I'm Not a Bloody Unicorn" – Jean Schmitt (Jolt Capital) on Building Real Deep Tech Companies
Innovation and Private Capital x auliumShow Notes
Why does Jean Schmitt feel physically ill every time someone mentions a unicorn? Because, as he puts it, no serious entrepreneur should want their company named after "a fake animal from fairy tales for girls." This isn't just rhetoric—it's a philosophy that shapes how Jolt Capital invests in European deep tech at the growth stage, targeting companies doing €10–20 million in revenue and transforming them into profitable, industrial-grade players.
The conversation unpacks Jolt's deceptively simple model: invest at €80 million post-money, grow revenue 5x to €100 million, and exit at €400 million for a 5x return. But execution is anything but simple. Schmitt describes the first 18 months as "intense re-engineering," where Jolt deploys three to four people nearly full-time per company to fix everything from customer support software (one company Jolt invested in claimed to use Jira but actually relied on Excel spreadsheets) to R&D roadmaps and M&A strategy. The firm takes controlling stakes not out of ego, but for speed—because when you're burning capital, you can't afford endless shareholder debates. Schmitt also challenges conventional wisdom on hardware versus software: hardware companies require less capital to reach IPO (€480 million vs. €1.2 billion for digital services) and deliver better exit multiples (16x vs. 11x). Yet Europe continues to bleed €200 billion annually in pension savings to the US, funding competitors while starving its own ecosystem.
🦏 Why "rhinos," not unicorns—and why Schmitt refuses to chase billion-dollar valuations 🏭 The square-cube law of scaling: how companies collapse without the right "scaffolding" 🤖 Jolt Ninja, the €10 million AI tool Schmitt gives away for free to build a deep tech community 🇪🇺 Why Europe has 11,000 high-quality deep tech companies (more than the US) but still loses the capital war ⚛️ The quantum computing hype check: why Schmitt questions qubit vendors but believes in quantum sensing
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/BVsMz71FJR0
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About Jean Schmitt [General Partner at Jolt Capital]:General Partner at Jolt Capital, a growth-stage deeptech investor that has backed European technology companies including advanced photonics firms Heptagon and NILT, which together exited for €2 billion. He began his career as a founder building AI companies in the 1990s, sold SLP InfoWare to Gemplus where he later ran a division, and served as Managing Partner at Sofinnova before founding Jolt. He also chairs the Baroque Orchestra La Chapelle Harmonique and holds a postgraduate degree in AI.About Aulium:Aulium is a video show exploring Innovation and Private Capital, hosted by Thomas Viguier.Connect with us:➡ Aulium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aulium➡ Thomas Viguier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tviguier/
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