Asterion Ventures looks beyond France as it lines up new €100m fund

Asterion Ventures has just started raising capital for its latest €100m fund. The Paris-based firm is also looking to make more investments outside France, after opening a new office in Amsterdam in March.

Antonin Léonard, partner at Asterion, told Impact Loop the firm is looking to invest more in neighbouring countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Paris, however, will remain its home base.

“France can be a hard market to break into without the right connections,” Léonard said in an interview. “We’re looking to make it easier for startups from elsewhere to get a foothold here."

Asterion made 11 investments in 2025 from its early-stage fund, which equals around €50m. Those include Munich-based Futurail, which raised a €7.5m seed round to automate train operations, and French startup Everdye, which secured €15m for a biobased dye for textiles.

Asterion is actively looking at Series A and Series B scaleups that seek to expand into France. The firm is currently about to close a deal with a climate risk scaleup from Spain, Léonard said, declining to name the company.

‘Decarbonisation isn’t enough’

Last year saw many impact VCs broaden their investment beyond core climate technologies, as they scrambled to adapt to a shift in mood from LPs. It's a trend Léonard has observed as well – and foresees will continue in 2026.

“There’s clearly more momentum for companies that don’t just decarbonise, but also reinforce Europe’s sovereignty or security,” Léonard said.

That shift was spurred, in part, by the realisation that some impact startups – while undoubtedly armed with great tech – struggled to compete in a market increasingly unwilling to pay a premium for green products and services.

“If your business relies on a green premium, it’s just not investable today,” thinks Léonard. However, he believes the core focus of impact investing hasn't really changed.

Asterion’s thesis remains anchored in impact, with deep tech and energy efficiency, in some cases underpinned by AI, of particular interest to the firm this year.

There are areas the firm is cautious on, including direct air capture and carbon credits. Léonard says that’s partly because the business models still rely on high green premiums or on volatile carbon markets.

“The challenges haven’t changed – but investors are now backing startups that sit at the intersection of climate, energy efficiency, and strategic resilience,” he adds.

Founded in 2021, Asterion Ventures has a rather unique model for a VC. Instead of a handful of LPs, the fund is anchored by over 900 angels, including the founders of European cleantech firms Back Market, BlaBlaCar, and Too Good To Go, and family offices such as Entheos. The firm says this allows it to bring not only capital, but also operational experience, time, and hard-to-access networks to founders.