Archive for May 2014

TVTY raises $4.5 Million to bridge TV & Digital Ads

Following their performance at MIPCube earlier this year, TVTY has attracted Partech Ventures, 360 Capital Partners and a group of business angels to make a $4.5 Million investment in the adtech startup, which is oriented at triggering digital Ads in correlation with TV content. The startup is already working with the likes of Microsoft, Renault […]

Giroptic hits it big on Kickstarter with their Full HD 360° 3D Camera

Giroptic hits it big on Kickstarter with their Full HD 360° 3D Camera

A kickstarter project out of Lille, France is getting quite the attention, having already doubled their $150,000 campaign goal in the first days since its creation. Giroptic, which presents itself as the first full HD 360° camera, is shaped like an egg and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, though it is meant […]

Pearltrees releases a new version, without any pearls nor trees

Pearltrees releases a new version, without any pearls nor trees

  The Paris-based startup founded in 2009 once declared: “We focus on the visual potential of Pearltrees to let people dive deeply into their interests and nearly feel them”. Their product, offering a digital curation tool, was unique because of the visual interface voluntareely original: links and folders symbolized by rounded pearls attached together like […]

With a new multi-billion euro fund dedicated to startups and PMEs, the EU starts to shift its focus

With the European elections rapidly approaching this weekend, the big question is usually top of mind for most electors is ‘what has the EU done for me lately.’  Of course, although the EU plays a central role in Europeans’ everyday lives, there is often a general lack of awareness of not only what the EU does […]

Atlas Ventures’ Fred Destin joins Accel Partners as a Partner

While at Atlas Ventures, the Belgian Fred Destin managed many of the investment firms French investments, including Dailymotion, Streamnation, KDS, Priceminister & more. After announcing he would leave his role as a Partner at Atlas Ventures to move back to Europe earlier this year, Accel Partners will be bringing him on board as a Partner. […]

[INFOGRAPHIC] ISAI turns 4 Years old – how are they doing so far?

This evening Paris VC firm ISAI will host its 4th Anniversary party. The VC firm, initially founded by a group of successful French entrepreneurs including Appsfire’s Ouriel Ohayon & PriceMinister’s PKM, has grown its portfolio to 10 companies, 5 of which have gone on to raise a follow-on round. We dug into our Rude List figures […]

Does cheaper labor translate to a better startup ecosystem?

The bulk of President Hollande’s economic policy, which was named the “responsibility pact”, consists in helping to lower French labor costs by cutting employers’ contributions to the French Social Security scheme. Lower labor costs are supposed to make the French manufacturing industry (and thus the French economy!) more competitive, and therefore help to curb unemployment and make everything better. […]

Study shows kids learn Algebra in hours playing Dragonbox game

A couple years back we introduced you to Norwegian-French startup WeWantToKnow and their highly impressive algebra learning game called Dragon Box. From our initial review, Dragon Box looked to be well on the path to joining the ranks of startups such as Coursera, Udacity and France’s Neodemia as one of the emerging startups disrupting the […]

LINE vs. WeChat. Get ready to rumble.

An enthusiastic user of LINE, Mark Bivens faces off against Jerry Yang, a WeChat apologist, on the merits of each app. MB: First, I think we can agree on one thing: that WhatsApp, BBM, Viber, Telegram, eBuddy, Nimbuzz, SnapChat, and even Kik do not swim in the same pond as Line, WeChat, and KakaoTalk. To […]

Preparing for September launch, Netflix is producing a new show in France

Netflix’s launch in France may have taken longer than expected; however, their September launch date has now been confirmed (and even specified to the week of September 15th), and there is now word of a new Netflix show which take place in Marseille in the south of France. In addition to access to other popular […]