A fund to support environmental change

At GI 2024, entrepreneurs were introduced to Astérion, an investment fund specializing in seed capital. Presented by Marine Reygrobellet, partner at Astérion, the fund tackles the challenges of decarbonization, climate resilience and, more broadly, environmental transitions. “I am and we are currently a team of five people, all former entrepreneurs.”

“Asterion is a fund financed exclusively by entrepreneurs. Our mission, strong and clear, is to take care of those who are working to repair the world. This means two important things,” explains Asterion partner Marine Reygrobellet.“Firstly, over and above our financial contribution, we are fully committed to working alongside entrepreneurs, especially in critical phases which can be particularly complex and trying times. We are there to support them, accompany them, surround them, and provide them with the resources they need to succeed. Secondly, as an impact-first fund, we focus exclusively on projects with a direct link to the causes and consequences of climate change”. Asterion's approach focuses on companies tackling deep and significant transformations, i.e. generating “large-scale impact”, by targeting fundamental topics that offer strong development potential. One of Asterion's distinctive features is a hybrid financing model.

How it works

“We operate with an Evergreen fund, which does not seek to exit investments after 5 or 6 years unless this is the wish of the entrepreneurs. We favor long-term support, particularly for industrial projects requiring patiencee and efficient capital. This enables us to stay by the entrepreneurs' side over the long term, guaranteeing a perfect alignment of interests. At the same time, for each investment, we bring together a community of experts and angels, who contribute their sector-specific skills, know-how or networks. These experts are specifically involved in the projects they have chosen,” explains Marine Reygrobellet. “In this way, we try to combine the best of both worlds: the commitment of angels and the structure of an investment fund. As far as our investment thesis is concerned, we invest between 500,000 and 2.5 million euros per project, as lead or co-lead. We have already made several co-investments, notably with partners such as Investir et Plus, or Femme Business Angel, and also collaborate regularly with the BPI”. Over the past three years, Asterion has financed 21 start-ups, for an average of €20 million per year. Industrial projects in the portfolio include Caeli Energy, CircuL'EGG, Diamfab, Ever Dye, Spark Cleantech and Onima.