European venture capital firm Entourage closes second fund at €100 million today, wrapping up the raise just over two years after its debut. The firm passed its initial €75 million target within a fortnight, drawing capital from private investors to back early-stage European artificial intelligence, robotics and deeptech ventures.
Key points
- Entourage passed its initial €75 million goal within a fortnight and capped the fund at €100 million.
- The firm will write first cheques of €1 million to €5 million into roughly 25 pre-seed and seed startups.
- The new fund broadens Entourage’s original software remit to include physical AI, robotics and deeptech hardware.
- The partnership expanded into London and Paris while keeping a deliberate policy of declining board seats.
The investment strategy
Entourage expects to build a portfolio of around 25 early-stage businesses from Fund II. The firm targets founders at pre-seed and seed stages across Europe as well as selected international tech centres.
Cheques from the new vehicle will start between €1 million and €5 million. The partnership plans to keep substantial reserves to support winning portfolio companies in later financing rounds.
The mandate marks a clear evolution in scope. While Entourage launched its initial fund in 2024 with a focus on business software, Fund II shifts resources into more technically complex categories. Target sectors include enterprise automation, robotics, physical artificial intelligence and deeptech infrastructure.
“AI is reinventing software and taking intelligence into the physical world,” said Pieterjan Bouten, founder and general partner of Entourage. Bouten set up the venture firm after stepping down as chief executive of Belgian sales enablement software maker Showpad.
Investor appetite for early European AI infrastructure remains resilient even as late-stage valuations face increased discipline. Similar demand for machine intelligence in business workflows drove recent rounds elsewhere in the sector, such as when Serval raised $150 million to deploy workplace automation agents.
Unicorn returns and early bets
Entourage assembled the €100 million fund without institutional fund-of-funds backing. Capital came entirely from private investors, family offices and technology entrepreneurs, including founders associated with cybersecurity company Aikido Security and human resources platform TechWolf.
The quick raise followed rapid growth across the firm’s first portfolio. In its first two years, Entourage backed several fast-moving companies before larger international venture firms stepped in with growth capital.
Aikido Security attained unicorn status earlier this year after Entourage provided its first institutional cheque. Another portfolio investment, market intelligence startup Conveo, closed a $50 million Series A round, while legal technology firm Lexroom reached €30 million in annual recurring revenue inside two years.
“We wrote the first cheques into companies like Aikido, Conveo and Lexroom,” Bouten said. He stated that the speed of those startups supported the firm’s decision to double down on early technical bets.
Alongside direct fund investments, the firm operates Entourage Studio, an internal venture builder that pairs operating talent with start-up funding. Tekst, an enterprise automation company developed inside the studio to handle process mining through machine learning, recently closed a €10 million Series A round.
Expanding across London and Paris
To deploy the enlarged capital base, Entourage has widened its operating footprint beyond its initial hubs. Bouten directs the investment partnership alongside general partners Evert Beeckman and Maarten Mortier.
The firm added three investment professionals: Erwan Gardelle, Sixtine Riescher and Illja Schiller. The team opened a permanent office in London and established an on-the-ground operational presence in Paris.
The geographic move places the firm directly in two of Europe’s most active research clusters for machine learning and autonomous systems. European deeptech startups frequently face aggressive competition from Silicon Valley firms, prompting local seed investors to set up local outposts to meet founders before US syndicates step in.
A founder-led governance model
Despite acting as lead or co-lead investor in most of its transactions, Entourage departs from standard venture practice on corporate governance: it rarely takes board seats.
Most venture capital firms make a formal board seat mandatory when leading pre-seed or seed financings, using the position to supervise chief executives and review reporting metrics. Entourage leaves those seats vacant, allowing management teams to run operations without formal boardroom constraints.
The firm maintains that giving founders autonomy over early technical and hiring choices creates better long-term alignment. Initial capital deployments from Fund II are scheduled to begin immediately.
