Hello Sébastien! Can you give our readers a quick introduction?
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Hello Olivier, I am Sébastien Mitton44 years old. I began my career in corporate consulting, particularly in mergers and acquisitions. My role was to support managers in their financial projects, such as identifying investors to expand or sell their company. But what I found was that these managers were then given a very financial approach, where people looked at the figures without really being interested in the company's business. That's why I decided to join a new type of investment fund, Capeliacreated in 2008 by five entrepreneurs who wanted to share their entrepreneurial experience and networks by becoming minority or majority shareholders in other companies. In this organization, my role is to identify issues and put together deals, so as to take a highly professional approach while highlighting the entrepreneurial experience of the entrepreneurs who make up Capelia.
What's the difference between a "classic" fund and an entrepreneurial fund?
The concept of entrepreneurial funds is to combine capital and entrepreneurial expertise in the service of other entrepreneurs. So, of course, we invest in the structures we support, but we also contribute our experience, our network and our expertise. Capelia is run by entrepreneurs, and our funds are 100% subscribed by entrepreneurs. This is unique in France. I also look after a club of twenty management companies, and we have the same type of entrepreneurial funds for certain characteristics.
Fascinating. How do you identify companies to invest in? What criteria do you use?
Capelia does not specialize in startups, but rather in companies in the transfer and development phase. These are already profitable companies, often family-owned, that have reached a certain level of maturity. We identify them through our network of entrepreneurs or through financial intermediaries, who understand the problems faced by managers and present the subject to us to see if we are interested.
Are you also looking for a state of mind among the managers of the companies in which you invest?
It's true that the evaluation of "human capital" is often underestimated in the investment process by some of our colleagues. However, as an entrepreneur at Capelia, we are fully aware that this is a central criterion for project success. That's why, for each subject I identify, I take the time to mark out, secure and de-risk the association on this point. In a way, it's a question of asking the key questions, which go beyond simple financial issues. We also look at very personal aspects as entrepreneurs and future partners.
At Capelia, our approach is also to involve a member of the investment team and an entrepreneur from the governance team in every meeting with a manager. We don't content ourselves with a simple presentation document, but organize several meetings to understand whether we share the same philosophy and the same entrepreneurial spirit. We also try to meet several of the company's executives before entering into a partnership, to fully understand the project as a whole.
Finally, we draw up a shareholder pact that defines the conditions of the association and the distribution of capital. We are very transparent about how we see the partnership and how we operate afterwards. We make it clear that our role is to support the company's management, not to run it or make important decisions on its behalf.
As a result, all our associations are going well, and have gone well. For us, an emblematic entrepreneur is Matthieu Gufflethead of EPSA. We accompanied his company when it was still in its infancy, and have witnessed its remarkable growth over the years. His ability to involve his team in the capital and carry out several external growths is a model of success that we greatly admire.
Many thanks for your time, Sébastien!
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