Twitter for me has always been a great way to keep tabs on what’s going on in the startup community. Some of the accounts I follow are blogs, like This French Life or WhiteboardMag, some are companies & startups, and some are people – each is chosen not based on my support or friendship for that company/person, but based on my determination of the relevance that person offers in what I want to read about – namely, the French startup scene. I also follow US VCs, like Mark Suster & AVC, because I know how important it is to keep my perspective global, and I’ve begun noticing that certain French VCs, despite their activity and English-speaking, are vastly under-followed on Twitter. Having only joined twitter just a year and some months ago, I know how hard it is to grow on twitter, so I thought I’d make it easy for you to follow some of the most influential VCs I know in France (that are on twitter).

Marie Ekeland – Elaia Partners

%CODE1% Marie is someone you’ll be happy you meet if you have the chance one day. A partner at Elaia Partners, who have invested in Criteo, allmyapps and many others, the first time I ever met Marie was during Index Ventures’ Summer Party, when she heckled JB Rudelle for giving Index Ventures credit for their explosive growth (Index Ventures invested in the next round after Elaia did). Her passion for the French startup scene shows her defense of startups both through her co-Presidency of France Digitale and her defense of the #geonpi movement.

Jean-David “JDC” Chamboredon – ISAI

%CODE3% The GM of ISAI, Paris’ Entrepreneur-run VC firm, as well as the official spokesperson for the #geonpi movement, JDC helped bring Capagemini to my hometown of Menlo Park back when I was just a toddler, paving his entrance into the VC world. He’s one of my favorite type of people – the kind who responds to an intro email with “let’s meet tomorrow” and asks “what can I do for you?” more often than “what can you do for me?” Not to mention the fact that ISAI is looking pretty good with their current investment portfolio, which includes BlaBlaCar, Shopmium, and more.

Martin Mignot – Index Ventures

%CODE27% Despite his being located in London, the French Martin Mignot has done a lot for the French ecosystem, despite my attempts to sully the good name of Index Ventures. He’s been personally involved in some recent Index Investments in French startups, including VoitureLib & Capitaine Train. He’s promised me that Index will be continuing to grow its investment in France, and he’s definitely someone to keep an eye on.

Philippe Collombel – Partech Ventures

%CODE4% Managing Partner at Partech Ventures and a man who personally called me a salaup(jerk) when I first met him this year at Failcon, Collombel is a man to follow… even if some of his tweets are in French. He has not only been around the block, having invested in Qype, Dailymotion, Scoop.it, Meninvest & more, but he also a quite accomplished public speaker, both in English & French. Partech’s other managing, Jean-Marc Patouillaud, can also be found on twitter, for those interested.

Mark Bivens – Truffle Capital
%CODE2% Not a lot of people know Truffle Capital, but you definitely know the RUDE VC, who posts each week on Rude Baguette. A former silicon valley entrepreneur, Mark’s been doing VC in France since 2001, and he’s got some great insight to share. He’s helped us cover a variety of VC-related topics, such as the implications of Hollande’s proposed tax changes, but he’s also shared regular insights on how VCs think and how to (or not to) introduce yourself to one.
There are plenty of other all star non-journalists that I follow on a regular basis, who somehow always manage to bring news to me before anyone else. Who do you get your French tech news from?