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Elephants & Ventures
Elephants & Ventures manages Hardware Club, the first community-based venture fund for hardware startups, regulated in Paris since 2016.
Elephants & Ventures
Elephants & Ventures is a Paris-based asset management company registered with the AMF under number GP-16000031, which it received on 6 December 2016. The firm is structured as a French SAS and explicitly states it is the owner and sole operator of Hardware Club and its associated funds, activities, and brands. Hardware Club itself was positioned as the first community-based venture fund dedicated to hardware companies, giving Elephants & Ventures a distinct legacy anchored in founder networks rather than generalist deal flow. The firm's strategy focuses on early-stage venture across seed and start-up phases, targeting companies at the intersection of hardware and software. Its thematic emphasis spans industrial technology, robotics and automation, mobility and transportation, space technology, and agri-food tech — sectors where physical products are a core component of the business model. The Hardware Club vehicle operated on a community-led sourcing model, a structure that implies deal flow originating from a curated network of founders building tangible products. No public data specifies the firm's total assets under management, fund sizes, team headcount, or number of portfolio companies. Recent deployment activity, specific portfolio holdings, and the identities of its investment principals are not disclosed in the current public record. Elephants & Ventures maintains a compliance and complaints-handling procedure as required by its AIFM agreement, with its operational address at 59 rue Beaubourg in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. Elephants & Ventures' architecture is defined by its status as a regulated management company that wholly owns and operates a distinct venture brand. This is not a family office or a multi-strategy platform — it is a single-asset-class boutique where the community-driven fund identity (Hardware Club) sits inside a regulated parent entity. The separation between the brand that founders encounter and the entity that bear compliance obligations is its primary structural differentiator.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
France
City
Paris
Corporate office
59 rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris, France
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Elephants & Ventures?
The public record does not identify the firm's investment committee members or named principals. Elephants & Ventures operates as a regulated French asset management company (AMF number GP-16000031), so ultimate responsibility for investment decisions rests with its mandated portfolio managers under the supervision of the AMF. Specific names of partners or investment leads are not disclosed on the firm's website.
What is the relationship between Elephants & Ventures and Hardware Club?
Elephants & Ventures is the regulated parent company that wholly owns and operates Hardware Club, its funds, its activities, and its brand. Hardware Club was launched as the first community-based venture fund dedicated to hardware companies, and it functions as the sole investment vehicle brand under Elephants & Ventures. All deal activity, fundraising, and portfolio management flow through this controlled structure.
What investment stages does Elephants & Ventures target?
The firm explicitly targets early-stage companies across seed and start-up phases. This aligns with the Hardware Club identity, which built a community of founders at the earliest stages of company formation. There is no public indication that the firm participates in growth equity, buyouts, or later-stage venture rounds.
How does Elephants & Ventures source its deals?
Hardware Club was structured as a community-based venture fund, suggesting deal flow originates from a curated network of hardware founders. While the mechanics of that community are not detailed publicly, the model implies access to proprietary deal flow generated through relationships with entrepreneurs building physical products, rather than through open-market or advisor-driven sourcing.
Is Elephants & Ventures structured as a family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Elephants & Ventures is a regulated French asset management company (SAS) with an AIFM agreement, not a family office. It operates entirely like a specialist venture firm, managing funds under the Hardware Club brand for external investors. There is no disclosed connection to a single family's wealth or a multi-family office structure.
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