Serena raises €200M to drive AI innovation and clean energy shift

Serena, the Paris-based venture capital firm, has announced the first closing of its fourth flagship fund at €200 million. Earlier this year, Serena was recognised by Dealroom as one of the top 5% of value-add seed investors. With more than 100 startups funded to date and €1 billion in capital under management, the firm remains committed to empowering Europe’s next generation of technology leaders.

With this new milestone, the firm has now raised a total of €1 billion in under five years.

Serena IV is designed to accelerate growth in two priority sectors for Europe: applied artificial intelligence and the energy transition. The fund will continue the firm’s strategy of backing founders from the earliest stages, with initial investments of up to €15 million.

“Serena IV’s first closing marks an important milestone, and at the EIF, we are glad to be part of this journey. Having already invested in previous Serena funds, we are confident that this new venture will make a meaningful contribution to the development of green technologies in Europe, harnessing the power of AI and the team’s vast experience to drive the dual green and digital transitions.” said Marjut Falkstedt, EIF Chief Executive.

The new fund has already completed four initial investments, including Formality, an AI-driven contract management platform founded by the team behind TVTY, a previous Serena-backed startup acquired by Nielsen.

Founded in 2008, Serena has built a strong track record of supporting entrepreneurs who have scaled their companies globally. Portfolio highlights include Dataiku, Malt, Descartes Underwriting, and Electra. Collectively, Serena-backed startups have raised over €1.5 billion since 2018, achieving a combined valuation close to €5 billion. Several, including Descartes Underwriting, Electra, Pelico, Uniphore, and Wecasa, have expanded internationally. The firm also completed two exits earlier this year - Salsify and Booksy.

Aurélien de Meaux, co-founder of Electra and Cheerz, shared his experience:
“When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re often on your own and under pressure from all sides. That’s where the Serena model makes a real difference: they’re former entrepreneurs, they understand what it’s like to run a startup. They’ve been in my shoes, they know hypergrowth, they help me structure the organisation, take a step back, better interact with my co-founders and with the board—always with both kindness and rigour. More concretely, Serena helped us gain a full year on our commercial execution at Electra.”

The firm continues to benefit from the loyalty of its investors, with 80% of historical LPs renewing their commitments to Serena IV, joined by new institutional and private backers from France and abroad.