The Hardware Club and Elephants & Ventures community spans hundreds of founders, engineers, and investors across the globe. Here is what some of our partners and portfolio founders have shared about their experience working with us. These perspectives reflect the practical value of combining regulated fund management with a deeply connected hardware community.
“As a first-time hardware founder, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of fundraising while simultaneously managing our product development cycle. Hardware Club's network gave us introductions to three strategic corporate partners within our first month as a portfolio company. The team at Elephants & Ventures was transparent about the fund structure and our rights as founders from day one — something we genuinely appreciated. We closed our Series A six months ahead of schedule largely thanks to their support.”
— Margaux Lefèvre
★★★★★
“We invested in Hardware Club as an institutional LP because we wanted dedicated, expert exposure to the hardware and deep tech venture segment. The regulatory rigour of Elephants & Ventures — being AMF-registered with an AIFM agreement — gave our investment committee the confidence to commit. Reporting has been consistently detailed and delivered on time, which is not always the case with smaller fund managers. The ESG and SFDR documentation met all our internal requirements without any additional requests.”
— Thomas Bergmann
★★★★★
“I joined the Hardware Club community as a founder before raising any institutional capital, and the access to mentors with genuine hardware manufacturing experience was invaluable. When we were ready to raise, being already embedded in the network made the process far more efficient than a cold outreach approach. The Paris events are well-curated and attract a genuinely international crowd of builders and investors. I would recommend the community to any serious hardware founder in Europe.”
— Nadia Okonkwo
★★★★★
“We have co-invested alongside Hardware Club in two portfolio companies and found the deal flow quality to be consistently high. The technical due diligence that Elephants & Ventures conducts before making an investment is noticeably more thorough than what we see from generalist funds covering hardware. Their network of experts means they can validate engineering assumptions that most investors simply take on faith. We look forward to continuing our co-investment relationship.”
— Julien Marchand
★★★★☆
“Working with the Hardware Club team has been one of the more positive investor relationships we have had. They are direct, knowledgeable about the specific challenges of scaling physical products, and well-connected in the right manufacturing and retail networks. Their complaint handling process, which we had occasion to test with a minor administrative query, was handled professionally and resolved well within the stated timeframe. It is clear that compliance and client service are taken seriously at the operational level, not just on paper.”
— Sofia Andersen
★★★★☆