A brand new Paris-based multimillion euro fairness fund, devoted to serving to European impartial manufacturing firms scale-up, has launched.
Bannered the Collectively Fund, the fund has an preliminary capitalization of €58M ($66M), with ambitions to develop to €100M ($113M), and is described as the primary fairness fund targeted purely on Europe’s impartial movie and TV manufacturing firms.
In the present day’s official kick-off follows the signing of an accord by representatives of the European Union’s European Funding Fund (EIF) in Paris on Friday committing €25M ($28.5M) to the fund. Particulars of the opposite buyers are resulting from be introduced in Could.
EIF is investing within the Collectively Fund below its MediaInvest instrument which was created in 2022 as a part of the European Union’s post-pandemic €400M Media and Audiovisual Motion Plan.
“It’s not solely the 25 million, it’s the stamp of the EIF,” mentioned Vincent van Steensel, EIF’s Head of Portfolio Ensures, including its involvement will safe and set off additional funding. “We’re the most important fairness investor in Europe. We now have a 30% market share, and we all know that sure buyers don’t make investments if EIF will not be on board.”
The brand new fund has been designed to assist impartial manufacturing firms scale and strengthen their market presence whereas sustaining their independence, within the face of the rising dominance of built-in audiovisual teams.
Collectively goals to vary this dynamic by performing as a capital development fund, supporting firms which have already demonstrated their skill to ship high-quality content material.
Focusing totally on firms producing scripted content material, the common funding is anticipated to be round €4M ($4.5M), that means at the least 25 firms ought to be capable of faucet into the fund.
Working below the auspices of personal fairness agency Axio Capital, the fund is the brainchild of co-directors Alexandra Lebret and Antoine Bodet.
Lebret was managing director of the European Producers Membership (EPC) for 23 years, representing the pursuits of round 185 distinguished producers from throughout Europe, earlier than stepping down earlier this yr. Her time on the EPC means she has an intensive community within the European manufacturing scene and data of its inside and outer workings.
Bodet is a associate at Axio Capital. He has suggested and invested in numerous French movie and TV firms throughout his profession together with MakingProd, Federation Leisure and Echo Studio, and is presently a board member at Anton.
Previous to becoming a member of Axio Capital, he was government director at Natixis funding bank-backed non-public fairness administration agency Alliance Entreprendre, the place his media and leisure sector investments included Federation and Paris-based worldwide gross sales firm Playtime.
The duo is already inspecting some 40 purposes and count on to unveil Collectively Fund’s first investments as early as Could.
Lebret mentioned funding choices could be primarily based on an organization’s total imaginative and prescient and marketing strategy for the longer term, reasonably than particular person tasks or acquisitions.
“The particularity of the fund is that it’s firms on a minority foundation,” mentioned Lebret. “We’re the impartial resolution for impartial producers for impartial development. That’s our baseline,” she mentioned.
Bodet mentioned money the fund injected into firms by taking a minority stake may very well be used for a wide range of issues from hiring new workers, to creating IPs, and associated prices reminiscent of shopping for e book rights or paying writers to develop new concepts.
Each co-directors emphasised the truth that whereas the fund relies in Paris, its focus will likely be pan-European, with Lebret noting her robust ties with producers in territories reminiscent of Japanese Europe and the Baltics in addition to France.
Lebret mentioned the fund had been sparked by the truth that whereas the impartial European manufacturing sector is stabilizing within the wake of the disruption brought on by the pandemic and the top of the height TV period, it remained extremely fragmented, at a time when the pool of content material consumers was turning into more and more concentrated.
One other specificity of the fund is that in contrast to conventional fairness funds, Collectively will provides hands-on strategic assist from a devoted staff, led by Lebret and Bodet, to supply market insights and monetary steering.
The long-term mission is to create a extra structured and resilient impartial manufacturing sector in Europe, able to competing on a worldwide scale. The fund has a 10-year lifespan, with a five-year funding interval adopted by a five-year exit technique.
“The thought is to attempt to develop the ecosystem as a result of as you recognize… in comparison with different markets just like the U.S., we’re lagging behind lots,” mentioned EIF’s van Steensel.
“The significance of holding some form of sovereignty in Europe, cultural sovereignty is an increasing number of necessary,” he continued. “In the event you put this within the context of immediately with what is occurring, sovereignty will not be solely a matter of protection, it’s additionally a cultural matter.”
