Archive for April 2013
Here’s a great example of how alive the French tech ecosystem really is!
I got a kick out of this this morning, and I couldn’t help but sharing. This morning I received an email alerting me to a contest that was going on, an opportunity to win a trip to the southwest town of Biarritz, France – it was the first city I ever lived in here in […]
5 Ineffective approaches to VC funding in France
Although there are no guaranteed methods to successful VC funding in France, some approaches are doomed from the start. Here are five such missteps I’ve witnessed, all from just the past few months, and of course kept anonymous because I believe in second chances. Send me a blind teaser, aka Project X, containing such a […]
Investment in German tech surpassed France in Q1 2013 – Average deal size is bigger, too!
Clipperton Finance, a leading European corporate finance firm specializing in the technology sector, released a report this week in collaboration with Digimind, the company behind WhoGotFunded.com, which gives a look at the European Investment landscape in Q4 2012 & Q1 2013 for the technology and life sciences sectors. The publication, which Clipperton suggests will be published […]
May 14th France Digitale Event at Google explores how evolving regulations affects startups
Google and France Digitale, one of France’s leading associations representing entrepreneurs, startups and investors, are teaming up to offer a workshop on May 14th which will explore in more depth the actual and potential regulatory changes affecting the digital space and the implications for France’s startup ecosystem. With things constantly influx given the government’s to […]
French President announces 10 pro-business measures to redefine French business as we know it
Yesterday, at the closing of the Assises de L’entrepreneuriat, François Hollande gave a closing speech that wrapped up a series of 9 talks (“Les Assises”) which discussed entrepreneurship in France – its problems, its potential, etc. During the closing words, Hollande gave a look into the future for the entrepreneurs, the “pigeons” who attended the […]
The secret to Infogram’s success in the The Next Web Startup Rally? 700,000 users.
The winner of last week’s Startup Rally at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam, Latvian startup Infogram is perhaps one of the most well-known seed startups, having previously been through the HackFWD program. The infographic creation service, which launched in February 2012, has already helped users produce more than 700,000 infographics, and is now adding […]
eDJing launches Soundcloud integration to let DJS mix Soundcloud from their iPhones
edjing, the mobile app which allows you to mix music on iPad and iPhone, has announced that it has integrated with Soundcloud, allowing all users to access SoundCloud’s catalog of music to play and mix. The service previously allowed users to connect to their Deezer Premium account ( a free account would only allow samples […]
Euro-Centric: A review of The Next Web Conference
Walking out of the Hotel V in Frederiksplein last Thursday morning, I rode the line 10 tram to the end of the line, passing canals, the newly reopened Rijksmuseum, the Heineken Factory, and plenty of construction sites putting up stands for the upcoming Queen’s Day. When I arrived to TheNextWeb Conference last Thursday, I was […]
The irony of the French government’s intervention in the Yahoo! – Dailymotion deal…
Last week, my cofounder wrote about how the French government’s may potentially be slowing the deal for Yahoo to acquire 75% of Dailymotion (currently 100% owned by Orange). This morning, Les Echos confirmed that the government is indeed looking for alternative solutions, and, essentially, refuses to let foreign companies buy a majority stake in Dailymotion. The […]
Kickstarter, MyMajorCompany and other big names headline Videogame Economics Forum on May 16-17th
There’s a solid line-up planned for this year’s Videogame Economics Forum (VEF). As financing in the gaming sector continues to be a major challenge, particularly in social gaming where Zynga’s problems seem to have complicated things for everyone, new financing models have now become all the rage. Crowdfunding has been at the center of this revolution, where […]