Philippine Horak is a Senior Principal at Orange Ventures who is often put forward publicly to speak on how corporate venture capital can operate like a normal VC while still helping startups tap into Orange's business network, including as the firm's representative announcing its investment in AI company Moments Lab. Beyond investing, she also takes on community-facing roles, such as co-hosting an industry event for CGN while representing Orange Ventures at the same time.
About their Fund
Orange Ventures operates as a separate legal entity from its telecom parent, Orange, which creates a clear boundary around confidentiality and conflicts of interest while still keeping Orange's business synergies available on a flexible, optional basis; it also invests in startups before those synergies are proven, a bet that led 90% of its 2021–2022 startup group to end up working with Orange Group, with two staff members whose job is specifically to help portfolio companies work with the larger company. In Africa and the Middle East, the fund draws on Orange's on-the-ground presence across roughly 17-18 countries—including its distribution networks, cell towers, and mobile money systems—to find startups that fit within Orange's role as a multi-service operator spanning mobile money, energy, and logistics, and it runs its investments differently by region and goal, with separate tracks for European software startups, Middle East/Africa growth-stage startups, and a dedicated €30 million fund for environmental and social impact startups.
















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