NE

Nicolas Essayan

Founder @Drysdale Ventures

Paris, Île-de-France

Invests in

Locations:

  • Min Investment:

    $300,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $3,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $1,650,000.00

Work Experience

  • Founder

    2025

    Pre-seed fund backed by tech entrepreneurs, several family offices and international investors including Sequoia, General Catalyst, Bessemer, Accel and DST. Up to €500k as Business Angel from day 0, and following on next rounds. Focus on FinTech & DeFi, Infra & Tooling, Consumer & Gaming, and Business Solutions, with Artificial Intelligence as transversal expertise. ➡️ (Re)built a professional investment platform from the ground up. ➡️ Raised €34m first fund, oversubscribed in 14 weeks. ➡️ Invested in 26 companies (and counting 🚀).

2021 - 2024

  • Co-Founder

    2021 - 2024

    Family office backing software start-ups in 6 categories with AI and blockchain as transversal expertise. Invested in 92 companies including Mistral, Poolside, Fundamental, Filigran, Vibe.co, Dust, Animaj, Payflows, Autone, New Tales and more. ➡️ Built a professional investment platform from the ground up. ➡️ Managed a deal flow of 300+ monthly opportunities in Pre-Seed and Seed. ➡️ Organized two editions of The GenAI Show, bringing together the French AI ecosystem. ➡️ Imagined and developed La Maison.

2019 - 2020

  • Co-Founder

    2019 - 2020

    Platform that enables fast prototyping and benchmarking of Machine Learning systems. ➡️ Incepted @StationF as part of Entrepreneur First program. ➡️ Contributed to the not-for-profit CKnowledge foundation.

2018 - 2020

  • Co-Founder

    2018 - 2020

    Messaging-as-a-service API that provides secured chat, voice, and video messaging for mobile and web apps. ➡️ Raised pre-seed from BAs. ➡️ Sold to the founder of cybersecurity company Synaktiv.

2010 - 2018

  • Director

    2010 - 2018

    Private equity investor focusing on Tech and Financial Services companies across Europe. Identification of new investment opportunities, deals execution, monitoring and assistance of portfolio companies notably in completing build-up acquisitions. ➡️ 12 deals closed in 8 countries. ➡️ >€500m equity put at work. >€600m debt raised. ➡️ 28% and 2.8x fully realized returns.

2005 - 2009

  • Associate

    2005 - 2009

    Investment banking professional advising corporates and PE funds in their M&A, LBO and capital markets operations. Generalist profile involved in the coverage of some key French accounts operating in various industries notably in Tech. Participated in cross-border deals involving international and multi-cultural teams. ➡️ 9 closed transactions advised. ➡️ >€20Bn aggregated enterprise value.