We’re excited to announce that the Galion.exe Origin fund is joining 2050’s platform, bringing the assets under management to €250M across more than 70 companies.
This also enriches 2050’s team with the arrival of Willy Braun, Kevin Kuipers & Oriane Hédin. This addition strengthens 2050’s investment capabilities and expertise across AI and critical industries, and will be put at the service of shaping a fertile future and support the essential systems that keep us alive: health, strategic industries, resilient food systems and ocean restoration.
These essential systems are hitting biophysical limits and geopolitical tensions at the same moment, as mapped by the planetary boundaries’s framework from the Stockholm Resilience Center, a compass for how we invest. They are also deeply shaken by the current tech acceleration.
Yet, we believe there’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild these systems from the ground up, by combining the regenerative power of nature with the power of AI.
Willy, Kevin and Oriane bring experience backing European AI companies, from computing infrastructure to critical industries frontier models. They are supported by an investment committee of some of the most successful French Tech entrepreneurs: Jean-Baptiste Rudelle (Criteo), Thierry Petit (Showroomprivé), Carole Walter (Come&Stay) and Didier Kuhn (ScreenTonic), and a wider network of 400 tech entrepreneurs. The Galion.exe team has built deep connections across Europe’s AI ecosystem and a pioneering portfolio of European AI companies tackling complex problems early, among them Raidium, Generare, Oria Bioscience, 2501, OneBioScience, Epics and Living Models.
The combination of deep expertise, investment experience and ecosystem approach will be incredibly valuable in defining and executing our next investment focus on Fertile AI, and Galion.exe Origin’s portfolio will benefit from 2050’s scientific, entrepreneurial, corporate and institutional network across Paris, Hong Kong, London, New York, Oslo and Stockholm.
With the intelligence layer, the systems being rewritten are living ones. This is why we’ve engineered dedicated financial products to support its systemic approach through long term and closed-end investment vehicles, alongside non-dilutive funding for commons such as shared research, development and knowledge. These complementary forms of capital support companies at different stages, fund R&D and align investment horizons, liquidity mechanisms and stakeholder interests with long-term development.
We need models that help scientists understand biological mechanisms and design experiments, or reveal how the ocean shapes climate and ecosystems. We need solutions that help clinicians make better decisions, factories and data centres adapt to scarcity of natural resources and uncertain conditions, energy and water networks operate efficiently under stress, insurance products support new and systemic risks, as well as food systems become resilient to changing conditions. And of course we need the bio-based or recycled materials, the sensing, the field data and the industrial partnerships to put any of it into production and recycling loops.
The knowledge, science and alignment work we have built at 2050, together with the AI expertise the Galion.exe Origin team brings, is ready to serve founders and investors who believe that making systemic intelligence relevant and available to build critical solutions can accelerate shaping a fertile future for the people and the planet.
Ambitious founders, forward-looking investors, industry leaders and transdisciplinary researchers applying intelligence to health, food, industry and the ocean, please reach out.
We’re ready for you, the future is shaped now.
Full press release:
Paris, 17 September 2026
2050 acquires Galion.exe Origin, enabling their Fertile AI investment push and reaching €250m AUM
The transaction brings 2050’s assets under management to €250 million across more than 70 companies, combining early-stage AI expertise with an international, research-driven investment platform.
2050, the investment platform founded by Marie Ekeland, is taking over the management of Galion.exe Origin, the AI-focused fund created by Willy Braun and Kevin Kuipers with the leading entrepreneur network The Galion Project. Willy Braun, who co-founded Galion.exe is joining 2050 as Managing Partner.
Following the addition of the Future Positive Fund I portfolio earlier this year, this new transaction brings 2050’s assets under management to €250m, across more than 70 companies and a portfolio spanning strategic industries, resilient food systems, health and ocean restoration.
Marie Ekeland and Willy Braun have worked together for 15 years, co-founding France Digitale and later daphni. Together with Mathieu Daix, they continue to jointly manage 40% of the daphni purple fund, whose portfolio includes category-defining companies such as Swile, Zoe, Fifteen and Lifen.
Combining AI expertise with science, nature and industry
Operating from hubs across Paris, London, Stockholm and Oslo, 2050 connects researchers, engineers, industry leaders and founders with strategic capital. Its systemic approach draws on rigorous scientific research, nature-based solutions and deep sector expertise to identify new ways to strengthen essential systems.
