This is a snapshot of the Parisian tech scene, through the eyes of Index Ventures and TheFamily, leveraging the experience of the thousands of people who make it happen.
We hope you'll find it useful as a guide to navigate the ecosystem.
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Paris is Back: Thirty years in the making, Paris' tech scene has finally reached escape velocity
Criteo and BlaBlaCar: two unicorns leading Paris' revival
In October 2013, in what turned out to be a seminal moment, Criteo raised $250m when it listed on the Nasdaq. It is now valued at over $2bn, confidently taking on Google on its core competency of online performance advertising. It employs more than 500 employees, many of them engineers, in a flamboyant contemporary building in the heart of Paris.
Just one floor below, in the same building as Criteo, is BlaBlaCar, a ride-sharing company that raised $100m, one of the largest funding rounds in Europe, to expand its services beyond the 12 countries it already served, and connect the rest of the world to its next-generation transportation network.
From the ground up: entrepreneurship is the new politics
While exceptional in many respects, these two companies are representative of a broader entrepreneurial movement coming from the ground of French society. In a country historically governed from the top down, and where the state tends to identify itself with civil society as a whole, it has been easy for outsiders to overlook this grassroot phenomenon. But, while nobody was watching, France, and Paris at the heart of it, has quietly emerged as a tech powerhouse.
Come to TheFamily
With highly skilled engineers, artists and business students aplenty, a growing cohort of wealthy and experienced repeat entrepreneurs, and a steady supply of capital from local and international funds, stars have finally aligned for the take-off of a long under-hyped ecosystem. Now is the right moment to invest time and money in Paris. This definitive guide will help you get started.
Welcome to Paris!
3. INDEX
1. Started from the Minitel now weâre here.
2. Paris tech scene today.
3. Invest time & money in France. Seriously?
4. Who: the 7 families you should know.
5. Resources to get started!
6. Annex.
5. 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
WITH LARGE SCALE INNOVATION:
STARTING WITH THE MINITEL
1993 $1B
6M households
already connected in
France, while Mozaic
was just being
launched in the USA.
revenues per year
at its peak, shared
between France
Telecom & 25,000
content providers.
10 years before the Internet, it created the 1st generation
of wealthy & experienced tech entrepreneurs.
6. 15+ YEARS OF INTERNET
Silicon
Sentier
NOW
Still the biggest
concentration of Internet
startups in France
1998
Birth of Silicon Sentier
300 Internet startups in a 4 sq km area
- 1st area connected to high speed Internet in France
- Cheap & spacious real estate
- Central, great lifestyle for young creatives
7. SYMBOL OF THIS JOURNEY
ILIAD
XAVIER NIEL
$14B Valuation.
From the minitel
to a telco & Internet empire.
9. Entrepreneurs
sleep 35h a week ;)
Young & innovative compagnies
get significant tax rebates.
*JEI & CIR Schemes
Trial periods of 6 months
allow you to test before hiring.
THEY
WORK
35H/WEEK?
THEY
PAY
HIGH TAXES?
THEY
CANâT
HIRE & FIRE FAST?
CLICHĂS
10. A VIBRANT EARLY-STAGE
INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT
40-50%
30%
Soft &
Internet
Concentrated in Paris
$1.4M
Average ticket invested
$1B
Invested per year
in 700+ companies
On-par with the UK where $1.3B was invested in 2013.
11. THERE IS LOCAL MONEY
AT THE EARLY STAGE
$1.5B
raised by 9 top
early-stage funds
in the past 3 years.
$363M
$157M
$145M
$121M
$121M
$72M
$61M
$54M
$424M
12. THE TOP 3 EUROPEAN FUNDS
ARE ACTIVE ON THE GROUND
FRED
DESTIN
PHILIPPE
BOTTERI
DOMINIQUE
VIDAL
MARTIN
MIGNOT
BERNARD
LIAUTAUD
NICOLAS
DEBOCK
SOFIA HMICH
14. $70M $90M(est.)
ACQ. BY
RED HAT
$1,7Bn
VALUATION
$600M
$275M
$140M $90M
ACQ. BY
ADOBE
ND
ACQ. BY
ACQ. BY MICROSOFT
ETSY
ACQ. BY
FILMALAC GROUP
ACQ. BY
TRIPADVISOR
ACQ. BY
AU FĂMININ
OVER THE PAST 18 MONTHS
20. ENGINEERING
EXCELLENCE
ABUNDANT
60K ENGINEERS/YEAR
& MOST OF THEM ARE IN PARIS
TALENTED
WORLD CLASS SCIENCE
13 FIELD MEDALS
9 PHYSICS NOBELS
8 CHEMISTRY NOBELS
12 MEDICINE NOBELS
#2 PATENTS FILING I
AFFORDABLE
$50-80K for mid-level dev
NOBEL
PRIZE
WINNER
21. WORD CLASS
INFRASTRUCTURE
1ST CYCLE HIRE SCHEME
You can rent bikes
easily with Velib!
