Chairman of the Board, Audacia
An aerospace engineer with a degree from Centrale Paris, Charles Beigbeder began his career in 1989 with Matra Marconi Space (Airbus Group). After this initial experience in the aerospace industry, he turned to investment banking, working for Banque Paribas and Crédit Suisse in Boston, Paris and London.
In 1997, he founded Self Trade, a pioneering and leading Internet brokerage company in France and Europe, which was subsequently sold to Boursorama.
The opening up of the energy market prompted him to create Poweo in 2002, as an independent electricity and gas operator, building two gas-fired power plants in northern and eastern France. Poweo is now part of Total Energies.
Since 2006, he has been Chairman of Audacia, an AMF-approved management company he founded, which has become a leader in growth capital by providing equity to French SMEs, also active in innovation capital and real estate financing dedicated to coliving.
Driven by a strong interest in quantum physics, he launched Quantonation alongside Christophe Jurczak and Olivier Tonneau. In October 2021, he co-founded the Expansion Aerospace fund, dedicated to aerospace and defense.
He recruited Giuseppe Sangiovanni in 2021 and Vincent Brillault in 2023 to structure the Exergon project, the first pan-European VC to invest in deeptech innovation for the energy transition.