“INNOVATION IS ABOUT CREATING A PATH FOR NON-ELITES. XAVIER IS ONE OF THE FEW WHO HAS DONE THAT.”

Today, Niel’s huge emphasis is AI. In 2023 he invested €100 million, through Iliad, to launch Kyutai, a nonprofit, open-source AI lab in Paris, in partnership with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and French shipping exec Rodolphe Saadé, who each also contributed €100 million. And in February, Iliad set aside €3 billion for new AI data centers and open-source AI research in Europe.

- NICOLAS MIAILHE

Given the dizzying sums involved, it’s striking to see how Niel has pieced together his projects, in a manner depicting an investor who trusts his gut and has limited patience for self-doubting rumination.

One morning, I went to meet Jean de La Rochebrochard, managing partner of Niel’s Kima Ventures, following directions to a building near the Paris opera house. Wandering the corridors, I found no sign of Kima—until de La Rochebrochard popped out of a doorway in jeans and hoodie, explaining that Kima’s three-person staff has no office. Having just landed from New York, he was squatting in a startup’s space, sifting through pitches and taking Zoom meetings, in order to pick that week’s investments for Niel to approve.