Laurent Foiry

Laurent Foiry is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Spring (Spring Invest), a Paris-based early-stage venture fund dedicated to companies "shaping the future of commerce." He co-founded the firm around 2015 alongside partner Xavier Faure, and it has since grown to a team of partners including Alexandre Guillot and Pascal Gagna. The fund invests €1–5M tickets at seed and Series A into the broad commerce value chain, and works closely with a network of 50+ European (e-)retailers to help portfolio companies with distribution and digital transformation.

Before founding Spring, Foiry built his investing career at Apicap (a French private equity / venture firm), where he worked as an Investment Manager and later as a Director. That background spans venture capital, private equity, corporate finance, and M&A — the toolkit he now applies to backing commerce-tech and consumer founders.

Academically, Foiry earned a Ph.D. from Université Paris Descartes (around 2006) and a Master of Science in Strategic Management from HEC Paris (2007). He is bilingual in French and English and is a recurring voice on commerce, retail, and venture topics — appearing at events such as VivaTech 2022, in a Fevad (French e-commerce federation) "Interview of the Month," and on French business podcasts including "L'Arrière Boutique."

• Thesis: Back founders across the entire commerce stack — software powering commerce operations, two-sided marketplaces, checkout/payments and financial rails, fulfillment and supply-chain tech, brand acquisition & retention, decision intelligence/data, and social commerce.
• Stage & check: Seed to Series A, writing €1–5M tickets in European companies.
• What makes them say yes (stated signals): clear product-market fit and market demand; a scalable business model with efficient growth; healthy unit economics and sustainable margins; real customer references and public validation; a large addressable market with proven traction.
• Value-add angle: Leverages a large network of European (e-)retailers, entrepreneurs, executives and corporates to give portfolio companies commercial and operational support — an "entrepreneur-friendly," hands-on approach.