Archive for November 2013

[VC Politics] Index Ventures & when David works with Goliath

The relationship between founders & VCs is a delicate one, to say the least. Because of the nature of their relationship, it is often in their mutual benefit for both to brush any tension under the rug. As such, the dark side of working with Venture Capitalist is often neglected or ignored, and so the […]

[VC Politics] ISAI & the deal terms that go beyond valuation & equity

[VC Politics] ISAI & the deal terms that go beyond valuation & equity

The relationship between founders & VCs is a delicate one, to say the least. Because of the nature of their relationship, it is often in their mutual benefit for both to brush any tension under the rug. As such, the dark side of working with Venture Capitalist is often neglected or ignored, and so the […]

[VC Politics] BPIFrance & the blurred lines between support & competition

[VC Politics] BPIFrance & the blurred lines between support & competition

The relationship between founders & VCs is a delicate one, to say the least. Because of the nature of their relationship, it is often in their mutual benefit for both to brush any tension other the rug. As such, the dark side of working with Venture Capitalist is often neglected or ignored, and so the […]

Smartphones and tablets set to top French consumers’ gift lists this holiday season

After enjoying bumper sales over the last few holiday seasons in France, tablet and smartphone will have even more reason to rejoice this year. According to a study just released by GfK French consumers are anticipated to spend €460 million on smartphones and €450 million on tablets this holiday season despite the tough economic environment. […]

RudeVC: The latest local example of how business model can go from sweet to bitter

It seems that almost on a weekly basis these days an emblematic French company falls into financial distress. The most recent which caught my attention is Hédiard. It’s impossible to wander through a chic quartier of Paris without seeing a Hédiard store. The venerable French brand synonymous with French gourmet foodstuffs counts nearly 200 years […]

3 Years after acquisition, Event ticketing platform Amiando rebrands to Xing Events

Amiando users today have been alerted that the German event ticketing platform will be re-branding to Xing Events (note: the URL xing-events.com currently redirects to Amiando.com), after having been acquired by the “German LinkedIn” Xing almost three years ago. The announcement comes as both LinkedIn and Eventbrite, a chief competitor to Amiando in the global market, […]

Government Intervention & the growing pains of the Sharing Economy

The 2008 financial crisis was arguably the catalyst for what became known as The Sharing Economy. Embodied by marketplace services like Airbnb for lodging, Blablacar for transportation, and even second-hand luxury goods marketplaces like InstantLuxe & Vestiaire Collective, the Sharing Economy cuts out the distributor, the retailer, the rental service – namely, ‘the man’ – […]

Everything you need to know about LeWeb Paris 2013 – Schedule, Startups & Side events

LeWeb Paris 2013 kicks off in just four weeks, and you can feel that things are getting warmed. Last week, the official LeWeb Schedule was announced, along with the 16 startup competition finalists, and, of course, invitations to evening events have already started to go out. Between December 10th and 12th, Paris will, for a […]

Pricematch raises €1 Million from Partech to help Hotels stay competitive

Paris startup Pricematch announced this week that they have raised a €1 Million seed round from Partech (their new seed fund, Partech Entrepreneur) as well as Silicon Valley fund Tekton Ventures, which previously invested in the seed round of startups like ifeelgoods & Betable. Founded in 2012 by Arthur Waller, Tancrède Besnard, Khalid EL Guitti, Quentin de Metz & Raphael […]

4G off to a roaring start in France

1.5 million.  That’s the number of mobile customers that have jumped to 4G in just a little over a month. After struggling for some time to respond to Free’s shakeup of the mobile market just under two years ago, France’s established telco giants are responding more adeptly as of late. While they all moved to […]