Few business areas go untouched by the influential Arnault family. LVMH is the family’s best-known business, and its sprawling luxury fashion empire owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tag Heuer, and more.
But the Arnaults’ reach goes well beyond top-end brands. For instance, patriarch Bernard Arnault bought a three-star Parisian bistro ahead of the Paris Olympics, for which LVMH was a big sponsor. Other acquisitions, such as that of the world’s first department store, Le Bon Marche, happened decades ago.
Some of Arnault’s more recent interests are far away from retail or luxury, though. Turns out, Europe’s richest man has been quietly investing in AI amid a surge of interest in the novel tech.
Aglaé Ventures, a tech-focused venture fund owned by the Arnault family office, has invested in five AI companies this year, CNBC reported, citing data from private wealth management platform Fintrx.
The funding rounds across the companies were worth $300 million in total, according to Fintrx, although it’s unclear how much of that was contributed by Arnault’s VC.
Meet the Arnault-backed startups
The biggest of 2024’s five funding rounds was in H, a French startup that aims to improve worker productivity. The company, cofounded by a Stanford researcher and four Google DeepMind alums, raised $220 million in seed funding in May, of which Aglaé was a part. Other well-known business personalities, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, have also backed H Company.
Borderless AI, a Canadian human resource management startup, raised $27 million led by Aglaé and Susquehanna, while Parisian AI editing app Photoroom received $43 million in funding. Lamini, an enterprise AI startup, and Proxima, a digital marketing platform, were among the other companies that gained a funding boost from the Arnault-owned venture fund.
Agache and Aglaé didn’t immediately return Coins2Day’s request for comment.
To be sure, Aglaé has been investing in tech companies long before the recent generative AI boom—for instance, it was part of funding rounds in 2017 and 2019, too, according to Fintrx. The French venture capital firm has made over 150 investments in the last seven years. French gadget reseller Back Market is one of the unicorns backed by Aglaé.
The Arnaults are known for their clout in the luxury world, but their family office has been involved in tech investments for the better part of two decades now. It was an early investor in Netflix, Spotify, and Slack.
The LVMH CEO’s interest in AI doesn’t just extend to startups. The luxury conglomerate has been integrating AI into its business with a Google Cloud partnership. The company has been chipping in on the subject through its annual LVMH Data AI Summit and awarding innovative tech companies that help change the fashion industry.
Like others, the Arnaults just want to be part of the game as AI continues to surge in potential and popularity.
