At KEDGE, the collaboration between the MSc Banking & Finance, led by Pierre Casanova, and KEDGE Entrepreneurship provides a concrete illustration of how academic learning can be applied to real-world projects.
Through the investment club YPIK (Your Partner is Kapital), founded by Georges Klenkle with the support of the KEDGE Alumni network, students are immersed in a unique initiative: analysing, selecting and supporting impact-driven start-ups alongside business angels.
This partnership serves a dual purpose.
For students, it offers the opportunity to put their financial skills into practice, develop their analytical abilities and, above all, build a high-quality professional network through direct contact with investors and entrepreneurs.
For KEDGE Entrepreneurship, the collaboration helps engage students in the school’s entrepreneurial support initiatives while strengthening the resources and guidance offered to start-ups.
Each year, MSc Banking & Finance students are fully integrated into the investment process. Trained and supervised by Pierre Casanova, they contribute upstream of the investment committees by analysing nearly 300 start-up applications.
Their role is to assess the viability, potential and impact of each project in order to identify the most promising ventures. They produce professional deliverables — including assessment grids, recommendations, summaries and presentations — and present their findings to the KEDGE Entrepreneurship teams ahead of each investment committee.
They then take part in the committees alongside business angels, gaining full immersion in the heart of investment decision-making.
At the same time, they contribute to structuring the network by updating and enriching the business angels database, thereby playing an active role in the development of the YPIK club.
This collaboration is a tangible example of experiential learning, where students do not simply learn, but become active participants. It also highlights the key role played by lecturers, such as Pierre Casanova, who create bridges between academic teaching and professional experience.
For KEDGE Entrepreneurship, projects such as these are essential: they help raise awareness of the school’s support initiatives, involve students in impactful projects and strengthen synergies between the school’s various stakeholders.
We created the Investment Lab for our MSc Banking & Finance – Corporate Finance specialisation students in order to provide them with a hands-on, professionally focused experience, as close as possible to the realities of the investment world. By working on real-life cases, they develop their technical skills, their capacity for judgement, and gain a clearer understanding of the financial and entrepreneurial environment
