# La Financière Saint James La Financière Saint James is a Single Family Office based in Paris, France. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Single Family Office - **Headquarters:** Paris, France - **Region:** Europe - **Address:** Paris, France - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** lfsj.fr ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About La Financière Saint James is the family office of Michaël Benabou, established following his success as a co-founder of Veepee (formerly Vente-Privee.com), the European flash-sale pioneer he built with Jacques-Antoine Granjon and Julien Sorbac. The office manages the proceeds of that liquidity event from Paris, where Benabou has become a notable art collector and real estate investor alongside his technology commitments. The office runs a dual-track strategy. Its venture arm pursues early-stage direct investments and SPV participations across more than ten sectors — PropTech, FinTech, InsurTech, AgriTech, LegalTech, digital health, and AI/ML-focused enterprise software are all confirmed focuses. The real estate book is geographically concentrated in the 7th, 10th, and 15th arrondissements of Paris, anchored by the Beaugrenelle shopping center and a series of commercial and mixed-use properties on Rue Daunou, Rue Monsieur, and Rue Lafayette. The firm has also co-invested alongside Marc Ménasé, the serial entrepreneur behind MenInvest, including participation in the DEE Tech SPAC. The office operates with a lean, founder-led structure. Benabou serves as President, with no publicly listed senior investment team. Philanthropic activity runs through two channels: the Bouquet of Tulips project, a public art installation collaboration with Jeff Koons near the Petit Palais, and support for the Institut Imagine, a Paris-based genetic-disease research center. The firm does not disclose AUM, headcount, or fund-commitment pacing. What distinguishes Saint James is its hybrid constitution — a founder's venture platform welded to a hard-asset real estate book, both governed as a single-family office with no external LPs. Benabou's co-founder network from Veepee and the broader French tech ecosystem (Ménasé, the Granjon orbit) serves as a proprietary sourcing engine, giving the office first-look access to deals that pass through a tight circle of Paris-based internet founders turned allocators. ## Sectors - AI/ML - PropTech - FinTech - InsurTech - AgriTech & FoodTech - LegalTech - Media & Entertainment - Digital Health - Supply Chain & Logistics - Luxury - Enterprise Software - Real Estate ## People - Michaël Benabou — President ## Questions ### How does the firm source its venture deals? Sourcing flows through Benabou's two-decade network as a Veepee co-founder and his relationships with French serial entrepreneurs like Marc Ménasé. The office co-invests alongside figures who built liquidity in the first wave of French e-commerce, giving it access to deal flow that does not always pass through formal fund processes. ### Does La Financière Saint James commit to funds, or only direct deals? The firm engages in both direct startup investments, co-investments and SPVs, and fund-of-funds commitments. While the portfolio is weighted toward early-stage direct positions, fund commitments are part of the allocation toolkit, granting exposure to managers and stages the lean internal team does not source directly. ### What real estate does the office hold? The portfolio is Paris-concentrated, spanning the Beaugrenelle shopping mall in the 15th arrondissement, commercial property on Rue des Petites Écuries and Rue Daunou, and mixed-use assets in Montparnasse and Rue Lafayette. These are long-hold trophy or income-producing assets rather than development-for-sale plays. ### How is the firm related to Veepee? Michaël Benabou is a co-founder of Veepee. La Financière Saint James is the family office he controls personally to manage the wealth realized from that company — there is no corporate affiliation or pooled capital between Saint James and Veepee's operating business. ### Which sectors does the firm explicitly avoid? The firm has not published a formal exclusion list. However, the disclosed sector focuses — primarily digital, software-based, and asset-light tech verticals — suggest limited appetite for capital-intensive deep tech, biopharma, or heavy industrial manufacturing. ### Does the firm maintain philanthropic structures, and how are they separated? Two philanthropic activities are publicly connected to Benabou: the Bouquet of Tulips art installation collaboration with Jeff Koons, and support for the Institut Imagine, a genetic-disease research center. These are executed as personal or foundation-led projects and are structurally separate from the family office's investment operations. ## Related profiles - [Knop Investments](https://altss.com/profile/knop-investments-bv) - [Lazarus Capital & Assets](https://altss.com/profile/lazarus-capital-and-assets) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/la-financiere-saint-james Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology