Founders Future

Louis Sautet is a Partner at Founders Future, which he joined in April 2023, focusing on identifying and financing early-stage startups in Europe and the United States, with a specialization in software, fintech, and artificial intelligence. Before Founders Future, he spent six years at French Partners, where he helped build a portfolio of more than 50 companies across 12 countries. He previously worked at Permira, BNP Paribas, and Natixis, and holds a degree from Université Paris Dauphine.

Marc Menasé is a graduate of HEC who began his career at Kelkoo, a price comparison site later sold to Yahoo. He co-founded Nextedia (sold to Groupe Lagardère in 2007), created Meninvest in 2010 (whose properties including Mensquare were sold to Groupe Figaro in 2016), and co-founded the local food marketplace Epicery (acquired by La Poste in 2021). Active as a business angel since 2005 with over a hundred startups backed, he co-created France Digitale and launched Founders Future in 2018.

Sophie Duval is Partner and Secrétaire Générale at Founders Future, where she oversees the legal, regulatory, and financial departments, with expertise in financial, banking, and corporate law. Before joining the firm, she spent over four years as a lawyer at the Paris firm Coblence avocats, advising investment funds, founders, and companies on private equity, M&A, and restructuring matters. She also worked at the Parquet Financier of Toulouse on financial criminal law cases and is a graduate of law school (école des avocats).

Dulcie fforde is a Principal on the US investment team at Founders Future and a graduate of the University of Oxford. She previously worked at Baillie Gifford, where she was involved in investments in Brex, Faire and Nubank, and later held roles at Uber and Homebound. She is also a scout for Headline and a member of First Round's Angel Track program.

Amanda Wu is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who joined Founders Future as Chief of Staff in 2026, working at the intersection of strategy, investor relations, and operations. She previously served as a Senior Associate at Vista Equity Partners, focusing on fundraising strategy and investor communications, and earlier spent several years at Blackstone in Investor Relations and Portfolio Operations roles.

Gabrielle Fourey is a graduate of the École de Condé and has served as Executive Office Manager at Founders Future since 2021. She works on project management, process optimization, and organizational support, contributing to the internal operations and coordination of the fund.

Jonathan Karlson is a Senior Associate on Founders Future's US investment team. He holds a degree in economics and computer science from Dickinson College. Before joining the firm, he worked at ICONIQ Capital managing assets for high-net-worth families and entrepreneurs across direct and fund investments in venture and private equity, and previously spent six years at BlackRock working with institutional investors.

Matthieu Benkerant is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Founders Future, where he oversees operations and contributes to the group's development strategy while supporting founders and C-level executives on operational challenges. He holds degrees from HEC Paris and INSEEC Grande École and has over 10 years of experience in retail and tech. He began his career at Rocket Internet before joining Carrefour in 2016, where he led open innovation and e-commerce partnerships (Uber, Deliveroo, Glovo, Rappi), then directed the group's external growth activities and co-created Dastore, an €80m pan-European CVC fund.

Maxence Blanchy is Chief Administrative and Financial Officer at Founders Future since October 2024, overseeing the fund's financial and strategic operations. He previously spent six years as a Finance Manager in the Private Debt team at Eurazeo, and earlier worked as a senior financial auditor at KPMG and at the European Investment Fund in Luxembourg. He holds a degree from NEOMA Business School.

Thibault Magnen is an Associate at Founders Future, which he joined in 2021. He is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and an engineer from ECE Paris, and focuses on software and fintech investments while supporting founders on structuring and growth. Before Founders Future, he worked in investment at Revaia and in M&A at Crédit Mutuel Arkéa.

Timothée Allez joined Founders Future in September 2025 as a Venture Analyst. He holds a degree in Management from the University of Warwick and a Master in Management from ESSEC Business School, and previously worked at Eurazeo and Daphni on startup due diligence in the energy and environment sectors. At Founders Future he supports the investment team with sourcing and analysis of early-stage opportunities in Europe and the US, focusing on Climate Tech, Deep Tech, and AI.

Violette Guilbert holds a degree from IÉSEG School of Management and previously gained experience in finance and analysis at AlumnEye. She is part of the Investor Relations team at Founders Future.

Valentine Barbelivien is a Partner in Regulatory & Compliance at Regvantage with over 15 years of experience advising regulated financial services entities on structuring, launching, and implementing compliance projects. His work spans asset management firms, investment service providers, financial investment advisors, and payment institutions, covering project structuring through regulatory approval and compliance framework implementation. Barbelivien also serves as a business angel investor supporting fintech, regtech, and legaltech companies.