Lasqo x Roundtable: Closing a high-impact round with zero admin hassle

Lasqo, a fast-growing AI startup helping marketers stay on-brand and iterate on design assets faster with the help of generative AI, recently raised just over €1.5 million in its first fundraising round. 

Ferdinand Terme, Lasqo’s CEO, brought together a diverse group of international angels in a single SPV with the help of Roundtable. The goal was clear: bring in investors who understand the intersection of AI, design, and marketing and who could help the company grow, thanks to their expertise, networks, and experience. 

Thanks to Roundtable’s SPV setup, Lasqo’s fundraising round came together efficiently – with minimal admin, full transparency, and support at every step of the way. The team is now turning its focus to hiring, accelerating product development, and refining its go-to-market strategy. 

In this interview, Ferdinand shares how the process unfolded – and why getting the right setup made all the difference.

Key takeaways: 

• By using Roundtable’s SPV, Lasqo attracted highly strategic investors with specific expertise in marketing, design, and AI, adding significant strategic value beyond funding alone.
• Roundtable’s ease of use and dedicated support reduced the usual legal and administrative burdens, allowing Lasqo’s founders to stay focused on strategic initiatives and investor engagement.
• The funding round will enable Lasqo’s team to immediately focus in critical areas like product innovation and their go-to-market strategy, ensuring faster growth and market readiness.
• Key angel investors, such as the CMO of Revolut, Antoine Le Nel, brought invaluable industry-specific insights, further enhancing the strategic outcomes of the funding round.

Roundtable: Could you introduce Lasqo AI – and share what motivated you to create it?

Ferdinand Terme: At Lasqo, we help marketing teams – especially those working with iconic, high-demand brands – scale their production of marketing assets 10x while staying on-brand. We use AI to understand key brand attributes and ensure everything we generate is on-brand.

The idea came naturally to us because my two co-founders and I have all experienced the pain points of marketers firsthand. I come from a marketing background, one of my co-founders is a designer, and our CTO, Antoine, has spent the past five years working on generative models for images.

Roundtable: Can you walk us through how you structured this fundraising round — and how Roundtable helped?

Ferdinand Terme: Sure! From the start, I knew I wanted to get angel investors on board in this fundraising round – people who could bring more than just money. 

The tricky part was managing multiple investors while keeping things as simple as possible. That’s exactly where Roundtable helped: we used the platform to create a dedicated SPV (special purpose vehicle), which allowed us to pool business angels together. It made the whole process much easier, for us and for them. They could onboard directly on the platform, sign everything online, and wire the funds securely – and we could focus our efforts on the actual fundraising.

Roundtable: Could you tell us more about the operational advantages of using Roundtable and setting up an SPV through the platform?

Ferdinand Terme: I’d say there are two main advantages. 

The first is having a platform where I could easily track what was happening. Investors could handle their KYC and KYB processes directly through Roundtable without involving me, which saved a lot of time and effort.

The second – and maybe even more important – was the advisory and support side. I didn’t have to worry about drafting shareholder agreements, managing regulatory requirements in different countries, or anything like that. Roundtable acted as a trusted third party and handled all of that for us.

Roundtable: Before going with Roundtable, did you consider other options for this fundraising round?

Ferdinand Terme: Not really. I already knew about Roundtable and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to bring in angel investors – not necessarily people with deep pockets, but individuals who were truly interested in the project and could contribute with their expertise. Smaller tickets were fine, as long as they added value. So for me, working with Roundtable was a no-brainer.

Roundtable: Was there something specific that convinced you Roundtable was the right fit?

Ferdinand Terme: What I really appreciated is that Roundtable is designed for entrepreneurs who want to bring together multiple investors via an SPV, from small to large ones. That’s exactly what I was looking for. I also didn’t want to deal with a ton of red tape and admin work. In that context, Roundtable made perfect sense.

Roundtable: You mentioned you were looking not just for money, but for investors with specific expertise. Can you tell me more about that?

Ferdinand Terme: Lasqo sits at the intersection of design, marketing, and AI, and we wanted investors who could bring expertise across each of those areas. 

For example, the CMO of Revolut, Antoine Le Nel, joined to bring marketing insights. We also brought in Vincent Luciani, the co-founder of Artifact, who brings deep AI expertise. That’s how we approached the angel round. 

Roundtable: Your angel investors are in different countries, right?

Ferdinand Terme: Yes – about half are in France, and the other half are from outside France. We have a few based in the UK, a few in Germany, and some in Spain.

Roundtable: So would you say Roundtable helped bring all of this together and made the whole process smooth and easy for your team – without you having to handle each investor individually?

Ferdinand Terme: Exactly. I would never have been able to manage that kind of international diversity without a provider like Roundtable. It made a huge difference.

The onboarding process was simple, and the team clearly explained what was possible. It was very easy to reach out to them, ask questions, and align on details. This was very helpful to us.

Roundtable: If you had any advice for other founders preparing to go through the same process, what would you tell them?

Ferdinand Terme: When speaking about fundraising, I’d say the first thing is to be well prepared. Have all your fundraising materials ready before you start. Anticipate the questions you’ll get and set up a basic data room, even if you’re still at an early stage. It saves a ton of time.

Also, keep in mind that fundraising is partly a volume game. You’re going to get a lot of rejections, and that’s totally normal. You need to keep pushing until you find someone who believes in you. Most people, maybe 95 to 99 percent, won’t. That’s just how it works.

And lastly, when it comes to closing the round, make sure you have the right partners and tools in place. We were careful in choosing our lawyer and choosing Roundtable because having the right setup is crucial. You don’t want to mess things up at the finish line.

Roundtable: Let’s talk about challenges for a bit. What was the biggest challenge for you during the fundraising process?

Ferdinand Terme: I think the biggest challenge was convincing investors, especially given the space we’re in. We're operating at the application layer of AI, which is a fast-moving and still relatively new market.

AI at this scale is reshaping how businesses operate. Value chains are evolving rapidly, and that makes it hard for investors to pinpoint where value will actually accrue. Who will win, who will lose, and how things will play out is not always clear. That uncertainty was definitely one of the biggest challenges.

The second challenge was more specific to us: finding the right balance when speaking with investors who aren't familiar with our space. On one hand, you don’t want to spend too much time educating someone who might never really get it. But on the other hand, you still need to clearly explain what you do, the pain points you’re solving, and why it matters. Striking the balance between educating and qualifying potential investors wasn’t easy.

Roundtable: Can you tell us what this fundraising round will allow you to do as a company?

Ferdinand Terme: It will allow us to hire a tech team and iterate faster, both on the product itself and on our go-to-market strategy. So, hiring, refining our GTM strategy, and continuing product development.

Roundtable: Would you recommend Roundtable to other founders at a similar stage?

Ferdinand Terme: Yes, without any doubt. The idea that you can bring in as many angel investors as you want, without the usual hassle, is terrific.

That’s exactly what I was looking for, because to me, angels aren’t just about the money. Their real value lies in the expertise, the network, the support they bring to the table. Without Roundtable, pulling that kind of group together just wouldn’t have been possible.

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