BADGE, Les Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, is a Paris-based alumni angel network created in 2005 and drawing its members from the alumni associations of roughly twenty grandes ecoles including Polytechnique, ESCP, EM Lyon, EDHEC, Telecom Paris, Mines ParisTech and ENSTA. It is sector agnostic but requires technological or usage innovation and companies registered in France or Europe. It targets rounds of EUR 200k to EUR 2m, with an average investment around EUR 200k that can exceed EUR 300k on the most contested deals, and reports more than EUR 60m invested since inception. In 2024 it invested EUR 4.1m in 29 startups – 10 new and 19 follow-ons – tracked 107 portfolio companies and mobilised 63 mentors, alongside a dedicated co-investment vehicle, SIBA BADGE 2023, which had financed 22 startups.
Investment thesis
BADGE is a Paris business angel network whose members are alumni of French and international business and engineering schools. It backs mainly technology-driven projects and supports European innovation, financing around twenty companies a year and having invested more than 60 million euros to date. Members put in their own capital and add mentoring and school-network introductions under the banner of investing together in the future.