fundcraft, a digitial infrastructure provider for asset management, recently announced the close of their €5m Series A fundraising. They took us on a tour of their offices and talked about the importance of keeping the human element in focus.
During a celebratory event in Girona, Spain—one of two of their office locations—CEO Julien De Mayer said, “When I started fundcraft, I thought it was mostly a business question, so you know, numbers, spreadsheets, and moving intentions and vision, etc. That would be sufficient, but you move down the line, and you realise it’s actually just a human experience. Regardless of what you do, the human element is on top of it.”
Plans to leverage the funding include addressing new markets and expanding product offerings, with exploration into asset classes like private equity, venture capital and fund of funds, not currently within their scope. The company is also actively recruiting to achieve these aims.
As Veronica Montaño, head of people & culture, explains, regular shared projects, virtual meetings and team updates help keep employees across two locations aligned. Both she and De Mayer acknowledge that the company encourages employees to be bold and take “calculated risks”, knowing that this is a way to gain experience.
We have opportunities for people to grow and expand beyond what would be their normal role in a big corporate.”
Julien De Mayer, CEO of fundcraft
Entrepreneurship and independence
De Mayer adds that the company culture is “very entrepreneurial. A lot of independence is given. Our core values are ownership, team spirit, boldness and transparency.” These values are intended to translate into a culture “where we are very open on the great things we do but we also embrace our failures and try to learn from them as fast and as efficiently as possible.”
In the case of Montaño, she began working with fundcraft just over two years ago, starting off as an office manager, then transitioning to an executive assistant to her current role as head of people & culture. She likes the fact that Girona is a developing tech hub—but also that she has been able to transition between departments. And she adds that she’s not the only one who has had such an experience.
“We are building and discovering… before looking outside [the company], we look inside,” she explains. “We have opportunities for people to grow and expand beyond what would be their normal role in a big corporate.”
The open-floor planning of the offices is also conducive to impromptu brainstorms and other interactions. The premises also have private rooms for making private calls.
At the time of writing, fundcraft was in the midst of recruiting. “We focus a lot of our energy in software development,” De Mayer explains. “We don’t offer software as a service but it’s really our tool to deliver our value proposition to our clients.”
Around one-third of the current employees are based in the Bertrange office, the other two-thirds in Girona.
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Read the full digital version of the magazine on our website, here. You can also choose to receive a hard copy at the office or at home. Subscribe now.
