FNAC goes head to head with Spotify & Deezer with its new music service
FNAC tried a few years back to tackle the digital music world, but never managed to build a sizeable digital music business given the dominance of iTunes. In 2012 however, they eventually ended up stopping their digital music activity and partnering with Apple instead. Now FNAC has decided to jump into the world of digital […]
Dassault Systèmes leads $14.2 million investment in US-based NuoDB
Having completed 7 acquisitions totaling nearly $1 billion over the last two years, Dassault’s appetite for investing in cutting-edge technology is showing no signs of slowing. This week NuoDB, a Cambridge, MA based company specializing in distributed database management, announced that they raised a $14.2 million round with Dassault as the lead investor. This investment […]
Numericable to purchase Vivendi’s SFR for €15 Billion; TelCo consolidation just getting started
Internet service provider Numericable has reportedly confirmed talks with Vivendi to purchase their ailing subsidiary SFR at a valuation of €15 Billion. The deal, which will see the new Numericable-SFR merger owned 32% by Vivendi and 50% by Altice, the parent company of Numericable, was first reported on Les Echos, though rumors of such a […]
Coinbase is paying contract workers in… BitCoin
At least one contract worker for Coinbase, the Bitcoin startup backed by Union Square Ventures & Andreessen Horowitz with over $30M in investment, has been paid in BitCoin to do work on a contract basis. Given that the startup manages thousands of dollars worth of bitcoins on a regular basis, it’s no surprise that it […]
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, […]
RudeVC: Time to party like it’s… ?
A conversation with a particularly insightful investment banker (yes, such a breed does exist) inspired me to do a little research over the weekend. His observation was that 2013 reminded him a lot about 1998 in the tech sector. In 1998 I was an entrepreneur so consumed with my second startup that I rarely came […]
Your cookbook got funded – Youmiam gets support from Showroomprivé CEO and others
We’ve previously covered the food recipe social network Youmiam when they first launched their public beta. A few months later they announce their first capital raise of 300.000€ with Patrick Robin, founder of 24h00.com, Thierry Petit, CEO of Showroomrpive.com and Denis Chavanis, former General Director of Nestlé Waters. According to Théophile de la Bastie, Co-Founder […]
France fines Google 150K€ for unclear practices around user data
The CNIL, France’s data privacy regulatory board, released a statement this week following a meeting in which they determined that an update made to Google’s privacy policy, which violate European Union laws around data privacy. The 150,000€ fine comes with a requirement for the search giant to post a notice on its homepage (google.fr) within 8 […]
Dassault Systemes tops nearly $1bn in acquisitions, snatches another German firm
In a bold move, the French company Dassault Systemes is acquiring the German RTT to broaden its scope of activities. Dassault Systems is specialized in high-end 3D conceptualization for the production of complex structures such as airplanes or boats. The French company has been quite busy growing its business through acquisitions. In 2013 alone, this […]
![[LeWeb] Infogr.am announces video infographics service](https://www.rudebaguette.com/wp-content/uploads/thumbs/infogram-video-infographics0041-3j18wkx5ksmsyh15pe4jyi.jpg)
[LeWeb] Infogr.am announces video infographics service
Latvian startup Infogr.am is at LeWeb and has just announced their new video infographics service. The company has been very successful with their free infogram service that allows users to create stunning infographics in a couple of minutes. As of today Infogr.am’s 1 million users have created more than 1,5 million infographics that have reached […]