Archive for December 2013
France continues its Open Data mission with the 4th annual Dataconnexion competition
Dataconnexions, Etalab’s contest to identify the most promising up-and-coming open data startups, honored the 8 winners of its 4th edition yesterday. This time around, the jury was presided over by Blablacar co-founder Frédéric Mazzella and consisted of 30 key personalities from France’s tech and economic communities. Dataconnexions is truly sector agnostic as past and present entries have come […]
The new social network that’s got Jack Dorsey, Mike Arrington & Ashton Kutcher talking about them
It’s not always a great sign when celebrities start pushing new social networks – Justin Bieber’s investment in selfie-network Shots of Me is a prime example of this – however, when more than one Technorati start sharing posts from the same network, it gets you thinking. Recently, it’s been Mindie, the social network that lets you […]
Balderton, Partech & David Cohen kick in $2 Million in Techstars-alumni Sketchfab’s “Youtube for 3D Files”
%CODEGOLDSKETCH% 3D files publishing platform Sketchfab has raised $2 Million led by Balderton Capital, with participation by Partech Ventures, Borealis Ventures, and Techstars founder David Cohen. This fundraising comes just 10 months after Sketchfab raised €370K from a slew of French Business Angels; at the time, Sketchfab counted 20,000+ users, and has grown to over 100,000 […]
Kima Ventures’ Kima15.com brings clarity & transparency to their ‘fast and simple’ investment strategy
Kima Ventures, run by Jeremie Berrebi & Xavier Niel, announced this week a new program, Kima15, which will look to invest $150K for 15% equity in companies, promising a turnaround of less than 15 days. The seed stage VC firm, which already has a reputation for investing fast and simply, also announced that their term […]
3 French Angel investors to give out €2.5M in convertible notes to 101 startups this week
This week three of France’s most prominent Super Angels – Xavier Niel, Marc Simoncini & Jacques-Antoine Granjon – released the list of the 101 projects which would each receive €25,000 “convertible notes,” an amount which will total more than €2.5 Million in investment. As part of the #101Projects contest that the three entrepreneurs set up […]
Hoxton Ventures raises a $40 Million fund, brands itself as a US-centric European fund
A new Venture Capital fund has been born in Europe: Hoxton Ventures announced today that it has raised a $40 Million fund to invest in European early stage startups. The fund, run by partners Hussein Kanji (formerly Accel & Microsoft), Rob Kniaz & Dylan Collins (serial entrepreneur), will be based out of London, and will making […]
Free Mobile’s €19/month 4G Mobile plan sounds too good to be true. So, is it?
In his typical fashion, Free Mobile’s passionate CEO Xavier Niel announced the mobile provider’s 4G offer via Twitter this week. Less than two years after Niel announced that his company Iliad would offer unlimited calls, text, and 3G data for just 19,99€ with an equally astonishing 2,99€ plan without data, Niel has announced that he […]
Want your startup to succeed? Peel carrots
The following is a guest post from Michael Ferranti, a marketer and product guy living and working in San Francisco, USA where he earns money for hanger steak and cèpes mushrooms. You can follow him on Twitter @ferrantim where your tweets in English and français are welcome, or on his blog. When I was 17 and got a job cooking […]
RudeVC: Why the latest RBS scandal smells so rotten
If claims in a UK government report published last week have any basis, then the latest scandal surrounding the Royal Bank of Scotland makes LIBOR manipulation look like just a rainy start to the cricket season. The Tomlinson report, established by UK Business Secretary Vince Cable, found evidence that RBS intentionally forced small and medium […]
France continues to search for a ‘French Google,’ while candidates find no support
It’s hard to keep track of the number of initiatives that have been started or proposed in France in order to create a “French Google” – that is, a France-based internet company with equal influence as players like Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Amazon. I often feel that the French government’s entire investment strategy (via BPIFrance) […]