About Sylvain Zimmer
Sylvain Zimmer is a venture capital firm founded in 2004. It is primarily based out of Paris, France. As of 2020, Sylvain Zimmer has invested in 45 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in France based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Life Sciences. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Cycloponics Overall, Sylvain Zimmer portfolio has seen 3 unicorns, 8 IPOs and 7 acquisitions including key companies like Tesla, Airbnb and CloudFlare. FAMAE Impact co-invest with Sylvain Zimmer, sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Sylvain Zimmer has team of 1 people including 1 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed & Angel
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Sylvain Zimmer's List of Top Investments
Sylvain Zimmer has a portfolio of 45 companies, including 3 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Cycloponics and StreamRoot.Their portfolio spans across France, United States, Germany and 2 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Life Sciences and 21 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Angel stages. Here is the list of top investments by Sylvain Zimmer:1. Tesla
Electric vehicle and clean energy solutions provider. It manufactures electric vehicles and energy storage systems for consumers. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles. It also produces energy generation and storage systems. These products are offered to residential, commercial, and utility-scale customers. The company operates a network of service locations and charging stations.
Key facts about Tesla
- Founded Year: 2003
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $408M
- Employee Count: 134,785 as on Dec 31, 2025
- Investors: Sprout Capital Partners, Silver Lake and 72 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Feb 05, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Public
2. Airbnb
Provider of accommodations, experiences, and related services through an online platform. The platform facilitates connections between hosts and individuals seeking lodging and activities. It offers a variety of options for stays and curated experiences. The platform also provides resources for individuals interested in becoming hosts.
Key facts about Airbnb
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1B+ as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $3.07B
- Employee Count: 72,164 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: 2020 Ventures, Silver Lake and 164 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Apr 06, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. CloudFlare
Provider of cloud services for security, performance, and application development. The company delivers networking, security, and performance services through its connectivity cloud platform. It offers solutions for application security, application performance, and network services. The company's platform supports businesses in modernizing networks, securing workspaces, and optimizing web experiences.
Key facts about CloudFlare
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1B+ as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $332M
- Employee Count: 8,374 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: HTIF, Fidelity Investments and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Aug 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Public
4. Stripe
Provider of financial infrastructure solutions for revenue growth and payment processing. It offers tools designed for individual or combined use to grow businesses. These tools enable payment acceptance and optimisation globally, both online and in person. The company facilitates various billing models and provides access to borderless money movement. It also offers resources for startups and platforms to build and scale their operations.
Key facts about Stripe
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series I
- Total Funding till date: $9.81B
- Employee Count: 17,029 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Glynn Capital, Silver Lake and 133 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series I, Apr 08, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. SpaceX
Provider of advanced aerospace and space transportation services. It delivers advanced launch services using reusable rocket systems designed to transport crew and cargo for missions to orbit, the Moon, Mars, and deep space exploration. It also develops and operates large-scale satellite networks that provide high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity across the globe, including remote and underserved regions. It supports human spaceflight programs aimed at expanding long-duration space exploration and increasing access to space for both commercial and governmental missions.
Key facts about SpaceX
- Founded Year: 2002
- Location: Hawthorne (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $11.9B
- Employee Count: 20,561 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: TrueBridge, equitywestsecurities.com and 269 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series J, Mar 17, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Sylvain Zimmer's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Sylvain Zimmer has invested in 45 companies over the last 13 years, with an average of 0 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Cycloponics.Sylvain Zimmer's Investments by Stage
Sylvain Zimmer has made 3 investments in Seed stage and 2 investments in Angel stage with an average round size of $488K.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 3 |
Angel | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Sylvain Zimmer's Investments by Sector
Sylvain Zimmer has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Consumer, Enterprise Applications, Food and Agriculture, High Tech and Media & Entertainment. Notably, it has invested in 36 Tech companies, 26 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 15 Consumer (B2C) companies and at least 15 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Consumer | 2 |
Enterprise Applications | 2 |
Food and Agriculture | 2 |
High Tech | 2 |
Media & Entertainment | 2 |
Others | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Sylvain Zimmer's Investments by Geography
Sylvain Zimmer has made most investments in France (4), followed by United States where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
France | 4 |
United States | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Sylvain Zimmer's recent investments
Sylvain Zimmer has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Sylvain Zimmer:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | France | Seed | 4434 | - | |
2019 | France | Seed | 8067 | - | |
2016 | France | Seed | 5455 | - | |
2014 | United States | Angel | 6506 | - | |
Feb 25, 2013 | France | Angel | 7871 | - |
Unicorns in Sylvain Zimmer's Portfolio
Sylvain Zimmer has 3 unicorns in its portfolio - PayFit, Prometheus and Algolia. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is PayFit. It became a unicorn in 2022, 4 years before Sylvain Zimmer first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
64 | Cloud-based payroll management solution | 2016 | Paris | Series E | nbplchl | ||
61 | Provider of carbon-neutral fuels made from atmospheric CO2 using renewable energy | 2018 | Santa Cruz | Series B | pnpxvzm | ||
72 | Developer of software for artificial intelligence search and retrieval systems | 2012 | San Francisco | Series D | lixaunq |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Sylvain Zimmer's Portfolio
8 of Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio companies have become public. SpaceX got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Jun 2026 at marketcap of $996B and Acticor Biotech got listed on the Euronext Exchange (Euronext) at marketcap of $87M.Here are Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 12, 2026 | - | - | 4442 | |
Nov 01, 2021 | - | - | 8239 | |
Oct 11, 2019 | - | - | 9806 | |
Sep 13, 2019 | - | - | 5904 | |
May 02, 2019 | - | - | 8658 |
Acquired companies in Sylvain Zimmer's Portfolio
7 companies from Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Robocath in Apr 2026 by Stereotaxis for $*****.Here are Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 15, 2026 | - | - | 9913 | |
Feb 24, 2023 | - | - | 3658 | |
Jun 02, 2022 | - | - | 4243 | |
May 02, 2022 | - | - | 3536 | |
Jul 21, 2021 | Feb 25, 2013 | Angel | 3620 |
Team profile of Sylvain Zimmer
Sylvain Zimmer has a team of 1 member located in France. Sylvain Zimmer's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Co-investors of Sylvain Zimmer
Over the past 13 years, 20 investors have co-invested in Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Top Co-investors of Sylvain Zimmer: FAMAE Impact entered a company along with Sylvain Zimmer.
- Invested after Sylvain Zimmer: A total of 19 investors have invested in Sylvain Zimmer's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Techstars (2 companies), Partech Partners (2 companies) and Balderton Capital (1 company).
Recent News related to Sylvain Zimmer
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Sketchfab, "le YouTube des fichiers 3D", lève 370 000 eurosClubic•Feb 26, 2013•Sketchfab, Sylvain Zimmer
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Le "YouTube du fichier 3D" Sketchfab a levé 370 000 eurositespresso.fr•Feb 26, 2013•Sketchfab, Sylvain Zimmer
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With 20,000+ users on board, Sketchfab raises a 370K€ Angel round for its YouTube of 3DRude Baguette•Feb 25, 2013•Sketchfab, Sylvain Zimmer
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Sketchfab lève 370 000 euros pour devenir le Youtube du fichier 3DJournalduNet•Feb 25, 2013•Sketchfab, Sylvain Zimmer
