# I&P

I&P is a Private Equity based in Paris, France.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** Paris, France
- **Region:** Europe
- **Address:** Paris, France
- **Founded:** 2002
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** ietp.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://fr.linkedin.com/company/i&p-etudes-et-conseils

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Investisseurs & Partenaires was founded in 2002 by Patrice Hoppenot, a former BCG partner, with a thesis focused on the missing middle in African finance — enterprises too large for microfinance but too small or informal for conventional private equity. The firm builds and scales small-to-medium enterprises that serve base-of-the-pyramid consumers with essential goods, services, and jobs. Headquartered in Paris, I&P operates a decentralized network of local offices across West and Central Africa and the Indian Ocean, structuring investments through a series of impact-focused vehicles including the IPDEV family of funds and the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs fund series. The firm targets SMEs requiring equity tickets between €300,000 and €5 million, structuring deals as minority positions with active board governance and operational support. Sectors span financial inclusion, agribusiness, basic healthcare, distributed renewable energy, and education. Known portfolio companies include Rainbow Unlimited, a processed-food manufacturer in Burkina Faso, and Enko Education, a pan-African network of international secondary schools. I&P co-invests alongside development finance institutions such as the European Investment Bank, Proparco, and the African Development Bank, reflecting a blended-finance approach that layers concessional capital into funds to absorb first-loss risk. I&P manages a portfolio exceeding €300 million across multiple vintage funds, with a team housed in offices in Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Niamey, Antananarivo, and other regional hubs. The firm has incubated adjacent vehicles including I&P Développement, which provides technical assistance grants that parallel equity investment, and the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program, which targets conflict-affected Francophone markets. A representative transaction closed in mid-2023: a new investment in an off-grid solar distributor serving rural communities in the Sahel. The structural differentiator is a permanent-family-of-funds architecture that decouples asset management from traditional five-to-seven-year fund life cycles. I&P embeds technical-assistance teams inside portfolio companies for multi-year operational turnarounds, a model that turns high-touch governance into a competitive moat — no conventional Africa PE fund replicates the same combination of small-ticket direct equity and grant-funded capacity building under one operating umbrella.

## Sectors

- Financial Services
- Enterprise Software
- Healthcare Services
- AgriTech & FoodTech
- Education
- Energy Transition & Renewables

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at I&P?

I&P is led by a team of professionals based in Paris and across African offices. The firm does not publicly name a single CEO or CIO. Decisions are made collectively through investment committees structured by region and fund.

### How does I&P source proprietary deal flow?

I&P sources deals through its network of local funds — Teranga Capital (Senegal), Sinergi (Niger), and Inua Capital (Uganda) — which scout opportunities in their respective regions. The firm also leverages relationships with entrepreneurs and development finance institutions.

### Does I&P participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?

I&P manages a fund-of-funds vehicle called FASA, which invests in other funds targeting African SMEs. It also makes direct investments in individual companies. Both approaches are active parts of their strategy.

### What investment stages does I&P typically target?

I&P targets early-stage (seed, startup) through expansion and growth-stage investments. It also considers PIPEs and public-to-private opportunities, as per its stated strategy. The firm focuses on companies that are often underserved by traditional investors.

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- [Iowa Startup Accelerator](https://altss.com/profile/iowa-startup-accelerator)
- [Ipanema Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/ipanema-ventures)

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Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:34:35.490Z

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