Chris and Ethan had a chance to catch up with Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder and CEO of Qonto, on their amazing growth and what's ahead. ----- The French Tech News is a newsletter, podcast, and video media highlighting important stories, in English, in the world of France’s startups, its entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders. Hosted by Chris …

Join us for a passionate discussion with Pascal Cagni, Founding Partner at C4 Ventures and Chairman at Business France, previously GM & VP, Apple EMEIA, and GM Europe, Packard Bell. Intro and background 0:28 Pascal's journey at Apple 4:50 C4 Ventures' focus and interests 7:12 C4's investment themes and thesis 12:35 France is back and French Tech's …

The French Tech News visited Ynsect's mealworm farm in Dole, France, and spent some time with CEO Antoine Hubert learning more about Ynsect's journey, their mission, their science, and where they go from here. 1. Intro and acquisition of US mealworm factory, Jord Producers: 00:48 2. Vertical insect farm factory description: 1:57 3. Behind the Engin…

Discussing reducing carbon emissions in your business and value chain with CEO and Co-Founder of Sweep, Rachel Delacour. Description and history of Sweep: 1:49 Climate change startup investment landscape 3:52 Doing good can also be good business 5:14 Sweep's $5m seed fundraising 6:47 Optimism and the COP26 Experience 7:14 Will technology save the p…

Founder & Managing Director of eFounders, Quentin Nickmans, takes us back to the beginning of their startup studio to share the journey of building a portfolio of 29 companies and raising more than $400 million. 1:15 Intro to eFounders 4:25 Spinning out one SaaS startup after another 9:11 Solve the problems you have yourself. Build the solutions yo…

Barbara Belvisi, Founder and CEO of Interstellar Lab, shares their mission to create sustainable plant cultivation both in space and here on Earth. Be sure to subscribe to and share the podcast on your preferred podcast platform and check out the video version on our YouTube channel. --- The French Tech News is a newsletter, podcast, and video medi…

Stephen Leguillon, CEO of Seyna, shares their journey on creating a regulatory-compliant, all-in-one platform enabling insurance brokers to build and operate digitally native insurance programs. 0:48 The journey from Appetise to La Belle Assiette to ezCater to Seyna 2:50 Becoming an Insurtech entrepreneur 5:31 Joining an existing team to build the …

Join Chris and Ethan for a fascinating discussion with CEO Jeronimo Folgueira on Deezer's continuing mission as an independent music streaming platform: 1:01 Intro to Deezer and Jeronimo's background 2:55 Deezer's place in the music industry 4:30 Deezer's unique value proposition as a music streaming service 10:24 The Home of Podcasting or Music? 1…

Chris and Ethan had the pleasure to sit down and discuss Front's mission to build an authentic, relationship-based customer communication hub with Co-Founder and CEO, Mathilde Collin. 1:20 Intro to Front 2:50 eFounders and the origin story of Front 8:07 Onward to Y Combinator 11:03 Raising a $66M Series B in 2018 14:22 More fundraising and pandemic…

A fascinating chat with Franck Lebouchard, CEO of Devialet, on their mission to elevate sound to its rightful place in our lives through an exacting attention to engineering and design: 1:28 A short history of Devialet 4:07 Being different about sound and design 8:50 People want better sound as streaming and video quality massively improve 11:46 3D…

Today our guest is Denis Ladegaillerie, Founder and CEO of Believe, to discuss how they enable independent musicians to build and engage with their community and fans: 1:23 The mission of Believe 2:04 Believe's history and the evolution of the music industry 6:25 Tunecore, helping independent artists build their career through premium and automated…

Our interview with Benoist Grossmann, Co-President of France Digitale and CEO of Eurazeo (formerly Idinvest), at France Digitale Day. – Idinvest becomes Eurazeo – A little history of Idinvest – About yesterday's announcement of $1.5B invested into Sorare, Mirakl, and Vestiaire Collective – 'Values' and Sustainability at France Digitale Day – Sustai…

Our interview with Yann Lechelle, CEO of Scaleway, at France Digitale Day. – Scaleway's view on datacenter environmental impact and sustainability – Energy and water-efficient datacenters – Datacenter optimization vs legacy infrastructure – Sustainability as a business decision – Greentech and sustainability as a competitive advantage Be sure to su…

Our interview with Audrey Soussan, Partner at Ventech Capital, at France Digitale Day. The mission and thesis of Ventech Capital Early-stage valuation trends and VC competition What might IPO/acquisition exits look like for these higher valuation early-stage investments? Does the IPO location matter? Does private equity growth investment create liq…

Our interview with former Digital Economy Minister of France and Korelya Capital CEO, Fleur Pellerin, at France Digitale Day. Intro to Korelya Capital Asian opportunities for European entrepreneurs Cultural and business considerations on entering Asian markets Growth capital (finally) comes to Europe Is private equity a rival or partner to venture …

Ynsect CEO, Antoine Hubert, explains their mission to develop sustainable nutrition for both animals and humans using insect protein: 1:41 10 years of progress 4:29 Building an industrial agricultural company 9:20 Technical challenges, commercial challenges, then the regulatory challenge 13:09 Why do we want to feed the world with insects? 19:55 Fe…

