Red River West

🔐 How to select the right license for a Commercial Open Source Business? Our second Open Source newsletter is here! In it, we speak about Open Source and Software licensing 📝 Licenses are legal agreements that dictate how a piece of software can be used, modified, and distributed. They form the backbone of any Open Source business and serve as a "Pact" with its community. Whether you're a technical entrepreneur, investor, or tech enthusiast, understanding software licensing is crucial 💥 This article is designed to cater to all levels of expertise. It starts with the basics and progresses to detailed, complex scenarios. Here’s what we cover: What are the different types of licenses, and when should they be used? Which licenses are most popular among startups and large Commercial Open Source companies? What are the common mistakes projects make when selecting a license? Which license is best suited to each business model? What factors should be considered when choosing any license? Discover all of this and much more by following the link in the first comment below! 👇

✨ We’re thrilled to share that Joseph Houssais will be joining the jury at SheEOs' annual Demo Day on March 27th - hosted at none other than the Assemblée nationale 🇫🇷 Alongside a stellar panel of jurors: Léna Moutot (Neumann), Angela Naser (WOMEN IN TECH ® Global), Catherine MALAVAL (PhD) (FBA - Femmes Business Angels), Sébastien Le Roy (Serena) & Alice Groth (SISTAFUND) This event is a major moment to spotlight the next generation of female founders, with 10 startups from the SheBoost incubator pitching 📣 We’re very proud to support SheEOs in their mission. A little more than one year ago, we welcomed their community to our Paris office for a workshop to share what we do, how we invest, and how we build conviction around founders. Seeing their journey unfold since then makes us even more excited about the future they’re helping shape! Huge congrats to the SheEOs team for building such a powerful platform for young women in entrepreneurship and venture capital 💜 Elise Jacquemin Guillaume Eve Sebag Abel Samot Antoine Boulin Alfred Vericel Olivier Huez Luc-Emmanuel Barreau Joseph Houssais Chloé Merlet Bettina DENIS Ignacio Alfeiran Peñalosa Tristan Bellanger

The future of #HRTech is here! 🚀 The way companies attract, retain, and manage talent is evolving faster than ever. With automation, AI-driven insights, and new workforce dynamics, HR Tech is at the center of this transformation. Did you know that employers in the US alone have invested over $5 trillion in HR technology, and that 74% of companies still plan to increase their HR tech budgets? Additionally, 80% of companies on Forbes’ Global 2,000 list will use algorithmic managers for hiring, firing, and training employees. At Red River West, we’ve been tracking the most exciting players in the space, and this month, leveraging our proprietary data platform, RAMP, we’re thrilled to present our Top 10 HR Tech startups - the companies redefining how organizations hire, engage, and develop their teams. From AI-powered recruitment to next-gen workforce analytics, these startups are shaping the future of work. Here’s a sneak peek at the top contenders on our list. Want the full ranking and our in-depth analysis? Subscribe to our newsletter to get all the insights! (Find the subscription link in the first comment) ⬇️ Sona (getsona.com) Jet HR Cosmico HiPeople Sloneek Instaffo Naboo Hailey HR Viterbit TechWolf Alfred Vericel Antoine Boulin Abel Samot Joseph Houssais Olivier Huez Luc-Emmanuel Barreau Chloé Merlet Bettina DENIS Ignacio Alfeiran Peñalosa Tristan Bellanger

🔍 AI Geopolitics: A Defining Challenge for Europe 🇪🇺 Last week, Abel Samot joined an insightful discussion on the geopolitics of AI, organized by the #TIBI Initiative at the French Ministry of Economy. Launched in 2019 by the French government, TIBI aims to mobilize institutional capital to support the growth of French and European tech leaders. As AI reshapes industries and global power dynamics, Europe faces a crucial challenge: fostering the emergence of world-class AI champions while balancing strategic sovereignty, regulation, and competitiveness. Venture capital has a key role to play in supporting this transformation. During the discussion, Abel emphasized the critical role of #open-source AI as a key driver of innovation and sovereignty for Europe - ensuring greater transparency, accessibility, and control over the technologies shaping our future. Many thanks to the organizers and fellow panelists for this engaging exchange: 🔹 Benoit Fosseprez (AVP) 🔹 Karen Kharmandarian (Thematics Asset Management) 🔹 Xavier Fischer (Quadrille Capital) 🔹 Hala Fadel (Eurazeo) 🔹 Eric de La Fortelle (Cathay Innovation) 🔹 Jerome Delahaye (Jefferies) #AI #Geopolitics #VentureCapital #OpenSource #TIBI

🔥 10 million followers on TikTok! 🔥 Huge congratulations to our portfolio company Brut. for reaching this incredible milestone, gaining over 1 million new followers in just three months! This rapid growth cements their position as the #1 news media on TikTok in France and one of the leading global news platforms on the app. At Red River West, we’re proud to support a team that is redefining how news is consumed. From Fashion Week to the Olympics, from social movements to the Kings League, Brut. continues to prove that news can be fast, engaging, and reliable. Congrats to Remy Buisine and the entire editorial team for their vision and dedication! 🚀 Marion Sacuto, Canelle Sab, Louis Tanca, Anastasia NICOLAS

