La Poste creates venture capital fund for startups

French postal service company La Poste has launched a new investment fund for startups that have a positive impact. With La Poste Ventures, the French company wants to anticipate changes in important sectors for the Group and explore new business models.

The launch of La Poste Ventures is part of the group’s strategic plan “La Poste 2030, committed for you”. Through this plan it has set itself the goal of becoming the leading platform in Europe for providing people-oriented and socially-responsible services.

La Poste Ventures launched in partnership with XAnge

Venture capital fund La Poste Ventures has been launched in partnership with XAnge. The fund targets new customer services and experiences relevant for La Poste’s strategic business areas. The new VC fund will invest 35 million euros in three to five startups every year. This will happen as a minority shareholder through seed or Series A funding. Investment amounts range from 300,000 to 3 million euros.

The startups, based in France or Europe, will be selected according to environmental, social and governance criteria in collaboration with XAnge, a major European player in private equity in the field of innovation, and a partner of La Poste since its creation in 2002.

La Poste Ventures invests €35 million every year.

Five areas of investment

The French postal service company specifies five areas of investment that are linked to its activities: connected and augmented logistics to enhance the user experience, green and smart cities, phygital (combining technology with physical presence), health and well-being, and digitization.

Open innovation is already helping La Poste to grow.

“Open innovation, in its broadest sense, is already helping Le Groupe La Poste and its subsidiaries to grow”, says Diane Abrahams, Director of Strategy, Transversal Partnerships and Innovation. “With this fund, we specifically aim to identify agile projects that combine customer orientation, positive impact and cutting-edge technologies. Investing in these types of startups is a good way to look ahead to 2030 and challenge our objectives.”