Our interview with Thomas Courtois, President of Nickel, at Vivatechnology in Paris. – Be sure to subscribe to and share the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform, and check out the video version on our YouTube channel. --- The French Tech News is a newsletter, podcast, and video media highlighting important stories, in Engl…

Today our guest is Jeremy Prince, CEO of Sigfox, to discuss their mission to build the largest IoT ecosystem in the world. 3:20 Transitioning to a new CEO 5:22 What drew you to Sigfox in 2018? 12:26 2020, a difficult year 20:33 IoT Mass Adoption – 3 drivers: transforming customers' businesses, regulatory compliance, and new, disruptive business mod…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, we'll cover great stories about: 1:02 Ledger, the leading manufacturer of cryptocurrency cold storage hardware wallets, raises a $380M Series C at a $1.5B unicorn valuation, making them France's 15th unicorn and 5th so far in 2021, 11:45 Pasqal quantum computing raises €25M Series A from France's Defense Innova…

Today our guest is Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder and CEO at BlaBlaCar, the world’s leading intercity ridesharing service. We’ll be discussing carpooling in the pandemic / post-pandemic world, lessons in international growth especially of BlaBlaCar’s bus service in markets like Mexico, India, Russia, and Brazil, the road to becoming the intercity tran…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, we have the pleasure to chat with the founders of Aircall on the journey of building the cloud-based call center and phone system of choice for modern businesses. Be sure to subscribe to and share the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform, and check out the video version on our YouTube c…

Back Market is the leading marketplace dedicated to refurbished devices. On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, Co-Founder Vianney Vaute and US Managing Director Serge Verdoux join us to discuss their mission to make resurrected devices mainstream. Be sure to subscribe to and share the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform, a…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, Jonathan Benhamou shares the story behind his new anti-cancer startup Resilience and Adrien Fernandez Baca from Cubyn talks about on-demand e-commerce logistics and their recent €35M fundraising. We will also discuss: Jungle Raises €42M to continue scaling their vertical farming platform And literacy startup La…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, Paris Managing Partner Jonathan Userovici joins us to talk about e.Ventures entering the French market, the unfair advantage of French startups in data science, artificial intelligence, video games and other verticals, as well as the growth cycle of innovation ecosystems… Edouard d’Archimbaud, CTO of AI and dat…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, we will be chatting with French Tech entrepreneurs in New York and Miami on the growing trend of startups to locate their businesses and teams in up and coming ecosystems like Miami and related topics around quality of life, access to venture capital, local talent pools, engaged local politicians and organizati…

On today's live clubhouse podcast, join us for a conversation with SISTA, an association founded 2 years ago to address the imbalance between male and female entrepreneurs in France. Sista's recent barometer report highlighted many of these inequalities. We'll discuss that report and see what lessons Sista has for other ecosystems. You can learn mo…

On today’s live podcast on Clubhouse, we will chat with Clara Chappaz from Vestiaire Collective as well as Grégory Boutté from Kering on Vestiaire’s recent $215 million dollar Series H fundraising announcement making them France’s 11th unicorn and the world's go-to second-hand fashion platform. Check out our upcoming Clubhouse rooms and links at Fr…

CEO and Co-Founder of fantasy football/soccer platform Sorare, Nicolas Julia, joins us for another great Clubhouse discussion of French Tech News. On the list is their recent $50m raise from Benchmark, Accel, Antoine Griezmann, Alexis Ohanian, and Gary Vaynerchuk, as well as the current buzz over NFTs and digital collectibles. One of the largest Se…

Operating Partner David Bitton of Serena Capital joins our clubhouse discussion to talk about Serena's recent close of €300m Fund III and his role as operating partner in accompanying their portfolio companies. We will also discuss NFT-powered fantasy football startup Sorare's $50m raise from Benchmark, Accel, Antoine Griezmann, Alexis Ohanian, and…

Entrepreneur and investor, Marc Menasé, joins us for a Clubhouse discussion on raising $50m for his super-angel, venture studio, Founders Future, and shares his thoughts on helping founders build companies. Marc created and participated in many European successes including nextedia (acquired by Lagardère Group), Kelkoo (acquired by Yahoo Inc), tead…

Hello and welcome to French Tech News with Chris O’Brien and Ethan Pierse, a podcast and Clubhouse series, in English, highlighting important stories in the world of France’s startups, its entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders. Recent interviews have included the founder of France's "next fintech unicorn" financial super app, Lydia, noted…

Today, we have a Clubhouse conversation with France's Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Cédric O, discussing the new national cybersecurity strategy for France. Announced last Thursday, February 17th, by President Macron, this strategy allocates over €1.3 billion of public and private capital to develop and reinforce new cybersecurity solutio…

Today, we have a fantastic Clubhouse conversation with Nicolas Brien, CEO of French startup organization France Digitale, as well as President of the European Startup Network, whose combined mission is to foster the growth of future European digital champions. He is joined by Paul Christophle, investor at Korelya Capital. We'll be discussing France…

Cyril Chiche is co-Founder and CEO of Lydia, a financial services super-app offering digital payments, donations, loans, checking accounts, payment cards, and other services… Discussion: The Lydia origin story The Numa Café Early investments Product Market Fit and early growth Lydia, a super-app for your money Moving into then back out of the UK ma…