VC Firm Daphni, Carrefour Partner on Fund for Digital Retail Startups

French multinational retail firm Carrefour Group is teaming up with the venture capital firm Daphni to launch Dastore, a fund dedicated to early-stage startups in the digital retail sector, according to a press release on Monday (April 4).

Dastore will initially back early-stage startups with high potential in France, with minority stakes totaling 80 million euros. On the global level, the Carrefour Group will “stay close to innovations and emerging technologies.”

The combined efforts of Carrefour and Daphni are intended to give startups a competitive advantage as well as the added benefit of gaining access to experience and global markets.

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“Launching this venture capital vehicle is a huge milestone in our innovation strategy and illustrates our willingness to further develop the links we have with the startup ecosystem. Investing in startups is an opportunity for Carrefour to speed up its own digital transformation, while at the same time helping early stage companies to grow faster,” said Elodie Perthuisot, Carrefour’s executive director of eCommerce, data and digital transformation.

“We have therefore opted for an unprecedented investment fund model in the retail space and are delighted to start this adventure alongside seasoned and well-known investors such as Daphni,” Perthuisot said.

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Dastore will have the benefit of its own dedicated team comprised of leaders from both Daphni and Carrefour. Aside from its financial backing, Carrefour will also benefit startups by providing acceleration and operational support in addition to data insights and a broader client reach.

“Dastore is perfectly in line with one of Daphni’s strategic aims, which involves creating bridges between startups and corporates (in this case specifically, with Carrefour) in the area of digital retail,” said Marc Simoncini, a partner at Daphni.