Team - Supernova Invest

A singular Team

Our team is composed of 20+ experienced investors with a unique ability to understand both the underlying technologies and the most complex deeptech business models. Our team provides in-depth expertise and on-going support in key areas over the life of companies, involving a perfect comprehension of IP, international expansion, and industrial scaling strategies, while engaging with a whole ecosystem (research institutions, industrials, etc.)

Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven

Managing Partner

Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven

Managing Partner

Pierre-Emmanuel has been part of the team since 2019 as Managing Partner. He has more than 25 years of experience in innovation and digital industries.

From 2009 to 2017, while at the SFR Group, Pierre-Emmanuel was president of the SFR Développement corporate fund and on the board of several holdings (including Eyeka, Intersec, WizzTV, and AriadNEXT). He also managed and developed the ad monetization (SFR Régie) and payment (SFR Pay) activities, and created the Big Data and Analytics business unit.
From 2007 to 2009, he was Chief Marketing Officer and then Chairman of the Management Board of the Streamezzo start-up, which specializes in mobile software and the user experience.
From 2002 to 2007, he was part of the founding team of Universal Music Group’s digital intrapreneurial start-up.
He is an engineer, with a degree from École Polytechnique de Bruxelles.

He is on the boards of Robocath, AMI and Scintil.

Régis Saleur

Managing Partner

Régis Saleur

Managing Partner

Régis has been part of the team since 2008 as Managing Partner. He has more than 25 years of experience in private equity and operations.

From 2003 to 2007, he was general partner at Galileo, where he invested in Talend (software publisher, 500 employees, Nasdaq: TLND), Alyotech (engineering and technology consulting, 1,900 employees), and Sarenza (online sales, 300 employees). Régis was Managing Director of Seeft Ventures from 1999 to 2003 (digital start-up management). He is a graduate of École Centrale Paris. Régis is on the boards of Aledia, Aveni, Kalray, Aselta, Crocus, Prophesee.

Celia Hart

General Partner

Healthcare

Celia Hart

General Partner

Celia has more than 20 years’ experience in private equity. She joined the team in 2005 and is responsible for the early team, the healthcare sector and the Supernova 2 fund.

Before joining Supernova Invest, Celia held several high-level positions at Cambridge Antibody Technology (Medimmune since its acquisition by AstraZeneca), one of the stars of UK biotech.

She played a role in developing a number of therapeutic antibodies, including some in co-development with international industrial partners. Celia holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), a PhD from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from Grenoble École de Management (France).

Celia is a member of the board of directors or supervisory board of several companies, including Cairdac, Carthera, Diabeloop, Keranova, NH Theraguix, Uromems, Acusurgical and Allotex.

François Breniaux

General Partner

Industry 4.0

François Breniaux

General Partner

François has been part of the team since 2007 as General Partner. He has more than 10 years of experience in private equity.

In 10 years, François has made some 20 investments, including in Ethera (detection of chemical air pollutants), NanoMakers (silicon carbide nanopowders), Nawa Technologies (ultra-fast carbon batteries), Apix Analytics (multi-gas analyzers), and SymbioFCell (hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles). He began his career when the CEA’s marketing research unit was created in Grenoble before co-founding and running the Alchimer start-up for five years. At Alchimer, he was responsible for physical investments and industrialization.

He has been on numerous Evaluation Panels at the ANR (France’s National Research Agency) in the medical field and has served on the national jury for the Concours de Création d’Entreprise National (France’s national business creation competition) and on competitive cluster juries. François is a graduate of ESCP and holds a master’s degree in technology and management from École Centrale Paris. He has also participated in the Visiting Program at MIT.
François notably serves on the boards of Apix, Arcure, Diotasoft, Eye Tech Care, Genes’ink, Haption, Isorg, Kronosafe, Mirsense, Nanomakers, Nawa, RB3D, Tridimeo, Terakalis and Vulkam.

Etienne Moreau

Partner

Digital Technologies

Etienne Moreau

Partner

Étienne has more than 10 years’ experience in private equity and operations. he joined the team in 2021 and is responsible for the digital tech sector.

