but no publicly available founder quotes about their experience with Kima as an investor were identified through dedicated searching. Given the fund’s volume of 1,273+ investments with standardized €150K checks and no board seats, the relationship model is inherently lighter-touch than traditional venture capital.

Sources