French VC firm Newwave, cofounded by Pia d’Iribarne and Jean de La Rochebrochard in 2020, is being taken over by NJJ Holding, French billionaire Xavier Niel’s personal holding company, D’Iribarne and NJJ Holding announced today in a statement. D’Iribarne is leaving the firm and has decided to pursue other investment opportunities. But insiders describe a drama playing out behind the scenes.
News
October 24, 2024
French VC firm Newwave is being taken over by billionaire Xavier Niel’s holding company - and insiders describe ‘highly unusual’ drama
The firm has stakes in buzzy AI startups Mistral and Poolside as well as carbon accounting platform Sweep
Anne Sraders, Daphné Leprince-Ringuet and Tim Smith
2 min read
Anne Sraders is a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin. She covers the venture capital industry and deeptech startups, including robotics, spacetech and defence tech. She also writes Sifted's weekly VC newsletter Up Round. Follow her on X and LinkedIn
Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is a senior reporter for Sifted, based in Paris. She covers French tech and writes Sifted's AI and Deeptech newsletter . You can find her on X and LinkedIn
Tim Smith was news editor at Sifted. He covered deeptech and AI, and produced Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast . Follow him on X and LinkedIn

Up Round newsletter
Your weekly snapshot of European VC, covering the latest funding trends, new VC funds, people moves and gossip.
Recommended
The EU wants you! …to manage €5bn
The European Innovation Council published its criteria in a callout for VC firms to manage the new deeptech fund
Exclusive: British air force vet raises £5m for solo GP defence and dual use fund
Twin Track Ventures only backs startups with both commercial and military use cases
NATO Innovation Fund forced to pay €52k to former partner
Founding partner Thorsten Claus earned almost €700k a year at the taxpayer-funded firm, court documents from August reveal


