Archive for November 2014
Finexkap raises $22.5 million to launch France’s first online working capital platform
Working capital issues, often driven by unpaid invoices, are the catalyst for 25% of SME bankruptcies in France. Finexkap is working on changing all that with their online working capital financial platform, a first in France. In order to scale-up development and launch lending activities before end 2014, Finexkap have secured $22.5 million in financing. The […]
Is investing in gaming like betting on Hollywood?
On a recent trip to Tokyo, I met with a handful of business partners and investors in the mobile gaming sector, one of my investment themes over the past few years centering on European endeavors in this space. A familiar debate comes up every time: Is mobile gaming as a sector still investable? Has mobile […]
DigiWorld Summit kicks-off tomorrow in the midst of the first DigiworldWeek
The DigiWorld Summit, organized by IDATE; is perhaps one of the most longstanding conference events in tech. Tomorrow IDATE will kick-off in Montpellier the 36th edition of the Summit, in the midst of the first DigiworldWeek. The theme of this year’s summit is “Mobility Reloaded: We ain’t seen nothing yet!” which will address perhaps the biggest […]
Coorpacademy raises €3.2 million to accelerate its expansion
Although slower to take-off, the momentum of the Edutech sector continues to accelerate in France and across Europe. Coming off the recent announcement of Kartable’s €1.2 round just a couple of weeks ago, Coorpacademy, which launched just 18 months ago and counts ex-Google France president Jean-Marc Tassetto as one of their cofounders, have just closed a €3.2 million series […]
With 2,000+ recurring events, Meetup is seeing strong growth in France
Within the startup community, Meetup has been a central hub for most every meetup group – Paris Tech Talks, meetups for Ruby, Python, JS, and many more – however, it seems that Paris’ international community has taken to Meetup as well, as Meetup has told Rude Baguette that they recently crossed their 2,000th meetup in France. There […]
After SF, Uber’s ride-splitting service UberPool comes to Paris
Uber’s ride-splitting service UberPool is arriving in Paris, the company announced today at press conference held at its Paris office. The service, which launched in San Francisco last month, will allow passengers to reduce the price of their Uber trip by up to 50% in exchange for allowing drivers to pick up other passengers who are […]
Vinify seeks to take the hassle and complexity out of the wine experience
Vinify are not only looking to change the way people buy wine, but also want to empower wine lovers to choose the wine that suits them best. Founded last year by a 4-man cofounder team including Antoine Ayoub, Benjamin Pipat, Felix Le Chevallier and Michael Fillion, and now a part TheFamily, Vinify have recently come out […]
New Study Underscores the 5 biggest problems for Venture Capital in Europe
We’ve heard it all before – “There’s not enough local money,” “Corporates don’t interact with startups,” “we need to think more Europe, less London v. Berlin v. Stockholm v. Paris v. …;” however, a recent study commissioned by the European Union was delivered by France Digitale called “Boosting Digital Startup Financing in Europe” has found that […]
Europioneers Award’s 2014 winners announced
After 6 months of competition, the European Commission, with Deloitte, European Young Innovators Forum and HUB Institute, announced the 2014 Europioneers Award winners at last week’s 20k participant strong Web Summit in Dublin. This year’s big winner was Hungarian entrepreneur Peter Arvai, co-founder of Prezi who took the European Web Entrepreneur of the Year Award, an award […]
Paris dreams of a 21st Century Renaissance
When the City of Paris lost out to London for the 2012 Olympics, it was a big blow to the City of Light; a historical rival, London has been taking bites out of Paris’ attraction over the past few years, whether it be economically (through its Anglophone advantage), financially (through its historical business-friendly tax laws), and, then, […]