Liam Boogar
Modeled after YC’s SAFE, AIR is the first legal convertible note in France
The convertible note is a staple of any healthy startup ecosystem. It allows business angels to invest in seed startup companies without getting bogged down on the particularities of the valuation, by applying the equity exchange to the investment on the next round, with a declared discount (15-25%) applied to previous investors on a investor-by-investor […]
Growing up Parisian – inside Airbnb Paris
It’s not easy for a Silicon Valley company to come to set up an office in France. The very thought of a foreign company making money off of French citizens gets under the skin of France’s finance minister, and the public discourse around multinational Internet companies has been quite negative in recent years. Airbnb remains […]
Appsfire announces its 2nd native mobile app ad: Ura Maki
Appsfire announced today the release of their second native mobile app ad format – Ura Maki – which they hope will revolutionize the mobile AdTech space and the way mobile users discover new apps. As is to be expected with Appsfire, who recently announced they would shift focus away from their B2C app discovery app […]
5 French tech companies shaking up the Mobile AdTech space
The writing is written on the wall: the next frontier for advertising is mobile. The difference between advertising budgets devoted to mobile and usage on mobile vs. desktop is staggering, and analysts predict that it’s only a matter of time until the budget percentage and usages converge. Startups in France don’t seem to think it’s […]
Inside Deezer’s Offices – Music, Street Art & Conviviality
The following photos were taken by Dan Taylor (cofounder, Heisenberg Media) in December 2013, as part of “The Paris Startup Scene: A photo essay.” the full Deezer Album is available on Facebook & Google+. In just two years since their international expansion announcement, the company has come a long way. After raising €100 Million, Deezer has solidified its position […]
How the French Government’s “French Tech” label affects French startups
Last month, Fleur Pellerin announced a government initiative to create a “French Tech” label in order to help French startups get more international recognition. The applause and criticisms came out from people for & against the initiative, and I’ve been sitting, digesting the announcement, trying to figure out what exactly irked me about this announcement […]
French GPS service Coyote to take Waze to court over “unfair competition”
French startup Coyote thinks that Waze (acquired by Google, 2013) has gone a bit too far with the precision of highway radar guns, according to LesEchos. Coyote, which offers a GPS navigation hardware device for your car similar to Garmin or Tom Tom, says that French law prohibits exact precision as to where speed traps […]
Symfony creator SensioLabs raises $7 Million to make PHP more professional
SensioLabs, the creator of PHP framework Symfony, has closed a $7 Million Series A in order to finance international growth, the startup announced today. Founded in 2005 by Fabien Potencier and Gregory Pascal, the company has come a long way since its founders first created the Symfony framework in 2005. Today, like most startups based on […]
The Paris Startup Scene: A photo essay
The following photos were taken by Dan Taylor (cofounder, Heisenberg Media) in December 2013, in an effort to visualize the Paris Tech Ecosystem. Captions by Liam Boogar. Rue du Sentier has come a long way since its textile roots. The namesake for the Sentier District in Paris, this street has come to be the epicenter of the Paris startup […]
Announcing Rude List – France’s Startup Database – a database of startups, founders & funders in France.
I’m really excited to unveil today the very first screenshot & the launch page for Rude List – France’s Startup Database -,a free & open list of startups, founders, funders & more. While we aren’t ready to open the product up to the public just yet, I wanted to follow up on a promise that […]