Page 32 - FON Spring Issue

PREVIEW
Family
Office
Profile
ALEXANDRE MARS
Where do you reside?
After nearly a decade in New York, I’m currently based in Paris. Generally - when there’s not a global pandemic - I’m all over the place: we have offices in New York, London and Brussels... and I’m constantly traveling, whether it’s visiting our charitable organizations around the world for Epic, my foundation, or meeting with amazing entrepreneurs for my investment fund Blisce.
Please tell us about your business?
I feel fortunate that, in my work, no two days are the same. I divide a great deal of my time between two structures I founded.
First, there is Blisce, my growth stage VC fund. Our goal is to support mission-
driven entrepreneurs and help them build global consumer technology companies. We’ve invested in companies like Spotify, Harry’s, Pinterest, Headspace and Too Good To Go.
We’re determined to have a positive social impact, but from another angle. It’s absolutely core to our collective vision. Finance can be a powerful tool and, if yielded responsibly, can be a force for good. That’s why we’re committed to working with our portfolio companies to improve their (and our own) environmental, social and corporate governance measures. For example, our term sheet includes two non-negotiable clauses for ventures: an agreement to carry out an ongoing ESG evaluation every 12-18 months, as well as a commitment to interview at least one diverse profile for every open senior leadership position. Our team
has committed to donating 20% of its carried interest revenues to Epic (more on that in a second), so it’s really a virtuous circle between my investment and philanthropic activities. As a testament to these engagements, we’re very proud that blisce/ recently became the first B Corp certified growth stage VC fund in the E.U.
Then there is Epic. Epic is the culmination of deep market research into the philanthropic sector and the solution to three major obstacles to charitable giving: lack of knowledge (about who to give to), lack of trust (that the funds would be put to good use) and lack of time (to do the necessary research). Our vision is a world in which every child and youth has access to safety, empowerment and equal opportunity. Our mission is to find, select, back and monitor high impact charitable organizations in order to catalyze their
32 FON MAGAZINE / SPRING ISSUE 2021 / FONMagazine.com