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- 🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — May 20, 2024. €73.2m in new funding for French companies.
🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — May 20, 2024. €73.2m in new funding for French companies.
What you need to know this week in France: 🤖 €4 billion from Microsoft, 💶 new VC funds, 🗓 and upcoming events.
James Saulsky
May 20, 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. Want to shape how this newsletter looks? Share your feedback in this 2 question survey!
Une introduction plus courte 🏃♂️
I was traveling over the weekend so this intro is a little shorter than usual. To make up for it, I hope you enjoy the tweet below (are we still calling them that?) which captures the trifecta of AI, France, and humor.
still the best example of how AI works
— Ran Blekhman (@blekhman)
2:10 PM • May 15, 2024
And with that, let’s jump into this week’s update!
📝 Quiz: How much money combined are Microsoft, Apple, and Google projected to invest in Capex this year?
(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)
A.) $150 billion
B.) $100 billion
C.) $750 million
D.) $500 million
What’s new this week in 🇫🇷
🌳 Paris-based VC Blisce is launching a new €150m climate tech fund: To run the new fund, Blisce has brought on former Eurazeo investor Pierre-Edouard Berion and Too Good To Go co-founder Lucie Basch.
💶 Microsoft to invest €4 billion for AI in France: the new funding, their largest investment to date in France, will go toward AI infrastructure and resources, education. In total, corporations pledged €15 billion during the Choose France summit including €1.2 billion from Amazon for cloud and AI infrastructure and €45m from IBM for quantum computing research.
🇬🇧 London-based Balderton adds two investors in France: The Balderton team in Paris, now numbering three investors, are also moving into a new, presumably larger, office.
Startup(s) To Watch 👀
Why have just when when you can 84? In case you missed it, here’s a link to the 84 most promising startups in France. To make the list, the companies needed to be founded in 2012 or later, show promising traction, and the potential for VC-scale returns.
New Funding 💶
13 companies raised €73.2m in the last week Blockbooster (media) €1.5m, Tulyp (fintech) €1.5m, Wooskill (education) €2.5m, Touch Sensitivity (materiels) €1.8m, Dipeeo (legal tech) €1.8m, and Oligofeed (food and beverage) €600k
Wingly | €3.5m | Travel
Wingly, dubbed the "BlaBlaCar of the air," raised €3.5M, led by Innovacom. Founded in 2015, the company connects private pilots with passengers to share flight costs, resembling a carpooling service for air travel.
Cross The Ages | €3.5m | Gaming
Cross The Ages (CTA) raised €3.5m in an equity round led by Animoca Brands bringing their total funding to $23.5 million. CTA, known for its virtual trading card game, aims to expand its multimedia gaming ecosystem which has crossed 400,000 downloads and 148,000 monthly active users.
Scop3 | €5.2m | Marketplace
The Montpellier-based startup has raised €5.2m after pivoting from recycling office furniture to a “Back Market type” solution for reconditioned office furniture.
ZestMeUp | €6m | Human Resources
ZestMeUp closed a new Series A round totaling €6 million led by Reflexion Capital and Go Capital. The startup’s HR platform focuses on employee engagement and performance management through data-driven insights.
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma | €10.3m | Biotech
Orsay/Lyon-based HEPHAISTOS-pharma raised a seed round totaling €10.3m, including €4.5m in equity led by Elaia and €5.8m in non-dilutive financing. The biotech firm develops next-gen immunotherapies, including ONCO-Boost, which enhances both innate and adaptive immunity to target cold tumors effectively. Unique for its dual action on primary tumors and metastases, ONCO-Boost can be used alone or with other immunotherapies.
Infinite Orbits | €12m | Space
Infinite Orbits, based in Toulouse, France, secured €12m led by Newfund Capital. The startup specializes in GEO in-orbit services to prolong the lifespan of satellites through inspections and refueling.
Mayhealth | €23m | Medical Devices
Based in Paris with offices in San Francisco Mayhealth, raised a €23 million Series B led by Bpifrance and Trill Impact Ventures. Their Ovarian Rebalancing therapy aims to address infertility for women with Polycystic ovary syndrome through a one-time in-office procedure, offering an alternative beyond traditional treatments like IVF.
Events This Month 🗓
May 22-25: Vivatech 2024
May 23: La French Tech Europe Gathering
May 31: Paris Entrepreneurial Network
Interesting Jobs 👩💻
What Else I’m Reading 📚
New particle at last! Physicists detect the first "glueball" (Big Think)
French fintech Lydia to invest €100m in banking services, aims to reach profitability in 2025 (Sifted)
Station F’s Founders Program has 40% repeat founders in the latest batch (Station F Blog)
Quiz Answer: A.) $150 billion
Yes, that’s a lot. And yes, it’s mostly going towards AI development. To put this figure into perspective, it’s more than the GDP of several EU countries…combined. It’s also worth noting that total global VC funding in 2023 amounted to $315 billion (Dealroom).
