Paris, 19/05/2020 – Truffle Capital and Rothschild & Co jointly invest 1.6M€ in Praexo, a complete digital solution whose ambition is to transform the way private companies raise money and interact with investors.
Praexo was founded on a simple observation: the current private capital raising process is far from efficient, as it is not only costly but also time intensive and does not enable companies to gauge investor expectations properly. At the same time, companies are increasingly holding back from initial public offerings, driving demand for private capital to new highs.
Founded by experienced investment bankers and backed by Truffle Capital and Rothschild & Co, Praexo aims to provide a digital solution to fundamentally transform the capital raising process. Praexo will bring together all the capital market stakeholders (advisors, investors, equity research houses) such that a company will be able to:
- Better prepare its capital raising by targeting the relevant investors and identifying appropriate metrics for its equity story
- Directly interact with these investors, better assess and anticipate their expectations;
- Seamlessly collaborate with its advisors; and
- Enable investors to conduct and share their own analysis and financial simulations, and provide their feedback
Companies will reap multiple benefits: saving time and money; sharing information more organically; and fostering a virtuous cycle for future capital raising rounds.
Praexo is primarily targeting at capital raisings for which valuation considerations and access to a wider universe of investors are critical. As an illustration, private to IPO capital raising of more than $100M, represented in 2018 a volume of 170 Bn$ globally (excluding China and Japan), growing at a CAGR of around 5%.
The current sanitary and economic crisis will lead to unprecedented measures such as social distancing and restrictions on an international travel. The strengthening of ESG considerations has finally come to the forefront as a central concern. From within this context, Praexo is convinced that the digitalization of issuer and investor interactions that their solution provides, will be a significant tool to tackle the challenges that capital markets will have to face.
Praexo will use these funds to:
- Finalize the development of its solution;
- Expand its team by recruiting specialists in IT development and data sciences, as well as capital market professionals; and
- Target a first transaction by year-end 2020.
Guillaume Moinet, CEO and founder of Praexo said, “This capital raising, which is supported by two highly-recognized leaders in venture capitalism and financial advisory services, is a foundational building block. Currently companies contemplating initial public offerings are increasingly reluctant to opt for a stock market a listing, creating an imbalance between issuer expectations and investor objectives and thereby speculative bubbles. From the very beginning, we saw Praexo as a solution that would come to serve an ecosystem. We are thus proud and happy that two prestigious players have chosen to endorse our convictions.”
Bernard-Louis Roques, Co-founder and Managing Director of Truffle Capital, said, “The dazzling digital transformation our society is going through is significantly increased by the current crisis. Businesses combining expertise, relationships and tailor-made consulting are massively investing in digital technologies. Praexo's ambition is precisely to meet the needs of Investment Bankers and issuers by creating an enhanced software solution that optimizes the issuing process, thanks to artificial intelligence, composed of proprietary decision support tools that will become valuable assets in terms of acuity, relevance and anticipation.”
ABOUT TRUFFLE CAPITAL
Established in 2001, Truffle Capital is an independent European Venture Capital company, specializing in life sciences (BioTech and MedTech) and breakthrough technologies in the IT sectors (FinTech and InsurTech). Truffle Capital’s mission is to support the creation and development of young innovative companies capable of becoming tomorrow’s leaders. Headed by Patrick Kron, alongside Philippe Pouletty, MD, and Bernard-Louis Roques, Co-founders and Managing partners, Truffle Capital has raised over €1.1 billion and has supported over 70 companies in the digital technology and life sciences sectors.
For more information: www.truffle.com – Twitter: @trufflecapital
ABOUT ROTHSCHILD & CO
With a team of 3,500 talented financial services specialists on the ground in over 40 countries across the world, our integrated global network of trusted professionals provide in-depth market intelligence and effective long-term solutions for our clients in Global Advisory, Wealth & Asset Management, and Merchant Banking. Rothschild & Co is family-controlled and independent and has been at the centre of the world’s financial markets for over 200 years. Rothschild & Co is a French partnership limited by shares (société en commandite par actions) listed on Euronext in Paris, Compartment A with a share capital of €155,235,024. Paris trade and companies registry 302 519 228. Registered office: 23 bis avenue de Messine, 75008 Paris, France.
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