Cleo Ventures, a new European venture capital firm focused exclusively on artificial intelligence, has raised a €30 million pre-seed and seed fund to back founders building AI-native companies. The fund builds on the team’s previous work under Resonance and focuses on investing at the earliest stages, often before product or code exists.
- Founded in 2025 by Antoine Veret and Maxime Le Dantec, Cleo Ventures invests between €300,000 and €1 million in startups across consumer and enterprise AI, with a strong focus on Europe. The firm is positioning itself around the belief that AI is reshaping both everyday digital behavior and highly complex enterprise workflows, creating a large and rapidly expanding market opportunity.
- The team has previously backed early-stage companies including MatX, Fintool acquired by Microsoft, Tomorro, DeepIP, Animaj, Lightdash, GitGuardian, and Alice & Bob, spanning AI infrastructure, enterprise software, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and applied AI.
- A core part of Cleo Ventures’ strategy is the Cleo Trailblazers Club, a network of AI founders and operators who actively support portfolio companies. Members include Olivier Pailhes from Aircall, Lucie Buisson from Contentsquare, and Thomas Scialom from Meta AI and contributor to Llama 2 and 3, providing operational and technical expertise to founders in the portfolio.
- The fund is also backed by more than 40 AI entrepreneurs as LPs, giving startups access to a wider network of operators, executives, and technical leaders across the AI ecosystem.
- Cleo Ventures has already made two initial investments, which have not yet been disclosed.
