Inovia’s first Discovery Fund backs the next generation of VC funds in their mission to identify and nurture high-potential startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. We sat down with these emerging managers to discuss their vision, their approach, and what they look for in a pitch.
Today, we’re happy to introduce you to Étienne Mérineau, General Partner at Telegraph Ventures.
Étienne has a knack for reinventing himself every decade. His first career was in advertising, where managing campaigns for multinational companies taught him the power of storytelling. Next came his entrepreneurial chapter: the tech industry was booming, and the Montrealer wanted to be part of the future.
Taking part in the Inaugural MIT Bootcamp was a pivotal moment in his journey. Harnessing the power of automation, he co-founded Heyday, a chatbot that enables brands to interact at scale with customers. The e-commerce boom during the pandemic propelled the company into hypergrowth. At its peak, it had 120 employees and counted global brands such as Lacoste, LVMH, Decathlon, and Danone among its customers, eventually attracting the attention of social media management platform Hootsuite, which acquired the company in 2021 for US$60 million.
After helping with the transition at Hootsuite and taking some consulting jobs, Étienne met Luis Gutierrez Roy, the Founder and Managing Director of Telegraph-Hill Capital, a firm based in Barcelona. The team had led dozens of rounds at the pre-seed stage in Quebec to help address a dearth of local early-stage funding that Étienne faced as a founder in this market.
To bridge the gap, they created Telegraph Ventures, a spinoff managed by Étienne that raised $34M as part of its first closing and is on track to reach its $40M target by year-end, with roughly half of the capital coming from the Quebec government. Through initial checks ranging from $500K to $750K, the fund will back Quebec-based, AI-powered B2B startups.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON THE EARLY STAGES OF INVESTMENT?
This has been the expertise of the Telegraph Hill Capital team in Europe. Before this fund, they invested globally in Canada, the US and Europe, so it makes sense to continue a legacy that has generated returns. On a more personal level, I am an early-stage guy myself as an entrepreneur. I sold my company after four to five years, but what I love the most is that messy phase of searching for product-market fit and iterating fast, where we need to be very intentional and strategic about how we go to market and find answers quickly to survive.
From a bigger picture perspective, there is a gap to fill locally, with lots of capital at the growth stages and fewer options for founders at the earliest stages, especially when it comes to leading rounds. Looking back, as a first-time founder in the fast-growing Conversational AI space, I experienced firsthand how limited local VC options pushed us to bootstrap and scale efficiently against much better-funded competitors.
TELL US ONE OR TWO THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR FUND UNIQUE
As a team, we combine completely different skill sets. I bring the founder expertise, experience, empathy, and go-to-market know-how. My partners have a strong VC track record and prior backgrounds in accounting and M&A, which rounds out our team nicely. Together, we have a 360 view of a problem.
Our local focus with a global platform is also what distinguishes us. We have local talent in Quebec, and we need local money at the outset to give it a first impulse, a first spark. But then, you need to think global from day one as well because that’s the only way to build a meaningful company at scale. The Telegraph Hill Capital team has invested heavily in Europe and the U.S. in the past, so we can open doors to local founders and set them on a global path as fast as possible.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED THROUGH FAILURES OR TRIALS AND ERRORS?
Every major milestone in my career and startup journey was built on a “failure.” I often like to say the breakthrough is right after the bottom of the barrel.
We raised our first round at Heyday a few months after we failed to close advanced talks with another lead investor. We signed a contract with LVMH’s global innovation lab years after being turned down by many CEOs and executives from their top luxury brands.
You just have to keep at it, and at some point, something unlocks. The first times and failures are practice, so that you are ready for prime time later when it truly matters.
WHAT GETS YOUR ATTENTION IN A PITCH?
I’m looking for founders solving a real problem in a massive space. The macro landscape has to be favourable, but the founder needs to be uniquely positioned to succeed too. Founder-market fit and a healthy obsession for the problem they are solving are key.
I’m also looking for grit and velocity, an ability to survive setbacks, learn, and move fast is a key driver of success. This is arguably harder to spot in just one interaction and requires building a relationship and watching how the founder acts and operates over time.
Last, I want to make sure I can add value. We need to have a fit and a certain level of expertise in the space we are investing in to move with conviction.
WHAT IS THE ADVICE YOU MOST OFTEN GIVE TO FOUNDERS?
Venture capital is not a business model; it’s an accelerant. So focus on building a real business with healthy metrics, and the money will come. Too many founders try to raise capital before having a business. You don’t need to have all the answers, especially at the earliest stages, but there needs to be signs of traction, or an educated guess that comes from real market knowledge and customer research. It can’t just be a nice story.
I’d like to add: focus on speed, not perfection. Ship your product a little too early, sell it before it’s fully baked. These interactions with customers will ensure you build and sell the right thing, instead of losing time on the wrong problem or audience.
Visit our website to learn more about the mission and leaders of other exceptional emerging managers in our portfolio: Boon, Defined, FounderFuel, Front Row Ventures, Garage Capital, GTMFund, Luge, Maple, Mighty Capital, N49P, Northside Ventures, Roar Ventures, The51, and Two Small Fish Ventures.