Motier Ventures

About Motier Ventures

Motier Ventures is the venture capital family office of the Houze family, owners of the Galeries Lafayette Group, the family-owned French department-store and retail group. The firm was founded in 2021 by Guillaume Houze and is headquartered in Paris, France, describing itself as a venture family office of builders. As a single-family office it invests the family's own capital rather than third-party limited partner money, so it does not disclose a formal assets-under-management figure or operate as an AMF-regulated fund manager; it deploys directly off the family balance sheet. The firm has built a portfolio of more than 80 companies. In 2024 it opened La Maison, an 1,800 square metre hybrid workspace on the top floors of the Lafayette Gourmet building near the Opera Garnier, hosting early-stage portfolio startups.

Investment thesis

Motier Ventures pursues an early-stage venture strategy, acting as a value-added business angel at scale. The firm invests across six themes: the future of commerce, fintech, creative technologies, gaming and consumer, infrastructure and tooling, and the future of work, with artificial intelligence and blockchain as cross-cutting areas of expertise. Geography is centred on France and Europe. The firm typically commits up to around €300,000 as an initial business-angel cheque in the earliest rounds and follows on with up to roughly €3 million in subsequent rounds. Capital comes solely from the Houze family. The value-creation lever is hands-on entrepreneurial support drawn from the family's 130-year operating history in retail, complemented by the founder community and the physical platform at La Maison.

Recent activity

Recent investments include Mistral AI in artificial intelligence (2023), Coinhouse in fintech and crypto, Animaj in creative technologies and media, and Stockly in future-of-commerce and retail software. No portfolio exits have been publicly documented for this young family-office portfolio. The platform continues to deploy family capital across the future of commerce, fintech, creative technologies, gaming, infrastructure and the future of work, with AI and blockchain as cross-cutting themes. Detailed buyer names and multiple data available on Pro at €29/month.