Post by Jean Weill

NextInwest is out of stealth: One Family. Many Founders. Today, as an extension of what I do at C4 Ventures, I’m excited to share NextInwest, a project we’ve been building, my family and I, over the past year. We launched NextInwest with a simple ambition: to back outstanding French founders at the very beginning of their journey. Since then, we’ve backed 6 companies: Bao Family, Sant Roch, Gobano Robotics, WeeFin, EverDye, and AMI - Advanced Machine Intelligence. Behind NextInwest is a family of builders with complementary backgrounds: The Entrepreneur: Alain Weill, founder of BFM/RMC and President of L’Express The Brand Builder: Alice Weill, founder of PUISSANTE The Operator: Lucie Weill, co-founder of Lily of the Valley And me: the physicist turned VC investor. Building NextInwest has been quite a challenge. At the beginning, we had many questions: What kind of investment vehicle should we create? How much should we invest each year? Which sectors should we focus on? At what stage should we invest? How should we source deals, win deals, and truly help founders? In physics, one of the most important things is knowing what you do not know. And at the start, there was a lot we did not know. What we did know was this: we wanted to build something together as a family, learn from exceptional founders, and do our best to support them in their journey. For the other questions, we sought advice from many people, and we were fortunate to receive thoughtful feedback from some of the best entrepreneurs, VCs, and business angels in France. So where did we land? We decided to invest in what we genuinely understand. Our focus areas: Deep Tech We invest in pre-seed and seed companies where technical breakthroughs can unlock step-change performance and real-world adoption. Promising Brands We invest in brands with strong emotional pull and cultural relevance, where design, storytelling, and product excellence create lasting desirability. We are especially drawn to brands that build real communities, develop clear identities, and can define their category over time. Finally, a big thank you to everyone mentioned in the comments below who helped us shape NextInwest over the past year. Your advice, feedback, and generosity meant a lot. This is only the beginning, and we’re excited for what comes next.