Source Ventures

Source Ventures is a Paris-based micro-VC and early-stage investment club founded in 2021 by Martin Charpentier and Victor Mertz. The firm brands itself 'Doers backing doers' and writes tickets of 100,000 euros or more at pre-seed and seed stages. Martin Charpentier is an experienced product designer and founder of the product design studio Source; Victor Mertz is a marketer, ex-CMO at PayFit and Lemonway, and founder of Offit. The firm's value proposition is operational: alongside capital, Source Ventures offers founders a curated community of product designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and marketers who serve as sparring partners on product, technology, and go-to-market. The portfolio is France-heavy at approximately 79% French companies and spans roughly 32 disclosed investments across SaaS, fintech, edtech, gaming, new space, proptech, consumer, and Web3. Named portfolio companies include Finary (personal finance, YC W21), Amo, Loft Orbital (new space), Najar (B2B SaaS), Kombo (travel), Jimo (product marketing), and Mangas.io (entertainment, where Source participated with a 120,000 euro check in the 1.9 million euro seed round). Three 2025 YC companies are among recent additions: Lucis (YC X25, personal health), Excellence AI (YC W25, AI tutoring), and Stairling (vertical OS for private drivers). The most recent disclosed investment is Lucis Life in December 2025. Source Ventures occupies a specific niche as a product-and-design-operator fund in a market where most Paris-based micro-VCs have a financial or business-building orientation. The founders' hands-on product expertise makes the firm an attractive partner for early technical founders who need design and go-to-market thinking as much as they need capital.