Founding member of Orange Ventures, grew the team from 3 to 20 people and from 20M€ to 350M€ AuM. Between 2009 and 2015, Etienne was in the digital M&A team of Orange, invested in Cityvox, Dailymotin, Deezer. Previously, Etienne was CEO and co-founder of Nexsport.

Etienne is a graduate of ENS, Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and ESCP.

Romain Sautrau

Partner

Energy & Environment

Romain Sautrau

Partner

Romain Sautrau has been part of the team since 2020 as Investement Director. He has more than 10 years of experience in private equity.

Before joining Supernova, in 2016 he co-founded StartupFarmers, an investment firm specializing in AgriFood Tech that advises European VC investors and family offices. Romain also made five investments in start-ups as a business angel. From 2013 to 2016, he was a strategy consultant at Corporate Value Associates (CVA), in the agriculture and energy sectors. Before that, Romain was part of the Large Venture investment team at Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala (Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund) that specializes in new technologies for the energy transition. He began his career in 2007, in mergers and acquisitions at Climate Change Capital in London. Romain has an MBA from INSEAD and a master’s degree in economics/decision theory. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He is on the boards of EVS, Microphyt, Blue Valet, Smartway and Micropep.

David Hansen

Partner

Energy & Environment

David Hansen

Partner

David has been part of the team since 2021 as Investement Director. He has more than 10 years of experience in private equity and operations.

Investment director at Suez Ventures between 2014 and 2020 where he made 8 transactions. Between 2000 and 2014, David held different managing positions in industrial performance, financial control and M&A at Lafarge group and Suez group. Previously, David was a strategic consultant at Arthur D. Little. David is a graduate from ESSEC

Maxime Alazet

Investor Relations Director

Maxime Alazet

Investor Relations Director

Maxime started his career working for SGCIB in New York (2006 – 2010) before joining the asset managment industry at La Financière de l’Echiquier in 2010 where he held several positions in business development in France, in Europe and globally working with all kinds of investors.

He then moved to the crypto industry spending two years at COINHOUSE where he was Chief Sales and Operations Officer. Prior to that, Maxime graduated from EM Strasbourg.

Marine Glon

Investment Director

Energy & Environment

Marine Glon

Investment Director

Marine joined the team in 2017 and is responsible for the energy & environment sector. She has more than 10 years of experience in financing innovation projects.

From 2012 to 2017, Marine was responsible for the Investments for the Future program (circular economy, waste recycling and recovery, biogas, water treatment and biodiversity) at ADEME (France’s environment and energy agency). She helped select and fund more than 100 innovative companies, with a budget over €150 million. Before that, she was a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for five years, specializing in the energy and insurance sectors. She then participated in the launch of the start-up I Care & Consult (strategic sustainability consultancy), acquired by BearingPoint in 2022. Marine is a graduate of ESSEC Business School. Marine is on the boards of Adionics, Sylfen, PowerUp, Extracthive and BeFC.

Michael Thomas

Investment Director

Digital Technologies

Michael Thomas

Investment Director

Michael brings nearly 15 years of experience across venture capital, consulting, entrepreneurship, and operations. He joined the team in 2023 to contribute to the deployment of the Tech Growth fund.

From 2011 to 2018, Michael held various roles in M&A, business development, and entrepreneurship. He began his career as an M&A Analyst for small and mid-cap deals at Grant Thornton. He then led North American Strategy and Business Development at Sicame Group, a global leader in energy transmission. Later, he co-founded and served as CEO of a SpaceTech startup specializing in advanced optical systems for small satellites used in Earth Observation.

In 2018, Michael entered the venture capital world by joining early-stage Tech VC firm Karista, where he led the fundraising of a €50M DeepTech fund and invested in standout companies such as Exotrail, Incepto, Constellr, and Heex Technologies. Michael is a graduate of ENIM and ESSEC. He is also a graduate from Le Wagon in Data Science.

At Supernova, he focuses on Industrial Tech and Vertical/Infrastructure Software ventures. He has led investments in companies including Loft Orbital and ANYbotics. Beyond investing, Michael contributes to the team as a data scientist, leading the development of data-driven tools.

Rémi Spagnol

Investment Director

Healthcare

Rémi Spagnol

Investment Director

Rémi has been part of the team since 2021 as Investement Director. He has more than 10 years of experience in private equity.

