If you’re starting a fintech company, there are new, smaller seed funds looking for investment opportunities. Founded by Anthony Danon (pictured above), Rerail can be called a micro fund, standalone GP fund or angel fund.
Danone has been an investor for the past 10 years. He started his career at Anthemis Group in London in 2014 and has participated in several interesting rounds such as TrueLayer’s seed round.
He quickly rose through the VC ranks to become a partner at Speedinvest, with a specific focus on fintech. Invested in promising startups such as Primer and Wayflyer.
“I like the idea that fintech is horizontal rather than vertical. This feature is supported in all markets. So instead of thinking about neobanks, lending and payments, think about health, insurance, logistics and trade,” Danon told TechCrunch.
In 2021, he started talks to start a fund with Carmen Alfonso Rico. “Carmen and I were friends because we both joined VC around the same time,” Danon said. “And we realized that we saw the same thing as our co-investors. On the one hand, all these VCs are friends we have grown up with. And even when we are not competing with them, they are collaborating very intensively. And on the other hand, we can leverage this for startups.”
They started Cocoa about three years ago as a small, early-stage fund designed to invest like angel investors. Cocoa is by no means the main investor, but it can bring in other investors to help your startup succeed.
After making 35 investments, when it came time to decide what to do next, the couple decided to split and raise separate funds. Cocoa’s investment thesis wasn’t a good fit for Danon because it wasn’t limited to fintech. he wanted to focus much more Information about fintech and fintech-related startups is available not only in Europe.
“Our strategic focus was a little bit different, so we said, ‘This is a difficult decision, but let’s make our next decision separately,’” Danon said. He didn’t want to say anything more about the future of Carmen Alfonso Rico (and Cocoa). “Carmen is working on the next one,” he said.
And with that, we have Rerail, a fund with a target of $20 million. Danon has already completed its first close, just above its target of approximately $20.5 million. He will raise a little more than that, so the final number will be slightly higher than that number. “The majority of our LP base are founders and operators, which are core to our DNA and all the values I bring to the table,” Danon said. “But I also have some institutions.”
Danon plans to invest between $200,000 and $500,000, depending on the size of the financing. He has made his first investment in Rerail, but does not want to reveal the name of the startup yet.
In addition to Danon’s network of founders and ability to attract investors to the upper limit, he hopes to be able to offer useful advice to entrepreneurs just starting out.
“I never pretend to know more than the founders. “I learned from them, but they speak the same language,” he said. “And when it comes to networking and focus, I hope I can open almost any door.”
