Search results for: tax
Europe's #1 Hosting Provider threatens to leave if latest French surveillance law passes
France’s latest proposed law may just scare off one of its biggest digital champions. After the French Government revealed a proposed law, nearly one year in the works, last month, critics jumped on what they consider to be an overreach of the government’s power without checks & balances. Among the critics, Octave Klaba, Polish-born founder of OVH.com, […]
Break out the violin: another EU top 5 ranking
Last week CBInsights published a report on aggregate VC deal volume in the top five European geographies over the past four years. I encourage you to experiment with a free trial of the service for the underlying data, but here’s the headline graphic: This chart triggered some predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth in France, […]
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 […]
Apple to Open 2 New Green Data Centers in Europe
In 2017, Apple expects to have opened and operational 2 new green data centers, worth over €1.7 billion. Apple may have several different motives for building these data centers, but one thing is for sure: they will be green and operate off 100% renewable energy. They will serve as the centers for Apple services including […]
Europe's War against US Tech Giants is seeing increasing Friendly Fire incidents
It’s not news that France is in a hot war against digital US companies – even Barack Obama is in the loop. The two-fold motivation of foregone tax revenue for the government by digital goods being sold from tax havens, as well as the foregone revenue by incumbent local leaders who are seeing their very way […]
Uber goes on the offensive against France, pressures European Commission
Uber’s going over the French Government, which passed the Thévenoud Law late last year in an effort to appease demands of the Taxi commission. The law, which is named after its since-deposed legislator, restricts Uber’s ability to operate, and, while Uber’s appeal in France is still ongoing, a verdict on whether to ban UberPop, the company’s low cost, peer-to-peer […]
We should pay attention to how LINE is turning Instagram into an ecommerce app in Thailand
On a recent exploratory visit to Bangkok, I witnessed first-hand a consumer shopping behavior that absolutely blew my mind and underscored how the West does not have a monopoly on business model innovation. Incidentally, my secret for glimpsing generalized consumer behaviors in a foreign country is to eschew the convenience of taxis or Uber in […]
When Chinese High Tech companies Invest in France
This post is by guest writer and China-based blogger Thomas Meriaux, who has worked and lived in China for several years. The world knows it: China has been the “El Dorado” for many foreign companies. They’ve all ‘flown over’ to Shanghai, Shenzhen or Beijing. Now, let’s turn the tables for a minute and take a look […]
Phishing souring the relationship between French consumers and brands
Phishing, that highly deceptive and dangerous practice that far too many internet users have fallen victim to, is as troublesome in France as elsewhere. In fact, there’s evidence that the phishing phenomenon is souring the relationship between brands and their consumers. According to a study just released by French email protection firm Verifrom, 90% of consumers […]
State of the (European) Union in VC
A couple years back I argued that the state of the union for VC in Europe was bleak. In particular, I was referring to the tax-advantaged retail fund sector — most prolific in France but not unheard of in some other European countries like in the form of the UK’s VCT vehicles. Today in contrast, […]