Archive for March 2015
The way French Tech determines success needs to change
This post originally appeared in the Rude Baguette Weekly Digest. You can sign up here to receive a nice packet of FrenchTech news every Monday morning. I’ve found myself in one too many conversations starting with “What is a startup, anyway?” or “Why do journalists write about fundraising rounds?” or, on the polar opposite “I wish I […]
ifeelgoods Achieves Exponential Growth of Digital Rewards Delivery in One Year
Have you had a Kit-Kat recently? What about played scratch and win at a McDonalds in France? Americans, have you taken part in the MyCokeRewards program at all? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then there’s a little startup based in Paris and California that has influenced your behavior lately. ifeelgoods […]
Dailymotion turns towards Asia with potential investment from Hong Kong's PCCW
Widely reported going into the weekend, Orange is rumored to be entering talks with Hong Kong-based telecom controlled holding PCCW to buy a 49% stake in Dailymotion. According to the Wall Street Journal, PCCW’s boss Richard Li has reportedly made an offer which would value Dailymotion at about €250 million ($264.5 million) . While this valuation is […]
Crowdfunding for Equity in Europe: Which Platforms are bringing in the most money?
Heard of (or maybe even used) Crowdcube? How about Companisto, or Wiseed? It wouldn’t be a shock, as they are part of the list of Europe’s top 5 Crowdinvesting Platforms, as studied by Investiere Venture Capital. Based out of Switzerland, Investiere authored a study about the top 5 European crowdinvesting platforms. However, it is worth […]
EnerBee raises €2.5 Million for their motion-powered sensors
Power’s no joke – with the rise of the Internet-enabled hardware, nearly anything is only a sensor & a network connection away from becoming a connected object – a tire, a remote control, or door handle – and yet, for objects without their own power supply, optimizing battery life is critical. That’s where EnerBee comes in. […]
"Shazam for Magazines", Selectionnist raises €2 Million from Elaia Partners to go international
French duo Tatiana Jama and Lara Rouyres have raised €2 Million from Elaia Partners & the New York City fund Conegliano Venture for Selectionnist, a startup they launched just over a year ago after leaving Living Social, the couponing company which acquired their first venture, Dealissime. The product, which has been dubbed “Shazam for Magazines,” allows magazine readers […]
After Kickstarter success, 3D Sound Labs raises €1.1 million for 'Neoh'
The big launch of their 3D surround-sound headphone Neoh at this year’s CES, was just the beginning of a string of success for 3D Sound Labs. First came their captivating pitch at our Paris Founders Event in January. Next came their Kickstarter campaign which turned out to be a roaring success for the 3D Sound Labs […]
Alkemics raises €5 million Series A round with Index and Partech
The smart data expert FMCG, Alkemics, has just closed a €5 million in Series A funding with Index leading the round and Partech joining. Cofounded by Antoine Durieux, Antoine Perrin, and Benoit Portoleau-Balloy, Alkemics (previously known as Chef Jerome) is the expert in helping FMCG companies to manage, share and deliver information to consumers across multiple channels […]
What Etsy can teach us about company culture
Over the weekend I perused Etsy’s IPO filing document. Even though less ubiquitous in Europe, you’re undoubtedly familiar with Etsy: What a compelling business that successfuly positioned itself at the heart of several converging trends: sharing economy, online marketplace growth, e-commerce growth, employment dispersement, individual creativity, etc. The IPO will represent another significant milestone for […]
MOOCs go mainstream in France as OpenClassrooms partners with Polytechnique
Over the past 5 years, we’ve all grown accustomed to watching MIT, Stanford, Harvard & other top universities deliver entire classes online. As with much of the Internet, US Education has benefited largely from the Internet in solidifying its global brand – at least, the top engineering schools – however, France’s top engineering school, Polytechnique, […]