Rémi has conducted a career in different funds specializing in Life Sciences where he has been involved in numerous Late-Stage investments in France and internationally, such as Poxel, Corvidia Therapeutics and Arvelle Therapeutics. A Venture Capital investor at Omnes Capital then at Andera Partners until 2019, he was more recently a structured debt investor at IPF Partners.

Rémi graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Paris-Saclay (PharmD) and holds a Specialized Master in Management of the Biopharmaceutical Industry from ESCP Europe (MS).

Damien Bretegnier

Investment Director

Digital Technologies

Damien Bretegnier

Investment Director

Damien has been part of the team since 2020 as Investement Director. He has more than 10 years of experience in innovation and operations.

From 2013 to 2019, Damien led the ICST & Engineering department at SATT Lutech where he invested in more than 30 deep tech start-up projects that came out of government research. Before that, he spent 14 years in the semiconductor industry, mainly in management program roles, at Soitec, Altis Semiconducteurs, and Infineon Technologies. He also spent three years, from 2003 to 2006, working in Bengaluru, India, where he created a memory component design team for Infineon Technologies. Damien is a graduate of ISEP (Institut supérieur d’électronique de Paris). He is on the boards of Cailabs, Lighton and Upmem.

Cécile Benet

Investment Director

Industry 4.0

Cécile Benet

Investment Director

Cecile has been part of the team since 2023 as Investment Director. She has more than 10 years of experience in private equity and accounting.

From 2016 to 2022, Cécile was part of the Entrepreneurs teams of Siparex in Lyon, a generalist player, specializing in the first openings of the capital of regional SMEs. It has participated in the financing of several development capital and transmission capital operations. Previously, Cécile worked in one of the private equity structures of the Crédit Agricole group in Lyon called Crédit Agricole Régions Investissement. Cécile holds a Masters in Finance and a Masters in Accounting from IAE Lyon.

Alexandre Biau

Investment Director

Energy & Environment

Alexandre Biau

Investment Director

Alexandre Biau joined the team in 2023 as Investment Director. He has 10 years of experience in Agtech and Foodtech.

From 2013 to 2022, Alexandre has developed the Agtech and Foodtech activities at Unigrains, a leading private equity investor for the agri-food and agro-industry sectors. He was responsible for the venture capital fund of funds activity from 2017, and founded in 2020 Unilis Agtech, a joint venture between Unigrains and Arvalis Institut du Végétal that aims at bringing equity and R&D support to Agtech startups developing new solutions for row crops. In 2022, Alexandre joined Seventure Partners as Investment Director of the Blue Forward Fund, a venture impact fund dedicated to the blue economy. Prior to Unigrains, Alexandre has been auditor and consultant in cleantech and sustainability for five years at EY. Alexandre is an agronomist by training, graduated from AgroParisTech, and holds a master’s degree in Environmental &Energy Economics.

Claude-Sebastien Lerbourg

Investment Director

Industry 4.0

Claude-Sebastien Lerbourg

Investment Director

Claude-Sébastien joined the team in 2024 as Investment Director for the Industry 4.0 sector. He has more than 10 years of experience in private equity and operations.

Previously, he served as the Investment Director for Europe at NOVA, the corporate ventures arm of Saint-Gobain, from 2021 to 2024. During his time there, Claude-Sébastien managed the NOVA team in Europe and played a key role in structuring more than 15 investments in start-ups. Prior to his role in Europe, Claude-Sébastien led the NOVA team in Asia for 3 years. Before his time at NOVA, he spent 9 years at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in China, where he held various management positions. Notably, he served as the automotive aftermarket business unit manager for 4 years. Claude holds an MBA from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and graduated from the ESSEC Business School in France. Additionally, he studied the Chinese language at the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) in China and is fluent in Chinese.

Pascal-André Chenal

Investment Director

Healthcare

Pascal-André Chenal

Investment Director

Pascal-André has been part of the team since 2017 as Investement Manager. He has more than 6 years of experience in private equity and consulting.

Pascal-André began his career as a strategy consultant in the health sector. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Lyon (PharmD) and the École Polytechnique de Montréal (BSc Eng).

