Archive for February 2014

RudeVC: Musings on ethics in VC

Lunar new year has taken place and the Year of the Horse is now underway. I had never really thought about the varied interpretations of the horse as a symbol across different geographies until now. For my French colleagues, the horse is a manifestation of elegance, nobility, and masculine energy. I understand that in China, […]

Leetchi’s marketplace payment solution MangoPay goes international

Leetchi’s marketplace payment solution MangoPay goes international

Having launched just 10 months ago, MangoPay has rapidly grown its client list to 150 of France’s top marketplace, collaborative consumption, and crowdfunding players, including La Fourchette, Cookening, Payplug, and Vestiare Collective.  Now the Leetchi team have announced that they’ll be taking MangoPay international and are launching a whole host of new features. As Leetchi […]

Watch Netflix & Hulu shows from France (or anywhere) with ZenMate

Watch Netflix & Hulu shows from France (or anywhere) with ZenMate

This morning I woke up with a distinct urge to watch the first episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. As an American living in France for the past years, I still hang on to a few American shows & stars, and Jimmy Fallon, whether on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, […]

Announcing the Paris Founders Event at Google – where the hottest products launch

Five startups and/or products will be selected to launch on stage at the Paris Founders Event in front of the whole community of founders, investors and journalists. Throughout last year, the Paris Founders Event gathered the ecosystem around good food and exchange of experiences. In 2014 PFE brings you even more: 600 people will attend […]

OuiCar raises €3 Million to take hold of the French peer-to-peer car sharing market.

OuiCar just announced a new round of investment with Jaina Capital and Ecomobilite Ventures, their historical partners, for €3 Million. Their goal: making one car available in each French street in the foreseeable future. A great ambition for an interesting value proposition: make the most of the time you don’t use your car – that […]

Criteo stock soars after 4th Quarter earning results show 57% increased revenue

Paris-based AdTech company Criteo announced their quarterly earnings this week – the first since their Initial public offering last October. Key figures in the announcement included 57% increase in revenue in Q4 2013 over Q4 2012 (€135 Million vs. €86.6 Million), with a total 2013 revenue increase of 63.3% over 2012 (€444 Million vs. €270 […]

10 French startups disrupting the way you experience fashion online

It may sound like a stretch to say that French people are the reference for fashion. But as we say, “il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu” (there’s no smoke without fire). In addition to having a very prolific fashion sense, the French are also very creative when it comes to the shopping experience. […]

Mobile and smart devices set to drive turnaround in France’s tech device market

Across Europe, 2013 was a very bad year for the tech device market according to a study published today by GfK.  While sales of tablets and smartphones continue to be on a roll (17.5 smartphones sold alone in France), sales of other tech-oriented/electronics devices such as tvs, digital cameras, PCs, etc continued to founder. France […]

Dataiku launches its Data Science Studio to make sense of Big Data

Analyzing big data (a $16.1 Billion market) requires skills that most companies lack. Dataiku, the Paris-based startup founded by Florian Douetteau (previously Exalead), Marc Batty, Thomas Cabrol and Cément Stenac, specializes in building predictive apps using big data. Today they are taking it a step further with the launch of their Data Science Studio. “We […]

[Interview] Qobuz CEO Yves Riesel talks music and technology

In a second in a series of interviews from MIDEM with leaders from across the digital music industry, I catch-up with Yves Riesel, CEO & Co-Founder of Qobuz Music Group, a growing leader in high definition music streaming and downloads. In a very crowded space with the likes of Spotify and Deezer still on the rise, […]