TRAVEL ANYWHERE
168 destinations
in 93 countries
SUBWAY IS PERFECT
Go anywhere
within 40 min max
RELIABLE HIGH
SPEED INTERNET
Free & fast WiFi
available to everyone.
INTENSE MINI-CAB
ACTIVITY
5 min to find a car ;)
1H BRUSSELS
2H LONDON
LUXEMBOURG
3H GENEVA
4H
FRANKFURT
AMSTERDAM
ZURICH
22. BUSINESS IS GOOD GOODGOOD
Highest number of companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 ranking
of any European country.
71 companies 86 companies 52 companies
France is #1 European country in company creations, 550,000 in 2012.
24. FRANCE
FOREIGN
INNOVATION
90% market share on
search
1st non German
speaking market
2nd market after the
US with 15,000 listings
in Paris
1st launch, 1st Uber âPoolâ &
âPOPâ outside of the US.
500k+ users in Paris
27. THE KING
XAVIER NIEL
ONE-MAN-SILICON-VALLEY
Software
Is Eating the World
Net Worth: $8B
Free: 15M subscribers, $5 B revenue
Kima ventures: most active investor in the
world (350+ investments)
Ecole42: Free school,1000 CS students/year
Halle Freyssinet: incubator, 1000 startups
28. THE
BUSINESSMEN
MARC SIMONCINI
MEETIC, SENSEE,
JAĂNA CAPITAL
Moving
Consumers
JACQUES-ANTOINE
GRANJON
Online VENTE-PRIVEE
29. THE
MARKET MAKERS
PIERRE KOSCIUSKO-MORIZET
PRICEMINISTER, ISAI
OLIVIER MATHIOT
PRICEMINISTER
JEAN-DAVID CHAMBOREDON
ISAI
Marketplaces
Everywhere
FREDERIC MAZZELLA
BLABLACAR
30. THE
ALGORITHMERS
JEAN-BAPTISTE RUDELLE
CRITEO
Granjon + Simoncini,
The Businessmen
PIERRE CHAPPAZ
TEADS
DOMINIQUE VIDAL
INDEX VENTURES
PASCAL GAUTHIER
CRITEO
Be
Smarter
Than
Google
31. THE
DATA MASTERS
Granjon + Simoncini,
The Businessmen
Granjon + Simoncini,
The Businessmen
NICOLAS STEEGMAN
STUPEFLIX
FLORIAN DOUETTEAU
DATAĂKU
JULIEN LEMOINE
ALGOLIA
The Bigger
The Data,
The Better
32. THE
HARDWARE MAKERS
HENRI SEYDOUX
PARROT, LOUBOUTIN
Granjon + Simoncini,
The Businessmen
Granjon + Simoncini,
The Businessmen
ERIC CAREEL
WITHINGS, SCULPTEO
FREDERIC POTTER
NETATMO
When
Software
Meets
Hardware
33. THE
EXPATRIATES
FREDERIC MONTAGNON
TEADS
FABRICE GRINDA
OLX
JEFF CLAVIER
SOFTTECH
LOIC LE MEUR
LE WEB
If You Can
Make it Here
You Can make it
Anywhere
& many other high profile French founders
43. TECH MEETUPS
RUBY PARIS
Letâs get news methods & business
opportunities.
GROWTH HACKING
Learn how to sell products & gain traction.
TECH TALKS
Inspired by NY Tech Meetup, useful for
network and education.
APERO ENTREPRENEUR
Exchange tips, recommendations &
contacts. Every 1st Thursday of the month.
https://files.slack.com/files-pri/T024YS106-F034T5FJK/growth.png
LE WAGON
Every Wednesday GET THE SWAG ON ,demystify coding!
Inviting the best UX/UI designers to talk
about their vision and achievements.
INTERNET OF THINGS
All about usage, design, business
& new tendencies.
STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS
Bridging the gap between tech & business
students willing to build a startup.
PARIS FOUNDERS EVENT
Founders only networking night
by Rude Baguette.
PITCH DONâT KILL MY VIBE
Come test your pitch on stage and get
constructive feedback.
START IN PARIS
Monthly demo pitch contest for startups.
44. PLACES TO HANGOUT
BREAKFAST EDGAR COFFEE DELAVILLE WORK ANTICAFE
LUNCH TEMPS DES CERISES DRINKS CAFE NOIR COCKTAILS LOCKWOOD
45. YOUâRE WELCOME IN PARIS.
THANK YOU
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