Archive for November 2012
Sigfox's IoT Network already covers 80% of France
With LeWeb just a week away, the Internet of Things, this year’s theme for LeWeb Paris, is on everyone’s minds. After all, with LeWeb’s tendency to pick sectors/trends on the rise, it’s no surprise that everyone’s talking about it. While we’ve not quite arrived at Microsoft’s vision of the future, Sigfox as made significant strides […]
Is Captain Dash getting ready to sell to Microsoft?
Speculation began to circle this week as to whether Captain Dash was in final discussions with Microsoft about an acquisition that would allow Captain Dash to launch internationally. The rumor was first mentioned in French web publication Petitweb‘s weekly newsletter, just one week after the an interview between co-founder Gilles Babinet and the publication. The […]
Sénat votes in favor of Pigeons – Capital Gains Tax removed
As we reported last month, this past week the Sénat voted on the PLF2013, Francois Hollande’s tax budget proposal for 2013. One article in particular, Article 6, has made global news in the past two months, after it sparked the viral Pigeon Movement, calling for the removal of Article 6. The senate, in particular the nationalist (UMP), […]
Amazon continues to hire in France despite tax evasion claims
After announcing the opening of a new fulfillment center last June in Chalons-sur-Saone (the region of Bourgogne and, coincidentally the previous district of the current Minister of Industrial Renewal, Arnaud Montebourg), it has been announced that in the 2nd half of 2013, Amazon will open yet another fulfillment center in France, this time in the […]
Google Ventures – Why U No Invest In Europe?
Earlier this month, Google Ventures announced that they would now be investing $300 million a year (up from $200 million). According to Reuters, this puts them in the same ranks as more establish corporate venture funds, like Intel Capital, who invests $300-$500 million a year. To put it in context, travel-tech giant Concur (TripIt) recently […]
YouTube ad in Paris Metro seduces PSG soccer fans
It seems that YouTube is looking to grow their popularity in Paris – the Google-owned video service has recently begun advertising in several Paris metro stations, inviting soccer fans to visit the offical PSG (Paris Saint-Germain, Paris’ soccer team) YouTube channel. Europeans will kill me for calling it Soccer, so here’s a header just for […]
SongPop for photos, Hangpic released on iPhone
Today the app store welcomed France’s latest asyncronous social game, HangPic, which feels quite like a cross between SongPop & Numbers with Friends. I spent the last few weeks beta testing the game, and I must say it’s got all the necessary elements of the games in my “Toilet Games” folder on my iPhone (games […]
SFR closes its chic concept store 'Le Studio'
SFR and its partner SFD (the company managing Le Studio) have announced that they will be closing their concept store, “Le Studio”, located in Paris’ upscale 8th arrondissement. Le Studio opened is doors in 2008 and was, above all, about offering their customers an unsurpassed ‘luxury’ service experience. It was unique in the sense that […]
Sparrow is the Tupac of iPhone apps, putting out updates from beyond the grave
Over dinner last night with Trista, I somehow found myself saying that Morgan Freeman should pre-record narrations to various classic tales, so that after he’s dead he can put out new eBooks each year for like 20 years. It seems that Sparrow has already claimed this role on iPhone, as the French-founded, Google-owned startup just […]
Here are 5 French VCs you must follow on Twitter
Twitter for me has always been a great way to keep tabs on what’s going on in the startup community. Some of the accounts I follow are blogs, like This French Life or WhiteboardMag, some are companies & startups, and some are people – each is chosen not based on my support or friendship for […]