From French science to European industrial giants with Supernova Invest
The full podcast
Régis Saleur
Disruptive innovation is lagging behind in large corporations... it’s by acquiring a startup that you get your hands on disruptive innovation.
An engineer by training who has held positions in various operational departments (R&D, marketing, sales), Régis Saleur is a pioneer in the venture capital industry in France.
After heading CEA Investissement, he co-founded Supernova Invest, an independent asset management firm created through a partnership between CEA and Amundi.
A recognized expert in microelectronics and the commercialization of academic research, he currently manages funds covering all stages of a company’s development, from seed to late stage.
Program Summary
The unique model of research-backed venture capital
Deeptech investment relies on close synergy between scientific excellence and financial expertise. Partnerships with organizations such as the CEA help ensure a smooth technology transfer starting from the spin-off phase.
This proximity provides unique access to projects whose intellectual property risks have already been mitigated, facilitating a faster path to market.
The Matrix Strategy: From Seed to Late Stage
The success of a deep tech fund requires an organization structured by sector (healthcare, energy, microelectronics) rather than simply by financial investments.
This multi-stage model enables us to support industry leaders over the long term, thereby preventing promising tech startups from being snapped up by non-European investors during their growth phases.
The lack of external growth: a drag on M&A in Europe
While the French tech ecosystem excels at creating startups, it lacks momentum in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Major European corporations often prioritize in-house R&D over acquiring agile startups.
However, acquisition is the most effective way to instantly integrate a disruptive innovation and gain years of competitive advantage.
As such, ensuring a smooth exit process is critical to ensuring the long-term viability of every deep tech investment made in the region.
Financing Industry: Between Grants and Capital Expenditures
The implementation of large-scale industrial projects, such as demonstration facilities or factories, requires a mix of funding sources.
While government aid programs like France 2030 are essential catalysts, they must not artificially prop up "zombie companies"—those firms with no market presence that obscure the sector’s transparency.
The success of a deep tech investment depends on the investor's ability to structure the funding round by combining venture capital for innovation with banking partners to meet the need for tangible assets.
The Operational Requirements of Deeptech Management
Running a tech startup requires a mix of skills: researchers must surround themselves with professionals from the industry to successfully scale up the business.
A team’s ability to adapt its management structure as the project matures is a key indicator of success, ensuring that the organization can keep pace with actual market demand.
Deep In Tech by Dynergie
Deep in Tech is driven by a core belief: to understand Deeptech, you have to listen to the people who are building it.
Behind every disruptive innovation lie demanding journeys, difficult trade-offs, and successes that often go unrecognized.
The podcast gives a voice to entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and industry leaders at the intersection of science and the market.
At the heart of the Deeptech ecosystem’s challenges, Deep in Tech lifts the veil on the behind-the-scenes of a world as complex as it is strategic. Industrialization, financing, the transition from lab to market…
These journeys, often fraught with obstacles, are recounted candidly by those who experience them firsthand.
The podcast offers an authentic look at the inner workings, tensions, and collaborations that shape both the successes and failures of French Deeptech.
A space to understand the reality on the ground, from the perspective of those involved, far from formulaic narratives.
Florence Caghassi Jouni
With Deep in Tech, I meet the people who are shaping the deep tech landscape every day. They share their journeys, struggles, challenges, and successes with me—unfiltered. I created this podcast to help everyone understand and navigate the complex and exciting ecosystem that is deep tech.
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