Jean de La Rochebrochard

Who they are

Jean de La Rochebrochard is CEO of Kima Ventures — co-founded New Wave, a €56 million seed fund, in 2020 alongside Xavier Niel and three partners, and authored the book 'Human Machine'.

Person

Jean joined Kima Ventures in 2014 when it was already an active early-stage fund backing roughly 100 startups a year — he's been there through the portfolio scaling past 1,000 companies. Before Kima he came through investment banking (corporate finance and M&A), then passed through TheFamily, the Paris accelerator and startup school that shaped a generation of French tech operators. The through-line is moving from capital markets into the founder-support stack — each step closer to the earliest, highest-risk bet. In 2020 he co-founded New Wave, a €56 million seed fund writing €500K–€2M checks, alongside Pia d'Iribarne, Antoine Martin, Alex Yazdi, and Xavier Niel. He authored 'Human Machine' and has appeared on the GDiy podcast discussing venture capital and startup investing. Possibly — his 2017 Théophraste talk in Bordeaux on whether you can succeed outside Paris signals a long-running interest in decentralising the French tech ecosystem beyond the capital.

Company

Kima Ventures kept its deal pace high into early 2026: it backed Cleo Labs and Sillage in April 2026, and earlier in the year participated in a €2.5M round for Revox and a $2.5M seed round for Beycome. Also in April 2026, portfolio company Shipup was acquired by Zigzag Global. The fund has reported a 143% year-over-year increase in deal activity, with 17 deals in the last 12 months at an average disclosed round size of $6.4M, and 46 new investments in the trailing 12 months as of April 2026. The underlying model is unchanged: standardised €150K checks, 2–3 startups per week globally, single-LP evergreen structure funded by Xavier Niel, with a deliberate policy of not reinvesting in portfolio companies to keep later-round signals clean.

Market

Kima Ventures sits at the extreme high-frequency end of seed investing — over 1,295 companies backed globally, spanning 24 countries, with 22 unicorns, 10 IPOs, and 183 acquisitions in the portfolio as of April 2026. Its closest named co-investors and competitors in the French and European early-stage market include Bpifrance, Alven, and Europa. Increasing foreign direct investment screening across Europe and shifting geopolitical dynamics are adding friction to cross-border seed deals, a relevant headwind for a fund that deliberately invests across diverse sectors and geographies with a thesis-agnostic approach.

Network

Jean operates squarely inside Xavier Niel's orbit — Kima is Niel's vehicle and Jean co-runs it under his umbrella. His closest co-founder ties are to the New Wave team: Antoine Martin, Alex Yazdi, and Pia d'Iribarne, all of whom he backed into that €56M fund in 2020. Within Kima's leadership he works alongside General Partner Alexis Robert and Partner Chloe Timsit.

Xavier Niel· Founder and main LP, Kima Ventures
Antoine Martin· Co-founder, New Wave
Alex Yazdi· Co-founder, New Wave
Pia d'Iribarne· Co-founder, New Wave
Alexis Robert· General Partner, Kima Ventures
Chloe Timsit· Partner, Kima Ventures

How they likely show up

Long tenure at Kima since 2014 → likely thinks in portfolio construction arcs, not individual deal outcomes.
High-frequency model (2–3 checks per week, standardised terms) → values speed and process repeatability over bespoke deal crafting; probably impatient with slow diligence theatre.
Policy of never reinvesting in portfolio companies → disciplined about signal integrity; will have thought hard about second-order effects of decisions.
Co-founded New Wave alongside a full-time CEO role at Kima → high agency, comfortable building new structures rather than waiting for permission.
Possibly — GDiy podcast appearance and authorship of 'Human Machine' → willing to be publicly opinionated about the future of work and technology, not just a quiet allocator.
Background in M&A and corporate finance before TheFamily and VC → can read a cap table and a deal structure fast, but has clearly chosen founder proximity over deal complexity.

Conversation tips

→ Ask about the New Wave spin-out specifically — co-founding a separate €56M fund while running Kima is an unusual structural move and he'll have a clear rationale for it.
→ He is a volume investor by design; don't pitch depth of diligence as a virtue — engage with the logic of pattern recognition at scale instead.
→ Reference 'Human Machine' if you've read it — it signals you see him as a thinker, not just a check-writer.
→ The 2017 Bordeaux talk on succeeding outside Paris is a good thread — if your context touches regional or non-Paris tech, he's already on record caring about it.
→ He operates under Xavier Niel's LP umbrella — don't treat Kima as an independent GP; understand the single-LP evergreen structure before discussing fund strategy.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the New Wave co-founding in 2020 — he built a separate €56M seed fund alongside running Kima, with Xavier Niel, Pia d'Iribarne, Antoine Martin, and Alex Yazdi; that's a specific structural bet worth unpacking.
Reference 'Human Machine' — he authored it and hosts book discussions; it's a direct signal of how he thinks about technology and work beyond pure deal flow.
Lead with the Shipup acquisition by Zigzag Global in April 2026 — a fresh portfolio exit is a natural warm opener and shows you track Kima's activity, not just its reputation.

Discovery questions

The no-reinvestment policy is unusual — how does that shape the way you support founders through later rounds when you're deliberately stepping back?
New Wave writes €500K–€2M checks while Kima writes €150K — what different founder profiles or stages does that separation let you serve that a single vehicle couldn't?
You spoke in 2017 about whether founders can succeed outside Paris — how has your view shifted now that the French tech ecosystem has matured considerably since then?

Avoid

Don't frame high-frequency investing as shallow or spray-and-pray — the standardised check and no-reinvestment logic is deliberate and he has clearly articulated the thesis behind it.

Make it yours