🚀 What a week for our portfolio company Resilience, announcing two key partnerships with IQVIA France & Bayer to transform oncology care! As an investor, it’s always exciting to back companies that continuously push the boundaries of innovation and impact. This week, Resilience has taken another big leap forward announcing two major partnerships - one with IQVIA, the world’s largest CRO, and another with Bayer, a global leader in healthcare. 🧬 With IQVIA: Resilience is strengthening its position in clinical research by accelerating real-world evidence studies in oncology. Their cutting-edge ePRO and AI-driven data structuring tools will enable the launch of dozens of studies annually in France, shaping the future of oncology research. 🤝 With Bayer: Resilience is advancing prostate cancer patient care through an integrated program designed to enhance treatment adherence and quality of life. With remote monitoring and tailored support, this partnership directly addresses the challenges patients face throughout their care journey. Resilience is proving, once again, that the intersection of data, AI, and patient-centric innovation is where the future of oncology is being redefined! Proud to back a team that is making a tangible difference in patients' lives 🚀 Jonathan Benhamou Lucas Camedescasse Carlota Ganzarain Charles Ferté Gabriel Franz Jeanne EELKEMA Marion Zunz Sébastien RICHARD Gregory Bourdarot Pierre Morichau-Beauchant Anthony Dubois Raphaëlle Martin-Neuville Bettina Mergui

I'm really excited to be speaking at the Virtual Data Driven VC Summit 2025 next week alongside Sarah Guemouri from Atomico and Mike Arpaia from Moonfire More and more funds are setting up data team and developing proprietary tools. Red River West was one of the first funds to embark on this journey 5 years ago, and over the years, we've recruited several developers, data scientists but it's not always easy to convince tech talent that there are exciting challenges for them within a VC fund. Let's discuss how we can built talented tech team within a VC organisation. Register and join our live session via summit.datadrivenvc.io Thanks Dr. Andre Retterath once more for organising such a great event.

A few weeks ago, as the AI Summit turned its attention to Paris, a lot was said about the state of AI, and the spotlight was firmly on Europe’s strengths in open-source AI. At the same time, the recent buzz around DeepSeek and its open-source model has reignited an ongoing debate: What does ‘open source’ really mean in AI? For many, true openness isn’t just about releasing model weights—it requires transparency in training datasets too. One thing is clear: open source is gaining ground 📈 At Red River West, we’ve long believed in the power of open-source AI. This month, leveraging our powerful data platform, RAMP, we’re excited to present our Top 10 list of open-source AI models—the companies shaping the future of tech through collaboration, transparency, and innovation. Thanks to our newly built open-source module, RAMP can analyze millions of projects and startups, helping us identify the trailblazers pushing the boundaries of AI. We believe open source is key to Europe carving out its voice in the global AI landscape, paving the way for technological sovereignty. While many models publicly share their code and architectures, access to training datasets is often restricted. For some, true open source requires full transparency—including dataset accessibility. This is an ongoing debate in the community, and we acknowledge these complexities in our selection. We’ve also built the V1 of our proprietary community score—a framework designed to measure engagement and impact within open-source ecosystems. Trust us, the results are fascinating—and yes, if you subscribe to our newsletter, you'll be the first to see them! 😊 Here’s a sneak peek at the Top 5 in this month’s edition  Curious about who else made the list and the insights driving their success? 💌 Don’t miss out—subscribe to our newsletter for the full edition! (Subscription link in the first comment) Hugging Face Mistral AI pyannoteAI Jina AI deepset Black Forest Labs TextCortex AI ZenML Zama Babelscape

We are launching a new newsletter about Commercial Open-Source Software🚀 At Red River West, we believe that Commercial Open-Source companies have the potential to outperform other software asset classes in the next decade, but we also know that building a great Open-Source business is hard. In this newsletter, we try to provide entrepreneurs, developers, executives, and investors, with the keys to navigating the Open-Source ecosystem and building great businesses. The first edition of Commit Pulse is here ⭐️ In it, we dive into why betting on Open-Source equals more sovereignty, and what elements Europe has to lead the way in a future where Open-Source is everywhere. Find the link in the first comment and make sure to subscribe👇 

What a week for AI in Paris 🇫🇷🚀 It all started with the #AIActionSummit at the Grand Palais, where global leaders - including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice President JD Vance - debated AI’s impact on society, the regulatory landscape, and Europe’s strategic position in the race for AI leadership. A major highlight? Emmanuel Macron’s €109B investment plan to boost France’s AI ecosystem and strengthen its global influence. Then came Business Day - AI Action Summit at STATION F, where industry leaders like Sam Altman, Yann LeCun, and Arthur Mensch tackled key debates on open-source AI, the future of foundational models, and Europe’s ability to compete with the U.S. and China in AI innovation. The Red River West team was thrilled to be a part of it, engaging with top AI founders and investors! Abel Samot Chloé Merlet Joseph Houssais The conversation continued today at Visionaries Club Unplugged, with incredible speakers, including Eric Schmidt, Reid Hoffman, and Demis Hassabis, sharing key insights on AI agents and their fundamental impact, the DeepSeek breakthrough, and much more. Paris is cementing its role as a global AI hub and at Red River West we're excited to follow this closely! 🚀