Carole Cazassus

Investment Director

Digital Technologies

Carole Cazassus

Investment Director

Carole has been part of the team since 2024.

Carole Cazassus has been part of the team since 2024 as Investment Director. She has over 10 years of experience in private equity and venture capital. From 2014 to 2018, Carole was an Associate at the private equity fund Bluester Capital, focusing on LBOs in the lower mid-market sector across Europe. She then worked as an investment readiness consultant addressing young startups for two years, before joining INCO Ventures in 2020, a French impact investing fund, where she successfully made 6 operations as an Investment Director. Carole is a graduate of Audencia.

Jonathan Grooskopf

Investment Director

Industry 4.0

Jonathan Grooskopf

Investment Director

Jonathan joined the team in 2024. At Supernova, he focuses on industrial and clean technology early-stage investments.

Prior to joining the firm, Jonathan set up and co-led BEL Ventures - the corporate venture arm of Groupe BEL, where he oversaw the group's investments in early-stage disruptive food and agriculture start-ups. He started his career in private equity and restructuring at Apollo Management during the 2008 financial crisis and later spent near a decade investing growth capital in manufacturing and agribusiness at the IFC, the private sector investment arm of the WorldBank Group.

Jonathan brings a wealth of corporate investment experience in industrial businesses. He is impact-driven and financially disciplined. He holds a master’s degree from ESCP.

Diane Yakovlev

Investment Manager

Industry 4.0

Diane Yakovlev

Investment Manager

Diane has been part of the team since 2024.

Diane is an experienced investment professional with a robust background in investment and cleantech, committed to advancing environmentally sustainable solutions and fostering innovation in the venture capital sector. She recently joined Supernova Invest from E3 Capital, an energy and low-carbon technology focused panafrican Venture Capital firm based in Nairobi. In her current position as an Investment Manager at Supernova Invest, she works closely with Orano on the deployment of the 50m€ Orano Venture Fund. Before joining the venture capital world, Diane worked on the development of solar photovoltaic projects for the French IPP Voltalia, and on the exploitation of oil resources for a Nigerian multi-energy conglomerate.

Diane holds a postgraduate degree in Energy Economics and Management from IFP School and a master engineering degree in Petroleum Geosciences.

Arthur Puig

Associate

Digital Technologies

Arthur Puig

Associate

Arthur has been part of the team since 2022.

Previously, Arthur spent 4 years at Early Metrics as a startup investment consultant for European corporate ventures funds. Arthur also worked for Creadev, the Mulliez family's VC/PE fund, in the small/mid cap investment bank Wagram Corporate Finance and in strategy at Safran.

Arthur holds a master's degree in management from ESCP Europe and a double degree in corporate finance from Aston University.

Jean Hastings

Associate

Energy & Environment

Jean Hastings

Associate

Jean brings over seven years of experience in consulting and venture capital. He joined the Supernova Invest team in 2024 to focus on growth-stage investments.

Jean began his career at BCG in Paris. There, he worked on a wide range of projects primarily in the energy sector. Jean later transitioned into VC by joining Stellar Impact, a family office investing in early-stage cleantech startups. He was notably involved in managing relationships with Sencrop (exited) and Kern Tec.

At Supernova, Jean focuses on growth-stage investments and plays a key role in building and operationalizing the fund’s internal tech stack.

He is a graduate of HEC Paris and trained in data science and machine learning at Le Wagon. Outside of work, he is passionate about opera and enjoys outdoor activities (cycling, trail).

Alexandre Cordier

Associate

Healthcare

Alexandre Cordier

Associate

Alexandre has been part of the team since 2023.

Alexandre began his career as a Venture Capital investor at Merieux Equity Partners, an investment fund specializing in Life Sciences. He was involved in several financings particularly in the area of tools for genomic analysis and early detection of cancer. Alexandre is a graduate of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Lyon (PharmD) and holds an MSc in Health Management & Data Intelligence from EM Lyon Business School and École des Mines de Saint-Étienne.

Nicolas Topuz

Associate

Industry 4.0

Nicolas Topuz

Associate

Nicolas has been part of the team since 2023.

