Archive for March 2016
Pigeons reveal the Dirty Truth about the Air We Breathe
Try googling “Pigeon Pollution” and you’ll get 150 articles about backpack carrying pigeons circling the London skies. This isn’t your Eastpack from high school, these are mini pollution tracking pouches used to gather data. Through their website or mobile app you can find a comprehensive minute to minute report of your towns air quality and even advice for which activities to avoid on […]
GDC 2016: Où est LaFrenchTech ?
The debate on the value of holding country pavilions at large tech conferences has merit. Whatever your views on the topic may be, France was conspicuously absent from this week’s Games Developers Conference in San Francisco. Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, even Wallonia (Wallonia!) all hosted large structures at the conference, and […]
Pre-empting Spotify, Deezer puts music on your wrist with new Apple Watch app
Paris-based online music streaming service Deezer released their Apple Watch app today, allowing Apple Watch owners to play music directly from their watch. The app, which puts the service’s smart playlist “Flow” at the front of the experience, comes at a time where services like Spotify have not yet released an Apple Watch version of their […]
CapHorn Invest announces €100 Million first closing of its 2nd fund
VC Fund CapHorn Invest, specialized in startups who can help Industrial players transition to digital, has announced the first closing of its second fund at €100 Million, with a goal of reaching €125 Million for their final closing. This comes on the success of their first €50 Million fund, which invested in the likes of connected toothbrush Kolibree, among others. […]
Julie Desk raises €600K from France’s 1st super angel syndicate SIDE Capital
Virtual Assistant service Julie Desk has raised €600,000 from the recently launched SIDE Capital, a new super angel syndicate which includes the founders of Blablacar (valued at $2 Billion), Showroom Privé (IPO in 2015), PriceMinister (acquired by Rakuten) & A Little Market (sold to Etsy). Julie Desk was the result of a pivot away from collaborative planning app WePopp, and founders Julien […]
What’s the difference between Sharing Economy and On-Demand Startups ?
The following is a guest post by Jean-Jacques Arnal, Founder & CEO of Stootie. You can follow him on Twitter at @jjarnal A lot of startups have emulated Uber’s approach on selected verticals like gardening, teaching or cleaning. They are often called On-Demand Economy (ODE) startups since they aim at transforming your mobile into a […]
Don’t Say the F-Word: Europe’s future in Spending, Sending, Lending & Investing
The Financial Services capital of Europe has always been London – and it will likely remain that way (save a Brexit) – however, all of Europe seems to have caught the F-bug. This week BBVA announced its acquisition of Finland’s Holvi, an early player looking to reinvent the consumer banking experience. In Germany, the launch of […]
France sets its sights on sponsored endorsements on YouTube
YouTube monetization is a tricky game, and making a living off of posting videos on the Internet has required those who want to reach peak success to diversify their income beyond the Google-controlled advertising network. YouTube videos have pre-roll & banner ads; however, many YouTube stars gain their living through product placement: that is, direct […]
French engineers aren’t waiting for labor reform to work for great startups
The beginning of 2016 has seen a few big changes in the political hierarchy in France – a ministerial swap that Hollande thought would better position him for a re-election, and the labor reform law that Prime Minister Manuel Valls through his support behind has come to a standstill. TheFamily cofounder Nicolas Colin wrote, as he […]
French investment is growing, just not as fast as the rest of Europe
Tech.eu released their French Tech Funding trends for 2015 this week (you can download their report here), which revealed quite a bit of insights into the French Tech market. The report, which aggregates Fundraising and exit data about french technology companies, has quite a bit of takeaways – some of which are obvious, some of which aren’t – the […]