Jean-Baptiste Rudelle
About Jean-Baptiste Rudelle
Jean-Baptiste Rudelle is an entrepreneur based in Paris. He co-founded the advertising company Criteo in 2005 with Franck Le Ouay and Romain Niccoli. He holds an engineering degree from France's Ecole Superieure d'Electricite. He started as an engineer at Philips and Lucent, then worked as a strategy consultant at Roland Berger.
Before Criteo he founded Kiwee in 1999, a mobile content company that sold phone ringtones. American Greetings Interactive acquired it in 2004. He moved from CEO to Executive Chairman of Criteo in 2016 and returned as CEO in April 2018.
He also founded The Galion Project, a non-profit think tank that helps entrepreneurs grow faster. Profile databases list him as its president.
Databases list roughly 8 to 9 personal investments, mostly in French startups. The earliest on record is Gojob (2016, per PitchBook). He then invested in HrFlow.ai (2018, then called Riminder), Skello (Series A, 2018) and YZR (seed, 2021).
Later entries include Greenly (2022), Orb (convertible note, 2022), Differs, Jay&Joy and Astran (all 2023) and Lemrock (2026). These come from PitchBook, Crunchbase, Tracxn and NFX Signal, which do not fully agree with each other. Many deal sizes are not public.
HrFlow.ai is the AI round we can confirm. The Paris company builds data and AI infrastructure for HR and recruiting. It announced a $7M round in April 2026, led by 115K and EmergingTech Ventures. Press describes it as a pre-Series A, and Lounge's deals desk lists it as a Seed. Rudelle took part as an existing investor, after the company's first $2.3M round in 2018.
We found no public record of other AI-specific investments by him.
His recorded investments are mostly French companies in business software and HR or workforce tools, at seed to Series A. Tracxn lists his top sectors as enterprise applications and high tech, all in France.
NFX Signal lists an investment range of $5K to $50K with a $25K sweet spot. That is a third-party estimate, not a figure Rudelle has stated. We found no public statement from him on what he looks for in a pitch.
- HrFlow.ai: AI and data infrastructure for HR. Invested in 2018 and participated again in the April 2026 round.
- Skello: workforce management software. Invested around its Series A in October 2018.
- YZR: listed as a seed investment in January 2021, alongside Frederic Mazzella and others.
- Gojob: listed as an early-stage investment in 2016 (PitchBook).
- Lemrock: listed on NFX Signal as a pre-seed in March 2026. Shizune lists him as a board director.
- eu-startups.com/2026/04/hrflow-ai-secures-e6-million-pre-series-a-to-b
- finsmes.com/2026/04/hrflow-ai-raises-7m-in-pre-series-a-funding.html
- blog.hrflow.ai/hrflow-ai-secures-7m-pre-series-a-to-become-the-global-
- signal.nfx.com/investors/jean-baptiste-rudelle
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/162182-44
- crunchbase.com/person/jean-baptiste-rudelle
- tracxn.com/d/people/jean-baptiste-rudelle/__nU4o3XFrW3vT475PbfQeGNfGdG
- lesrencontreseconomiques.fr/2017/en/speakers/jean-baptiste-rudelle-2
Investing activity
Jean-Baptiste Rudelle appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $7M. The most recent is HrFlow.ai (Seed, $7M, Apr 2026).
Jean-Baptiste Rudelle most often invests alongside EmergingTech Ventures, 115K, Sophie Serratrice and Domnin de Kerdaniel, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Jean-Baptiste Rudelle
Does Jean-Baptiste Rudelle invest in AI startups?
Yes. He is a named existing investor in HrFlow.ai, which raised $7M in April 2026 and builds AI infrastructure for HR data. We found no other confirmed AI deals.
What is Jean-Baptiste Rudelle's typical check size?
He has not said publicly. NFX Signal estimates $5K to $50K with a $25K sweet spot, but that is a third-party figure.
What stage does Jean-Baptiste Rudelle invest at?
His recorded deals run from seed to Series A, including HrFlow.ai's 2018 round, YZR's seed and Skello's Series A. He also took part in HrFlow.ai's 2026 pre-Series A.
Who is Jean-Baptiste Rudelle?
He is a co-founder of Criteo, the Paris-based advertising company founded in 2005. He also founded Kiwee and The Galion Project, and he angel invests, mostly in French startups.
Does Jean-Baptiste Rudelle only back French startups?
The companies we found are mostly French. Tracxn lists all of his portfolio companies in France, though Orb is not clearly French.
How can founders contact Jean-Baptiste Rudelle?
He is on LinkedIn and on X as @jbrudelle. We found no personal website or published pitch process.
Is Jean-Baptiste Rudelle an angel investor?
Yes. Jean-Baptiste Rudelle invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Jean-Baptiste Rudelle invested in?
Jean-Baptiste Rudelle's AI investments include HrFlow.ai. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Who does Jean-Baptiste Rudelle co-invest with?
Jean-Baptiste Rudelle's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are EmergingTech Ventures (1 deal), 115K (1 deal), Sophie Serratrice (1 deal), Domnin de Kerdaniel (1 deal) and Alexis Robert (1 deal).
How can founders reach Jean-Baptiste Rudelle?
Founders on Lounge can see Jean-Baptiste Rudelle's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Jean-Baptiste Rudelle to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.