“Willy and the Galion.exe team strengthen our ability to understand what AI applications unlock for companies going after ambitious essential solutions and back the founders who can deliver it. This adds a powerful dimension to our investment products: bringing the best of science, technology and the regenerative potential of nature together to build a fertile future,” says Marie Ekeland, founder and CEO of 2050.
Galion.exe’s portfolio was built by Willy Braun and Kevin Kuipers, with Oriane Hédin as CFO and the support of an investment committee comprising Jean-Baptiste Rudelle (Criteo), Thierry Petit (Showroomprivé), Carole Walter (Come&Stay) and Didier Kuhn (ScreenTonic). Together with a wider network of 400 tech entrepreneurs, AI talents and venture partners such as Thaïs Walter (health), Charly Poly (tech infra), Margaux Wehr (data) they have helped shape the fund’s approach to backing teams early where AI meets complex, critical systems: data, health, biology, industry and security. Since 2021, the team has invested in more than 40 companies, including Prior Labs, Generare, Raidium, 2501, Living Models and Plakar.
“We are proud of the early-stage AI expertise Galion.exe has built. As The Galion Project focuses on helping our entrepreneur community deploy AI at scale and build global champions, 2050 offers the right environment for the fund’s next chapter. Having known Marie since Criteo’s early days and Willy for many years, we trust this is the best team to lead that transition forward,” adds Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, founder of The Galion Project.
Fertile AI: expanding the capacity to act
The systems that sustain life, from food and energy, to health and industry, are facing biophysical limits and geopolitical tensions, as evidenced by the planetary boundaries framework developed by the Stockholm Resilience Center, one of 2050’s founding research partners.
There is an urgent need for capital and conviction and what 2050 believes to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild these systems, by combining the regenerative power of nature together with the power of AI.
2050 calls its approach Fertile AI: investing in AI that advances scientific understanding, strengthens human agency and health, and helps essential systems thrive within nature.
In concrete terms it translates into helping researchers understand biological processes, clinicians interpret complex medical data, or engineers operate energy systems with fewer resources. It also means investing in technologies that reduce AI’s own resource demands and protect critical systems against the risks it potentially creates.
“At Galion.exe, we’ve built a community around AI talent and backed exceptional teams early. At 2050, we are taking that ambition further: building exploratory programmes around major societal challenges, bringing together scientists, engineers, industry specialists and founders. By combining their deep knowledge of how these systems work with emerging technological capabilities, we aim to uncover new paths to progress and back the teams turning them into reality,” says Willy Braun, Managing Partner at 2050.
A platform built for long-term ambition
2050 started with a compass: investing is shaping the future we’d want to live in. To reach its full potential, 2050 has engineered dedicated financial products to support its systemic approach through long-term and closed-end investment vehicles, alongside non-dilutive funding for commons such as shared R&D and knowledge.
Scaling category-defining companies takes critical mass, and 2050 intends to lead that movement targeting a €1bn investment platform. 2050 is aligning long-term capital, scientific expertise and industrial partnerships needed to turn ambitious solutions into lasting progress.
About 2050
2050 is an investment platform shaping a fertile future. They’ve built an ecosystem with leading-edge science, field research, entrepreneurial ventures, corporate and finance around the most pressing challenges for humanity across food, health, education, nature and societal robustness. Founded by investors with a long track record investing in top-tier tech startups from early growth to global success, 2050 now brings the same ambition to driving the life economy forward. The team operates across Paris, London, Stockholm, and Oslo, bringing together capital, research, and entrepreneurship to support companies which include global champions like Sweep, Kickstarter, Withings, ClimateView and Paebbl each fuelling the fund’s triple performance. Its Alignment Process embeds micro-methods directly into how portfolio companies grow, operate, and create value, contributing to a portfolio ranked among the 1% strongest globally according to Upright Project.
About Galion.exe
Galion.exe is an AI-focused seed-stage venture capital fund investing in Europe, the UK and the US, dedicated to supporting visionary tech entrepreneurs shaping the future of innovation. With a focus on infrastructure and critical industries, the fund provides investments ranging from €250,000 to €2.5 million in seed and sometimes series A rounds. Built on the philosophy that success comes from working with the best minds, Galion.exe champions a collaborative approach by fostering dynamic communities of over 500 experienced founders and tech leaders who provide, online and offline, mentorship, strategic guidance, and invaluable connections from the outset. The portfolio includes breakthrough companies such as PriorLabs, 2501, Living Models, Jimini.ai, Generare, Raidium, Plakar, and Vaire, driving progress and reshaping the rules in some of today’s most pivotal industries.
Press contact: vincent@2050.do
