Grenoble Angels
Grenoble Angels is a Grenoble-based business-angel network that has backed seed-stage deeptech startups, including water company Anodine, since 2005. Its roughly 127 members invest their own money across France's Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, co-investing alongside public banks and other funds. As of 2026, water is one company of the more than 120 it has supported.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Grenoble Angels is the kind of backer most water founders never think to call: a club of about 127 local business angels, people who write personal cheques, financing Isère startups out of the Grenoble chamber of commerce since 2005, rather than a fund with a single thesis.
Grenoble Angels has spent two decades putting roughly 21 million euros into more than 120 companies, almost all of them deeptech, the science-heavy startups that pour out of the labs that make Grenoble France's deeptech capital. Water shows up exactly once, and it is a telling pick: Anodine, built on a decade of research at the French national lab CNRS and Université Grenoble Alpes, makes rechargeable electrodes that cut the rare metals used in water treatment, salt electrolysis and PFAS 'forever chemical' clean-up, and wants to re-shore from China a strategic part France now imports.
Grenoble Angels almost never invests alone. On Anodine it sat in a seed round beside the crowd-equity platform Sowefund, the public bank Bpifrance and two regional banks, which is the whole model: members put in their own money and mentoring early, then let bigger institutions carry the round. For a newcomer that is both the appeal and the limit, you get patient local capital and hands-on help, not a deep-pocketed lead.
As of 2026, Grenoble Angels is opening a fresh three-year chapter under Philippe Rase, re-elected president for 2026 to 2028 and now also co-president of the national France Angels federation, with a new general delegate, Anne-Sophie Vernay, pushing more women to invest. Half of what the network now finances is deeptech, so if a second water deal is coming, it will most likely come from the same Grenoble labs that produced its first.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Grenoble Angels invest in?
- Grenoble Angels backs seed-stage, mostly deeptech startups in Grenoble and the wider Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, where its members invest their own money. Around half of its recent deals are deeptech; in water its single company so far is Anodine, a maker of cleaner electrodes for water treatment, backed across two funding rounds.
- Who runs Grenoble Angels?
- Grenoble Angels is led by president Philippe Rase, re-elected for 2026 to 2028 and also co-president of the France Angels federation. Day to day it is run by general delegate Anne-Sophie Vernay and dealflow manager Tanguy Battistella, with a board drawn from its roughly 127 angel members.
- Where is Grenoble Angels based?
- Grenoble Angels is based in Grenoble, France, inside the CCI Grenoble chamber of commerce, and invests mainly across the Isère department and the wider Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Founded in 2005, it is one of France's larger regional business-angel networks and is affiliated to the national France Angels federation.
- How do you pitch Grenoble Angels?
- Grenoble Angels takes applications from early-stage startups, mainly local deeptech, then a committee studies a shortlist before members decide whether to invest their own capital. It funds roughly 20 companies a year and almost always co-invests, so it suits founders seeking patient regional money plus mentoring, not a single lead investor.
- Does Grenoble Angels invest in water?
- Grenoble Angels is a generalist deeptech network, not a water specialist, and (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional. Its one water holding is Anodine, a Grenoble startup whose rechargeable electrodes target water treatment and PFAS clean-up, backed at seed stage alongside Sowefund and Bpifrance.