Whyd cofounder Gilles Poupardin talks Music, Paris & Sean Parker
In my first ever interview showcasing the start-up Whyd, Gilles Poupardin, the co-founder and CEO discusses his goal of evolving music curation experience that connects fans (not unlike twitter) with their respective artists. Spotify, Deezer, and Pandora are three globally dominant online music streaming platforms that have not only impressive UI design but a massive following – millions tune in […]
What the Gallois report means for tech startups
Last week the French government’s Commissaire général à l’investissement, Louis Gallois, released his eagerly anticipated diagnosis on France’s competitiveness to the Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault. Encompassing six major themes and 22 specific proposals, the Pacte pour la Compétitivité de L’industrie Française is both sweeping in its analysis and prescriptive in recommending solutions. The Gallois Report […]
Magpie Polymers mines for gold in toxic water
CEO of Magpie Polymers, Steven van Zutphen, is the first to admit it’s an unusual place to look for gold – water, and then hastens to mention it’s not just gold, but a lot of metals, including the Platinum Group Metals – Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium. The chemical process behind that, to which he’s one […]
Google TV adds Music & Movies in Europe on Nexus 4 launch date
Google has just announced late last week the launch of streaming TV and movies on their Google TV product in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Google, like Apple and Microsoft, has its eyes set on the ‘other screen’, as the TV is called these days, since people spend more time on their computers and phones than […]
Etalab & The future of Open Data in France
In this week’s newsletter, we discussed the government’s apparent decision to reorganize and potentially put the breaks on Etalab, France’s Open Data project. After about week of confusion about what really was going on with Etalab, it seems that project is not ending, but transforming into something else that is not yet completely defined. According to their […]
Startup Trends according to the 16 LeWeb Paris Finalists
LeWeb announced this week the 16 finalists who will be competing this year in the startup competition. Just like last year, we’ll try to give you a quick elevator pitch of what they do, as well as what trends we see based off of the startups selected. The theme for this year’s LeWeb is the […]
Japan's renewed appetite for Europe
The Rude VC disappeared to Japan last week for a combination of business meetings and some spiritual re-calibration I return refreshed and pumped up. Pumped up because the country that the West likes to deride as the one of the “lost decade” is demonstrating a renewed appetite for expansion abroad, especially in the tech sector. This […]
Blackbox Connect is your chance to break into the Silicon Valley
If ever you have met me, you know that I’m not a huge advocate of European startups going to the US from day one. Beyond the VISA issue, the complete lack of a cohesive network, and the cultural/language barriers, I think that your home country, however big or small,, is, at the very least, a […]
BetAdvisor cracks the code on bet tipsters
In the world of sports betting, there’s nothing better (no pun intended) than having a tipster you trust. He knows which horse has an odd-on advantage, whether Arsenal will beat Manchester United (seriously the only two soccer teams I know in Europe – and I still call it Europe). I don’t know much about sports […]
French government may fund another useless Google competitor
Irrespective of the current acrimony between Google and the EU, French government, the French press, etc, Google still dominates search in France and can now boast of having France’s top browser in Chrome [FR]. All of this, of course, unnerves the government to no end. So, (perhaps) predictably, they’re now mulling over having another go at creating a successful “made […]