In the Venture Capital Industry, relationships mean everything. It’s how we build engagement, trust, and truly understand each party’s needs. Our business builds trust and fosters long-term connections with great minds and people. Often, we don’t know where these connections will lead us, and our investment in Vessel is a prime example of how forming meaningful relationships can result in rewarding outcomes.
Our journey with Thomas Terrats began in 2012 when we met him as an Inovia Limited Partner (“LP”) at Teralys Capital. A few years later, he joined our team as an investment Principal, with the dual role of investor and fundraiser. He was instrumental in fundraising $1.1B across three Inovia funds (Inovia Growth Fund II, Inovia Continuity Fund I and Inovia Venture Fund V), and he experienced the full spectrum of what it means to raise capital, report to LPs, and scale investor relations infrastructure from the inside.
With deep experience at every stage of the fundraising cycle, from being a Fund LP to a portfolio investing GP, we believe Vessel founders Thomas Terrats and Thierry Ajaltouni bring an insider perspective. Having sat in the LP seat, they understand what institutions, family offices and high-net-worth investors expect and know how to deliver it.
We’re proud to have co-led Vessel’s $7.5M seed round alongside Afore Capital to support the platform’s growth as it redefines private markets to be more transparent, efficient, and relationship-driven.
The Shift Happening in Fundraising and Investor Relations
Venture firms today are managing more funds, more LPs, and higher expectations without the tools to match. As our CFO, Patrick Ghoche, puts it, “Spreadsheets and fragmented portals don’t scale when you’re raising a fund a year and managing dozens of co-investments.” At the same time, GPs are held to a higher standard by LPs who want real-time clarity, not buried PDFs.
In the current competitive capital-raising environment, how GPs present themselves and engage with LPs is no longer secondary. It’s strategic. Tailored, professional investor experiences have shifted from a nice-to-have to a non-negotiable.
Tech-forward GPs are moving beyond static PDFs and fragmented workflows. They’re embracing intelligent systems that bring the same automation, precision, and scale to their investor operations that they expect from their portfolio companies.
Vessel powers this transformation by centralizing pipeline building, LP management, fundraising, co-investing, reporting, and LP engagement in a unified system. It frees teams from manual busywork and gives them the intelligence to act faster, smarter, and with greater confidence. It is the only unified platform that applies intelligent automation across the entire fundraising and investor relations lifecycle. With Vessel, every feature is purpose-built to help GPs raise capital more efficiently and build stronger LP relationships without the friction and complexity of manual workflows.
As our Partner and CEO, Chris Arsenault, says, “Investor relations is no longer a support function — it’s becoming a core part of how we operate and build LP partnerships. Today, 80% of the effort goes into gruntwork and 20% into building relationships. With Vessel, we’re flipping that equation. We’re building a modern IR machine that’s fast, transparent, and built for the next decade.”
A Proven Team with the right experience to make GPs successful
Vessel is led by a team of former LPs and GPs who have sat on both sides of the fundraising table. With over a decade of experience and more than 50 investment decisions across fund commitments and co-investments, they’ve participated in raising over $5B and deeply understand what it takes to build lasting GP-LP relationships.
What stood out most to us wasn’t just the robustness of Vessel’s product — it was the partnership behind it. The team worked side by side with us, converting feedback into real product improvements in a matter of weeks. That rare combination of user empathy and execution strengthened our conviction to move from early adopter to investor. We are excited to continue partnering with Vessel as they enter this next chapter.
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