The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Jun 2025

Founded in France in 2019 and based in Aÿ-Champagne, Winalist operates a marketplace for booking winery and distillery visits, tastings, private dinners and day tours. The platform works with over 1,700 partners across 10 countries and more than 200 family-owned wineries and producers in Portugal alone. The company offers tools such as a booking widget and a commission model aimed at making booking and onboarding easy for producers. Winalist says the new capital will fund rollout of innovations for wineries and deepen relationships with high-end travelers. The funding will also support team growth to accelerate commercial development across Europe and increase operational support for local partners. The company aims to drive international visibility for Portuguese wine tourism as part of its expansion plans.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2024

Little John develops a generative AI SaaS platform aimed at empowering independent insurance brokers with operational tools for risk placement, compliance, and productivity. The startup targets the €1.5 trillion European insurance market and plans to launch its first GenAI-powered tool in Spring 2025. A beta will be available to selected brokers in the "Sherwood community" in February 2025 to gather feedback and refine usability. The founding team combines insurance and tech expertise, including CEO Olivier Legrand and former Leocare COO Grégoire Rastoul, along with experienced CTO Pierre Sigwalt and advisor Renaud de Pressigny. Little John raised early funding to develop its GenAI tools and foster a collaborative ecosystem enabling brokers to pool resources and expertise against larger competitors.