Ubifrance has opened up applications for its annual French Tech Tour, which brings French startups out to the Silicon Valley to meet with key members of potential client, partner, supplier, and investor companies. The application, due in exactly one month (February 25th), is available here(download), and I would recommend that any startup that wants a chance at building an international business consider taking the time to fill out this application. For those unaware, Ubifrance is a semi-public, semi-private organization which helps export Made in France products to other countries. In North America, they have offices in New York, San Francisco, and I believe Canada, and, in addition to having divisions dedicated to wine & cheese, they also have an NTIS (New Technologies, Innovation and Services) division, which works year-round to put french startups in touch with decision makers in the Silicon Valley (and all over the US).

The Tech Tour will take place the week of June 1st-5th

Normally, the service is paid for on a pay-per-Rendez Vous system; however, the French Tech Tour has sponsors, and so the chosen startups get the same great service – Ubifrance has great contacts in the Silicon Valley – but for free. Even cooler is that the applications are selected by the sponsors and some of the companies startups will meet, though startups may also meet non-sponsor companies, and Ubifrance will work to provide you with one week of awesome feedback and meetings.

Rude Baguette worked with the last French Tech Tour team, which went for the first time to New York (they will also go again, if you’re startup is looking more for a New York presence).

We’ve written about a fair amount of French Tech Tour alumni – Bime Analytics, makers of We Are Cloud, I-dispo, Webshell, Moodstocks – in fact, the first Tech Tour brought a little company called Criteo over to the SIlicon Valley (where their $900 Million startup is now headquartered). For a complete Alumni list with testimonials, check out the French Tech Tour alumni page.