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.

Au revoir H1 👋 et bonjour H2 📆

Wow. What a couple of weeks we’ve had. A new government is in, Les Bleus are out (sorry), and the Olympic games are now only 11 days away.

We’re also officially done with the first half of 2024, which means it’s officially H1 reporting season. I’m not usually a huge fan of this mid-year-split between H1 and H2. It just seems a bit arbitrary. After all, H2 doesn’t just fall out of a coconut tree, but the data from the first six months of the year does contain some interesting hints at where we’re heading.

Compared to 2023, funds deployed are up 12% across Europe. While AI companies were big recipients of this funding they were no match for the energy sector—which brought in over 2X the amount of investment as GenAI.

This focus on energy and climate tech will likely continue for the rest of 2024 and beyond as it’s baked into the mandates of many investors. For example, of the three new French VCs who raised €217 million in H1 two are prioritizing climate tech investments.

With that, let’s jump into the rest of this week’s update. C’est parti!

📝 Quiz: Venture debt has become a hot topic in the world of startup funding. In the last 6 months, the top 10 most active European venture debt investors funded 38 companies. Which investors, in order, closed the most deals?

(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

• A.) Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bpifrance

• B.) The European Investment Bank, Bpifrance, BNP Paribas

• C.) Deutsche Bank, The European Investment Bank, Bpifrance

• D.) NatWest, HSBC, Deutsche Bank

What’s new this week in 🇫🇷

• 🗣 Xavier Niel-backed AI Lab Kyutai has released their first voice model: the assistant, named Moshi, can speak with different accents across 70 different speaking styles.

• 🥈 France is the 2nd most funded ecosystem in Europe: France was the 2nd most funded startup market in Europe from H1 with €4.3 billion raised. Still well behind the €9.5 billion raised in the UK but ahead of Germany’s €3.9 billion thanks in part to mega-rounds for companies like Mistral (€468 million raised in June) and H (€220 million raised in May). The second half of the year has already kicked off to a strong start with HR Path closing a €500 million round earlier this month.

• 🏭 Industrial startup studio OSS Ventures raises €8.5 million: In the last 5 years, the studio has helped launch 15 startups, primarily in France, and aims to invest in 5 new companies per year.

New Funding 💶

5 companies raised €24.3 million in the last week including €900k by Kiwee.care and €800k by Good Motors Agency

Events This Month 🗓

• July 20, 9:30 AM: Founders Running Club

Interesting Jobs 👩‍💻

⚛️ VP Quantum Process/ Domain @ Pasqal

👩‍💻 Product Manager @ ManoMano

🙋‍♂️ CTO Associate @ Alan

🎨 Product Designer @ Lago

♟ Strategic Project Manager @ Qonto

👩‍💻 Senior Product Manager @ Back Market

👩‍💻 Senior Product Manager @ Contentsquare

⚙️ Operations Manager, France @ OVRSEA

What Else I’m Reading 📚

• French Work Culture: An American’s Guide to Success (Jonathan Nass)

• Why Dust’s co-founders let Silicon Valley to start their company in Paris (Sifted)

• The next French government shouldn’t overlook tech in the hunt for growth (Maddyness)

• French Angst: Will Elections Torpedo Tech Success? (CEPA)

• Are non-living things evolving?…Yes (Big Think)

Quiz Answer: B.) The European Investment Bank, Bpifrance, BNP Paribas

Ok, technically it’s a 3-way tie for 2nd between Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche. So answer C is also correct. Check out more data on venture debt and a whole bunch of other startup stats in Sifted’s H1 2024 report.