French VC Aquiti Closes €60M AVA1 Fund for Southwest Founders

French venture firm Aquiti has closed its AVA1 fund at nearly €60 million to back founders building in the Greater Southwest of France from pre-Seed onward. Initial cheques will run from €100,000 to €3 million, with substantial reserves held back for follow-on rounds, and the firm plans to build a portfolio of 25 to 30 companies.

Jean-François Cochy, General Partner at Aquiti and Head of AVA1, framed the thesis in geographic terms: "Founders should not have to choose between building where they want to live and accessing the capital, network and ambition they need to go far. With AVA1, our goal is simple: be the first partner for the best founders in the Greater Southwest, and stay alongside them as they scale."

What does the fund actually change for early founders?

For pre-Seed and Seed founders outside France's traditional venture corridors, the practical answer is access to a first institutional cheque sized between €100k and €3 million — enough to lead rounds rather than sprinkle angel-sized amounts. Aquiti also commits reserves for follow-ons, meaning founders won't need to find a new lead for every subsequent round. Beyond money, the team says it works alongside founders to set up governance, make key hires, prepare future funding and open doors to customers.

The firm's credibility rests on track record rather than pitch decks. EU-Startups previously identified Aquiti among the backers of Bordeaux-based TreeFrog Therapeutics and CardNexus. Portfolio CEO Étienne Boix of RelaiSanté, a care-coordination startup, explained the choice of investor: "We chose Aquiti because the relationship went far beyond capital. From our first discussions, we found a team that combines a genuinely close human relationship with experience in investing and supporting tech companies as they scale. Most importantly, we share the same level of ambition: to make RelaiSanté a category-defining company and transform the way patients access care and support after hospitalisation."

An old firm with a young venture arm

Aquiti Gestion, the parent, is a French private equity firm that has supported Southwestern French businesses for over 25 years and manages more than €230 million across regional SMEs and corporate buyouts. In 2018 it launched a dedicated venture arm, known simply as Aquiti or Aquiti Ventures, to reach the fast-growing startup ecosystem.

The venture team numbers five investors and concentrates strictly on pre-Seed and Seed deals in three verticals: breakthrough technology, healthcare and climate. To date it has backed 13 companies, ranging from AI-powered materials discovery at Synboli to new care coordination models at RelaiSanté. The structure pairs a 25-year-old asset manager's institutional stability with the agility of a 2018-vintage fund — a combination regional founders rarely find on their doorstep.

Part of a €384 million early-stage wave

AVA1's final close lands amid a string of European early-stage fund announcements in 2026. In France alone:

• Newfund, based in Paris, closed a €60 million HEKA fund for BrainTech startups
• 360 Capital announced an €85 million close for its Poli360 2 DeepTech fund
• Elaia closed its third DeepTech Seed fund at €134 million

Outside France, Germany's Vanagon Ventures completed a €20 million pre-Seed fund and Lithuania's FIRSTPICK launched a €25 million vehicle focused on Baltic founders. Together those announcements represent €324 million in disclosed capital — rising to nearly €384 million once AVA1 is included.

That context matters for founders in the Greater Southwest. Early-stage capital is flowing across Europe right now, but most of it clusters in Paris, Berlin and the Baltics. AVA1's €60 million is deliberately pointed elsewhere, at a region where Aquiti has spent 25 years building relationships with regional businesses. For founders in Bordeaux, Toulouse and the surrounding territory who previously had to travel for a serious Seed lead, the first partner they need may now be local — and, per the fund's stated plan, it intends to stay on the cap table as they scale.