Luxembourg Entrepreneurs Launch New Investment Initiative

As reported by Silicon Luxembourg, three local entrepreneurs have set up a new investment initiative in the Grand Duchy.

Funding is a crucial factor for the development and growth of startups. Equally important, however, is experience. This is where "Project Rise" comes in.

Taking inspiration from similar projects in cities such as London, Paris and Amsterdam, Patrick Kersten, Christophe Folschette and Thibaut Britz aim to emulate that success in Luxembourg, by providing mentorship, alongside funding, to other ambitious local entrepreneurs.

Between them, the founders have 40 years of combined experience of launching and growing startups. Patrick Kersten has had success founding online businesses, such as Doctena and atHome Group. Both Christophe Folschette and Thibaut Britz have experience working on projects within the tech space. Over ten years ago they co-founded the (now international) social listening and conversational intelligence platform, Talkwalker. The three founders are now looking to share their experience with other entrepreneurs through Project Rise.

The mentorship element is what differentiates Project Rise from most other business angels and venture capital (VC) funds in Luxembourg. Rather than simply investing money, they will be advising startups on how to increase their chances of success in the long term. In addition, the founders see traditional VCs and business angels as partners rather than competitors.

As well as difficulty securing funding, another challenge that many local startups face is growing their business internationally. Having experienced both these challenges themselves, the founders of Project Rise are in a good position to support entrepreneurs at this stage. As Thibaut Britz told Silicon Luxembourg, through Project Rise they wanted to see “how to create an ecosystem to [help entrepreneurs] be more successful in future… there’s something missing in the current space, and that’s entrepreneurs helping other entrepreneurs”.

For entrepreneurs to get the most out of a partnership with Project Rise, they need more than just an initial idea. The ideal candidates for this mentorship are entrepreneurs who already have an idea of how they would like to scale their business and who want to test it. 

When it comes to starting partnerships, the fund is open to working with any entrepreneur in Luxembourg who fit this criteria. There is no limit to the number of startups in which they are open to investing time and money. The most important factor is that it is a good fit for both parties.

Entrepreneurs wishing to grow their business to the next stage can contact Project Rise directly through the website www.projectrise.vc to discuss opportunities.