Archive for May 2016
#ConnectedConf: Interview with Vibhu Norby, b8ta’s Founder & CEO
Barely two weeks before Connected Conference, we interviewed Vibhu Norby, one of our many speakers during the conference, and CEO of b8ta, the first brick-and-mortar retailer designed to help shoppers discover, experience, and buy the latest tech and IoT products. Connected Conference is all about the intersection of Industry & the Internet. Where do […]
Meet Adyen: the European unicorn redefining payments
Adyen is a quite discrete payment technology company founded in 2006 in Netherlands. If that name doesn’t ring a bell to you, please remain attentive. The company has recently been featured among the Three Unicorns to Bet On by Fortune Magazine, being valued at $2.3B, after a secretive injection from Iconiq Capital, the wealth management firm […]
Comcast acquires programmatic exchange platform StickyAds.tv
Re/Code reported that American broadcasting and media giant Comcast has just acquired programmatic private exchange software provider StickyAds.tv. Founded in 2009, StickyADS.tv is one of the leading private exchange software technology, powering 130+ private exchanges controlled by major TV broadcasters and large media groups. The platform allows publishers to build, run and operate their own video private exchange […]
This week in FrenchTech venture capital: My Coach Football, BnbSitter, myElefant
Earlier this week, we covered PKparis’ €1M seed round. Because of yesterday’s Ascension day, a public holiday in France, funding deals were all announced between Monday and Wednesday. Among these investments into French startups, other small and early stage deals happened, with Bpifrance participating in most of them. Here are some of the most notable deals: […]
Musings on hardware investing in France
Since May is hardware month in Paris, I’ve been reflecting lately on venture capital investing in French hardware startups. I’m far from an expert on hardware investing — only a small fraction of my VC portfolio over the years has been in hardware. Despite this, I’ve noticed an order-of-magnitude leap in incoming deal flow from […]
SNCF makes a bet on the future of transportation by backing Hyperloop
Have you ever heard of Hyperloop? This conceptual mode of high-speed transportation has been imagined by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk a couple years ago. Since then, two Hyperloop companies have popped out -even though Musk is not affiliated with any of them. It turns out that – according to BFMBusiness, France’s SNCF, is among the […]
PKparis raises €1M to develop its premium range of connected products
Parisian-based startup PKparis has just raised €1M to launch a new variety of connected products and develop its activity internationally. Most of this investment comes from 40 private investors who provided €700,000 in total through SmartAngels -a French crowdfunding equity website, and Bpifrance -France’s public investment bank, who lent €300,000 to the hardware company. The startup […]
#ConnectedConf: Interview with Matooma’s CEO, Frederic Salles
Connected Conference is a 3-day conference & expo highlighting the intersection of Industrial & Internet sectors. During these three days, Montpellier-based startup Matooma, official sponsor of the conference, invites you to discover their Machine-To-Machine innovations. This includes a managed IoT service based on SIM card connectivity which allows equipped objects to communicate over the 3G networks […]