Fund profile / France

Cathay Innovation Fund III

Geography: France
Stage: Pre-Seed
Fund size: €1000M
Focus: AI/ML, Climate & Sustainability, Mobility & Transport and SaaS
Signals: Published

N°01 / About

About Cathay Innovation Fund III

Cathay Innovation Fund III is a venture capital firm based in France, focusing on Pre-Seed stage investments. The fund actively supports founders building innovative solutions in AI/ML, Climate & Sustainability, Mobility Transport, SaaS, providing strategic guidance and capital to help startups scale.

N°02 / Thesis

Investment Focus

Location / RegionFrance

Funding StagePre-Seed

Industry Focus

AI/ML

Climate & Sustainability

Mobility & Transport

SaaS

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Agentic AI founders with domain data, clinical/healthcare focus

vertical AI

AI infrastructure

defensible data moats

enterprise software

Spain tech ecosystem

healthcare AI

fintech

robotics

agentic AI

digital labor

context graphs

clinical AI autonomy

regulatory pathway expertise

Bullish Signals

Active voice on vertical AI trendsexternal

GP publicly writing on AI moatslinkedin

Strong Cursor/SpaceX deal POVlinkedin

New partner joining to scale Spain opslinkedin

Active portfolio: THEKER, Abacum, Embat, Payflowlinkedin

Category-defining companies with global ambition focuslinkedin

Co-leading $63M Series C in Skan AIlinkedin

Skan: 300% YoY growth, 7/10 largest US bankslinkedin

Betting big on agentic AI production workflowslinkedin

Long-term conviction: invested since Skan Series A 2020linkedin

Portfolio company UpDoc leads ARPA-H $9.2M federal programexternal

UpDoc: clinical AI autonomy, regulatory pathway builderexternal

Federal validation of portfolio thesis maturityexternal

Beth actively speaking at unlock VC Barcelonalinkedin

Beth panelist with leading female investor communitylinkedin

Contrarian Signals

No fund size or stage confirmedlinkedin

Founder Do's

Build proprietary data assets

Show clear defensible moat

Own last-mile correction data

Leverage open source as moat enabler

Leverage Cathay's Spain/EU network

Enable agents to move past pilots

Capture operational domain understanding

Solve clinical validation & regulatory clarity

Partner with infrastructure leaders (MSFT, NVIDIA)

Connect with Beth for Barcelona ecosystem access

Founder Don'ts

Rely on base model as differentiator

Assume model lead = durable advantage

Ignore open-source as competitive threat/tool

Skip safety & regulatory pathway design

33 signals on Cathay Innovation Fund III

15 bullish · 1 contrarian · 10 pitch do's · 4 don'ts · 3 GP profiles, each with its source. From €9/month, cancel anytime.

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Facts

Fund Overview

Fund Size€1000M

Saves0

Website

People

Key People

Denis Barrier, Jacky Abitbol, Daniel Balm

Simon WuPartner

Beth FausPartner

Jonathan HealyPartner

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