London remains the undisputed heavyweight of the European startup ecosystem, but in 2020 Paris replaced Berlin in second place, attracting $3.4bn in investment (London accounted for $10.5bn of venture capital). Paris’s rise is rooted in government strategy – the introduction of a tech visa; the establishment of a public investment bank; changes in tax codes – as well as a series of seasoned founders reinvesting in the ecosystem; a generation of highly-educated students from the grand ecoles choosing not to go into private industry but start their own business; and grand projects such as Station F, Europe’s biggest startup incubator, which has attracted global talent.
“When I was appointed, President Macron decided that France needed 25 unicorns by 2025 – at that point we had three,” says Kat Borlongan, director of La French Tech, the government-supported agency that oversees national startup strategy. “We see it as a pipeline and the goal is to build the biggest possible talent pool by having the most open tech visa in the world and to lower the barrier to entrepreneurship.”
The government spends €1.3 billion in seed and pre-seed funding and “after that it's a velocity game,” Borlongan says. “The goal is to get from pre-seed to seed, from seed to A, to B, to C, to D all the way to the top.” There are now 120 companies that have passed through this process and each has an account manager at La French Tech who connects each business with government. “Every single ministry, government agency or administration has a touch point with startups,” Borlongan says.
Sustainability is increasingly a factor in purchasing decisions and consumer behaviour. Back Market is a marketplace for refurbished electronics offering devices at varying price points. The startup, which has five million customers, closed a series D round of $335m in May 2021 aims to expand to the US and make previously owned products the first choice for consumers. backmarket.co.uk
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