The world has a new richest man. Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been dethroned by Frenchman Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of luxury goods group LVMH.
Tesla shares have fallen 50% since April, slashing about $7 billion from Musk’s net worth this week alone, according to Forbes list of billionaires in real time. Don’t feel too sympathetic — he still has $177 billion left — but that means Musk is now in second place behind Arnault, who is worth $188 billion.
Musk’s interest in tech startups is well documented. Less known is Arnault’s support for them.
Arnault made his money as co-founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH (which stands for Louis Vuitton, Moët and Hennessy), the world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH owns 75 labels, ranging from Bulgari to Givenchy.
Arnault Group
Arnault’s family office, Groupe Arnault, has been supporting technology companies since the 1990s. It backed Netflix in 1999, Spotify in 2014 and Airbnb in 2015.
More recently, it has also supported Lyft, Databricks, Noom, and Slack.
Aglae Companies
Since 2017, Groupe Arnault, now Agache, has been investing in startups via a venture capital company Aglae.
Aglae Ventures said it invests €100,000 to €100 million in “resource-limited activities and fast-growing technology companies at all stages”. According to its LinkedIn, the firm is particularly interested in marketplaces, SaaS, content platforms and digital native brands.
Data from the trading floor shows that Aglaé participated in 65 rounds in total, worth, combined with co-investor cash, a total of $3.4 billion.
Almost all of Aglaé’s European portfolio is French, although it states on its website that it invests globally in Series B companies to pre-IPO companies. The most valuable European company in the Aglaé portfolio, according to Dealroom, is the back market of France, the used technology market with a valuation of $5.7 billion.
The firm has supported three other unicorns, all based in Paris: the DIY and gardening community ManoMano; Meero photographers market and Ankorstore, which connects the market places to the shops.
Arnault launches into crypto?
Earlier this year, The Block reported that Aglaé was about to launch a dedicated crypto fund – albeit in August, before the crypto winter had fully set in. The fund was to be between 100 and 110 million euros.
Aglaé named former CoinFund director Vanessa Grellet and former Aave managing director Jordan Lazaro Gustave who would have lead crypto investments.
Aglaé declined to comment at the time and there hasn’t been an official launch since, so we’ll have to watch this space to see what sectors interest Arnault next.
Sifted has contacted Aglaé for comment.
Comments are closed.