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- 🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — April 15, 2024. €256.2m in new funding for French companies.
🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — April 15, 2024. €256.2m in new funding for French companies.
What you need to know this week in France. 🦍 mega-rounds making a comeback, 💶 new venture funds, and 🔭 Q1 in review
James Saulsky
April 15, 2024
Welcome to French Tech Updates! Your weekly source of startup, VC, and tech news and insights. I’m James, a startup-obsessed American living in Paris.
Looking back on Q1 🔭
With Q1 now firmly in the rearview mirror and the promise of European Summer™ beckoning in the near future, now is a good time to reflect on the first 3 months of 2024. In France, 151 funding deals were closed between January and March—making France the second most active deal environment in Europe after the UK (which led the pack with 358 deals).
In total, Q1 saw 1,379 total equity funding rounds and €12.3 billion deployed in Europe (Source: Sifted). All told, France represented 10% of all Q1 European deals and 16% of all capital deployed.
Looking back even further, over the past 4 years France has solidified its position as a technology leader in mainland Europe.
Q2 is already off to an exciting start with two French mega-rounds announced in two weeks. First, Pigment raised a €145m Series D and just last week HysetCo closed an eye-watering €200m round of fresh funding. Whether the ecosystem can maintain this pace remains to be seen, but the trend seems positive.
And with that, let’s jump into this week’s update!
This week’s moment of Zen. Everyone deserves a nap every now and then.
📝 Quiz: which sector in Europe raised the most VC capital in Q1?
(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)
A.) Healthcare 🧑⚕️
B.) Fintech 🏦
C.) Transportation 🚘
D.) Energy 🔋
What’s new this week in 🇫🇷
📉 Retail-accessible private market funds are struggling in France: The FIP and FCPI structures are 20+ year-old vehicles designed to allow retail investors to allocate capital into SMEs—including startups through mutual funds. A new report from Morningstar shows only 15.6% delivered positive returns.
🏢 Singapore-based Temasek opens an office in Paris: the investment company’s portfolio in Europe already amounts to €38 billion.
🤑 Quantonation closes first €70m of its new quantum computing-focused fund: the new fund, planned for a total of €200m by 2025, is Quantonation’s second. Quantonation has dual headquarters in Paris and Boston.
New Funding 💶
7 companies raised €256.2 million in the last week
Libu | €1m | Electrical Equipment
As someone who loves lamps and good lighting, the new €1m investment into Libu, a start-up focused on circadian lighting to enhance employee well-being and health, is near and dear to me—in more ways than one since one of the co-founders is a fellow INSEAD graduate!
The Mobile-First Company | €3.5m | B2B Applications
The Paris-based developer of B2B mobile applications completed a €3.5m pre-seed round of fundraising led by Lightspeed and Emblem. Their custom-built apps span a range of uses and industries, including order processing for restaurants, project management for construction companies, and patient management for healthcare providers.
HyLight | €3.7m | Robotics
HyLight, a company that has developed hydrogen-powered airship drones named HyLighters for zero-emission infrastructure inspections, raised €3.7m. The HyLighter drone uses hydrogen both as fuel and lifting gas, enabling long-duration flights and precise data collection capabilities using advanced sensors.
Orixha | €4.5m | MedTech
Orixha, based in Lyon, secured a €4m round from the European Innovation Council Fund and French Tech Seed fund to advance its total fluid ventilation technology, aimed at improving intensive care for cardiac arrest patients. This innovation allows patients to breathe a liquid enriched with oxygen, potentially offering a better alternative to traditional gas ventilation by more effectively managing respiratory functions and applying therapeutic hypothermia.
Weenat | €8.5m | Agritech
Nantes-based Weenat raised a €8.5m Series C to support their agricultural soil water management solution which aims to optimize the use of farmland and guard against environmental hazards like frost and the effects of climate change.
Exoes | €35m | Mobility
Exoes, a Gradignan-based firm, received €35m in funding to advance its thermal management tech for electric vehicles—offering solutions like faster charging and improved battery safety and life. The new investment by Meridiam Green Impact Growth Fund and Bpifrance is aimed at expanding Exoes' global presence and accelerating battery production.
HysetCo | €200m | Mobility
HysetCo, a 4-year-old startup specializing in hydrogen-powered taxis and rental services, closed a €200m mega-round led by Hy24. HysetCo integrates their taxi services with hydrogen fueling infrastructure to provide decarbonized urban transport options.
Events This Month 🗓
April 23: OVHcloud Startup Showcase Paris
Every Wednesday this month: Startup School: Gen AI with Google
What Else I’m Reading 📚
Cutting corners to harvest AI training data (New York Times)
What I’m predicting for 2024 (Next Big Thing)
Money Stuff the podcast with Matt Levine (Bloomberg)
Quiz answer: D.) Energy 🔋.
The Energy sector saw €14.6 billion in new investment during Q1, fueled (lol pun-intended) by investments in Electric Mobility (€5.5 billion), EV Batteries (€3.7 billion), and Green Buildings (€3.5 billion).
For the other options, Healthcare saw €9 billion in new investment, Transportation brought in €8.8 billion, and FinTech drew €7.5 billion.