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  • 🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — May 26, 2024. €117.1m in new funding for French companies.

🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — May 26, 2024. €117.1m in new funding for French companies.

What you need to know this week in France: 🚀 French Tech next 40/120 announced, 🤝 Doctolib acquires Aaron.ai.

Author

James Saulsky
May 26, 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.

Reinventing the bus 🚌

One of my absolute favorite phenomenon is ride sharing companies repeatedly reinventing the humble city bus. Lyft was an early adopter of this bold strategy back in 2017 and just last week Uber responded with this gem of an announcement.

Meanwhile, in France, BlaBlaCar literally reinvented the bus in a Greyhound-like format and is actually profitable…which is more than Lyft can say (accurately that is).

Aside from being very funny, this trend also illustrates a common pitfall for tech companies. If you read enough startup literature, you’re likely familiar with solutions looking for problems—like the wearable AI pin created by struggling Humane. The “startup bus” issue raises a similar, but different, challenge.

Some problems simply weren’t meant to be solved by startups. Public transportation systems like the subway and city busses are rarely profitable and it can be disastrous for private companies to compete with these loss-generating public services.

With AI proliferating into every industry and every startup pitch deck, the next batch of young companies is at risk of falling victim anew to the “startup bus” phenomenon—attempting to apply promising technology to marginal problems.

Starting with the problem in mind is sound advice in more ways than one. Not only does it avoid building solutions looking for problems, it also helps avoid creating another loss-generating “startup bus.”

And with that, let’s jump into this week’s update!

📝 Quiz: Which of the following facts about the newly announced French Tech Next 40/120 is not correct?

(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

  • A.) The 120 companies have combined annual revenues of €10 billion.

  • B.) The 120 companies together employ 40,000 people.

  • C.) The list includes 28 of France’s unicorn companies.

  • D.) 50% of the startups have an international business presence.

What’s new this week in 🇫🇷

New Funding 💶

11 companies raised €117.1 in the last week including €1m by Sportiw, €1m by Harvy, €1m by Therasonic, €1m by Fellbat, and €1m by Skywheel.

En Carta Diagnostics | €1.5m | Healthtech

En Carta Diagnostics has secured €1.5m in pre-seed funding led by CentraleSupélec Venture. The company is developing rapid Point-of-Care molecular diagnostics kits, initially targeting Lyme disease due to its rising prevalence. En Carta's unique technology uses aptamers for high-specificity detection, enabling early and accurate diagnosis, which has been a critical gap in existing Lyme disease testing methods.

Kotzilla | €2m | Application Architecture

Kotzilla, based in Paris, has raised €2m in a funding round led by Serena, with participation from Evolem and several business angels. Kotzilla specializes in mobile application architecture technologies, notably developing the open-source framework "Koin" and the observability platform "Cloud-Inject."

Nanomade | €3m | Semiconductors

Nanomade, a Toulouse-based nanotechnology startup, raised €3 million from business angels in the automotive, aeronautics, and electronics sectors. The funds will support the launch of their large-scale automated production facility for tactile sensors they claim can turn any surface into an interactive medium. This innovation, based on nanoparticle-loaded ink, offers increased sensitivity and precision and appeals to industries ranging from consumer electronics to medical applications. Nanomade also plans to expand sales in the US and Asia.

Eyco | €16m | Micro-electronics

Eyco, based in Trets and specializing in "smart circuits," has raised €16m from Bpifrance's SPI 2 fund, RSI, CaapCreation, and private investors. Founded in 2020 by Eric Eymard, Eyco produces ultra-thin integrated circuits that enhance interoperability of electronic components, revolutionizing sectors like health, security, and telecommunications. The funds will accelerate the industrialization of Eyco's processes and support the development of its eco-responsible facility near Aix-en-Provence.

Resilience | €23.1m | Healthtech

Paris-based Resilience, specializing in remote medical monitoring for oncology patients, has raised €23.1m (or $25m) in a Series B round led by Picus Capital and Red River West with participation from Cathay Innovation, Singular, and Seaya Ventures. The new investment will be used for further expansion in France and internationally in Belgium and Germany.

OneStock | €66.5m | Logistics

Toulouse-based OneStock, a startup developing SaaS software for retail order management, has raised raised €66.5m (or $72m) from Summit Partners. OneStock's software unifies inventory across warehouses and stores, optimizing order processing and delivery, and supports multi-channel sales strategies like click and collect. As of this year, OneStock processes over €2.5 billion in orders annually for more than 100 international brands. With the new funding, the company aims to further develop their technology and expand into the American market.

Upcoming Events 🗓

Interesting Jobs 👩‍💻

What Else I’m Reading 📚

  • Europe’s fastest growing fintechs (Sifted)

  • ServiceNow scaling to $10 billion ARR (Overlooked)

  • Does the product get better over time? (next big thing)

  • 15 Funds That Have Destroyed the Most Wealth Over the Past Decade (Morningstar)

Quiz Answer: D.) 50% of the startups have an international business presence.

The actual number is much higher. Nearly 90% of the 120 startups on the Next 120 list are doing business internationally—predominately in the US, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK. In total, 35.6% of revenues came from outside of France (source).