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La French Tech initiative is driving modern startups to glory

The La French Tech project is Government program created by France’s Digital Economy Minister Fleur Pellerin, in collaboration with public and private operators such as the public investment bank Bpifrance. The project’s mission is to provide a suitable environment for all French startups to grow and flourish in a new ecosystem where investors and entrepreneurs can easily access all the needed funds and instruments.

Since 2013, the “French Tech” brand is a banner that regroups all players throughout France in a vast collective that support the development of startups incubators. The French Government does not control the project, but simply supports it by funding it, so the State has no veto power on what the companies could and would do. It’s up to the market to choose whether an idea can change the world and gain traction with its own technological innovation. The brand within the program is financed by public and private initiatives at the same time. A network of favorable urban ecosystems to drive the startups forward has also been designed. The so-called French Tech Cities lead by the Paris region will allow regional cities such as Toulouse and Lyon to compete against their regional counterparts such as Manchester to Vancouver. An additional budget of €15 million will then improve their visibility and international appeal on the global market.

But international startups can join the fray as well. A specific program has been designed for global entrepreneurs who wished to create their startups in France, called “The French Tech Ticket”, that successfully concluded its second season of recruitment on September 23, 2016. Thanks to this project, 70 startups from all over the world will be selected to join the 41 French partner incubators to start a one-year program in 2017. Not only the Government provided the program with a €200 million fund, but it also loosened the legislation on crowdfunding, allowing Bpifrance to provide an additional €1 million in loans to the over ongoing 1,500 projects. The crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, Ulule and KissKissBankBank raised €133 million just in 2015, with over 1.75 million donors around the world.

As David Monteau, Director of La French Tech, explained, the innovative project resulted in an incredible success in the French startup scene. With over 20,000 startups registered solely in Paris, France is dominating both the Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500 EMEA and Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators List. Many “unicorns” valued more than $1 billion rose in the last few years, including BlaBlaCar and Vente-Privée. The new “Startup Republic” is the perfect home for a new generation of talented designers, engineers and entrepreneurs that are giving birth to a new cultural movement that could bring Europe forward toward the future of digital evolution.

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