Blast.Club allows French people to invest in French start-ups

Blast.Club has just been launched in France. Individuals are invited to register on a waiting list to access the service in the near future. What is it about? A new offer open to French people, who are nonetheless open to risks, to enable them to invest in local start-ups with a future. An offer that participates in the fundamental trend of democratising investments.

FACTS

• Blast.Club is presented by French entrepreneur Anthony Bourbon as a new investment vehicle open to the general public.

• It allows investors to invest in French start-ups in the launch phase, from 1,000 euros to 80,000 euros. The service also promises to be very simple, as it takes care of the administrative procedures.

• Financial conditions: To join the club, prospective members must pay a membership fee that varies between €1,000 and €10,000 per year. Blast-Club will charge a management fee of between 3 and 5% on investments made through it. A 20% commission on capital gains is also provided for.

• About thirty pre-selected projects will be proposed each year by Blast.Club. Blast.Club initially plans to participate in seed fundraising, and then to gradually open up to larger rounds of financing.

• The club plans to welcome different investor profiles classified by category (from Bronze to Diamond), depending on their investment capacity and objectives. Blast.Club is nevertheless aimed at investors who are generally open to risk.

• The service is currently in the development phase and is open to the first 500 investors on a waiting list. 10,000 pre-registrations have already been recorded by the club.

CHALLENGES

• Opening up investors' clubs: While Blast.Club is counting on the membership of its future investors, it differs from traditional clubs by opening up a high-risk asset class with high profitability potential to individuals who do not have sufficient funds or a sufficient network to access these rounds of financing. Blast.club thus presents itself as an alternative crowdfunding platform.

• Supporting local start-ups: Blast.Club relies on the commitment of citizens to support innovation and on their motivation to boost the development of new French companies that offer solutions for the future.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The democratisation of investments was notably driven by the rise of innovative FinTech services, led by Trade Republic and Robinhood, capable of placing simplified trading tools in the hands of the general public.

• Since then, the market has seen a rise in initiatives that attempt to differentiate themselves by offering specific investments (crypto-assets, impact investments, high-end financial products, and other more traditional equities).

• This trend continues today, including in France, as illustrated by the birth of Blast.Club, which closely follows the model already developed by Bpifrance via its Bpifrance Entreprises 2 fund.