Nicolas began his career as a strategy consultant in the field of innovation in sectors such as banking, energy or public services. Nicolas is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris.

Lucille Benoit

Analyst

Energy & Environment

Lucille Benoit

Analyst

Lucille joined the team in 2024 and is specializing in the food and agritech sectors.

Lucille began her career as a strategy and innovation consultant at Alcimed advising clients in the food and agritech sectors. She is a biotech engineer graduated from EBI (Ecole des bio-Industries), and holds a master’s degree from AgroParisTech and NEOMA BS.

Léo Fernandes

Analyst

Digital Technologies

Léo Fernandes

Analyst

Léo has been part of the team since 2024.

From 2022 to 2024, Léo was in charge of the marketing of the audio product line at Dolpin Design, a French IP and ASIC provider, where he implemented a new marketing strategy to enter market leaders. Before that, he worked at GreenWaves Technologies, a French tech startup. He also has strong engineering foundation for evaluating deep tech opportunities, honed at STMicroelectronics. Léo's academic foundation is combining an Engineering degree at INP ENSEEIHT with a Business degree from Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM).

Grégoire Viot

Chief Financial Officer

Grégoire Viot

Chief Financial Officer

Grégoire has been part of the team since 2020 as CFO. He has more than 20 years of experience in private equity.

Before he became CFO of Flexam Invest (tangible asset financing), he served as middle office and investor relations manager at Cathay Capital, where he worked to diversify its strategy from small caps to mid caps and then to launch Cathay Innovation. Before that, Grégoire spent seven years in the private equity funds of funds sector, initially in middle office and then on the primary and secondary investment team, including at Access Capital Partners. Grégoire is a graduate of Montpellier Business School and holds a master’s 2 degree in banking and finance from Université Paris V – René Descartes.

Aladin Zeghbib

General Counsel

Aladin Zeghbib

General Counsel

Aladin has been part of the team since 2021 as Legal Officer. He has more than 8 years of experience in private equity.

Before joining the team, Aladin practiced as a lawyer (avocat) at top-tier international law firms where he has been involved in numerous acquisition (LBO) and financial restructuring transactions. Aladin graduated from the University of Toulouse law school (Master’s degree in business law) and from the University of Montpellier law school (Certificate of advanced studies in Tax law). Aladin also holds the Paris bar examination certificate (Certificat d’Aptitude à la Profession d’Avocat) and an Advanced Master’s degree in International Business Law and Management from ESSEC Business School.

Benjamin Gourbeyre

Financial Controller

Benjamin Gourbeyre

Financial Controller

Benjamin has been part of the team since 2023. He is in charge of Middle Office and Financial Control.

Benjamin began his career as a Financial Auditor in the asset management and private equity sector. He then worked as an organization and management consultant for several major asset management companies, helping them to transform their processes. Benjamin is a graduate of Neoma BS (MSc Financial Markets, Assets & Risk Management).

Ines Triki

Financial Controller

Ines Triki

Financial Controller

Ines has been part of the team since 2024.

Ines began her career with two apprenticeships : first at a Chartered Accountancy Firm, where she gained experience in accounting, and then at La Banque de France, further enhancing her skills as a Financial Analyst. She then joined PwC as a Financial Auditor, specializing in Asset Management, where she worked extensively with Publicly Traded Funds and Securitization Funds. Ines holds a Master’s degree in Corporate Finance from the University of Paris Nanterre.

Sandrine Fourage

Back Office Manager

Sandrine Fourage

Back Office Manager

Sandrine has been part of the team since 2004.

Before joining Supernova Invest, Sandrine was the purchasing and administrative manager for a medical laboratories group. She holds a postgraduate degree from the school of law and economics at Université Grenoble Alpes.

Wendy Wepsiec

Office Manager

Wendy Wepsiec

Office Manager

Wendy has been part of the team since 2024.

Previously, Wendy worked for a strategic consulting firm specializing in data strategy and AI. She has also gained experience across various sectors, including consulting, real estate, investment funds, and banking, serving both French and international companies. Since 2011, Wendy has held the position of Office Manager, during which she has evolved and expanded her expertise in various aspects of the role. She holds a bachelor’s degree, followed by specialized training in tourism with a French airline company.