VC Firm Adds Ex-Microsoft Chief As It Weighs Third Fund

• A European VC fund led by an ex-Apple chief has hired a former Microsoft executive.
• C4 Ventures founder Pascal Cagni has added Eric Boustouller as the firm’s latest partner.
• The firm is closing a second fund worth €80 million ($90 million) but is eyeing another in 2022.

A venture capital fund run by an ex-Apple veteran has hired a former high-ranking Microsoft executive as it nears the closure of an €80 million ($90 million) fund.

London-based C4 Ventures was founded in 2014 by Pascal Cagni, Apple’s former general manager and vice president for Europe. Typically, the firm aims to take a lead investor role in Series A rounds, and a co-investor role in later stage rounds.

C4 is seeking to close its second fund, worth around $90 million, within the next three months, according to Cagni. The firm is also understood to be preparing a third, larger fund for later this year.

Microsoft’s former France and Western Europe boss Eric Boustouller has joined the investor as its latest partner. Boustouller, who spent 15 years across a range of executive roles at the tech giant, joins the firm at a critical time as it weighs up a string of new startup bets.

C4 Ventures has found success to date having backed five unicorn startups in its first fund, and launching a second fund in 2020 to capture opportunities emerging during the pandemic across themes like smart hardware, commerce, digital media, and the future of work. 

For former Apple chief Cagni, a rising influx of capital into the continent is a welcomed one as the “time has come for Europe to really get on par with the US”. In 2020, more than $100 billion was pumped into Europe’s startup ecosystem, according to figures from Atomico.

“The move from Eric and the fact that we are building a franchise for C4, in the long run, illustrates one fundamental idea … The venture asset class is the asset class of the future,” Cagni said. “Europe understands that to create the economy of the future, you need to invest.”

He adds that capital flowing in from the US is a result of investors across the Atlantic recognizing the “lower valuations” of startups in Europe, as well as the abundance of “experimental new founders”. 

Boustouller joins Cagni, and existing partners Michael Sassano and Boris Bakech to take the team of partners at the fund to a total of 4.