Google will remove news previews from search results in France, to avoid paying publishers
Google has opted to no longer display excerpts of news articles from European publishers in its search results in France, in order to avoid paying the publishers, as required by new EU copyright rules, according to Politico. Article 15 of the EU’s copyright directive allows publishers to request payment from online platforms that display their content. […]
#FRENCHTECHFRIDAY: Why France’s startups can no longer “Pitch”
A strange battle is taking place in France right now. A cake maker is threatening startups of legal action for using the word “pitch”. This could seem like a comical slip-up if it weren’t, in fact, tragic for France’s image abroad. Pasquier vs Startups The “startup nation” is taking an unexpected blow. Keen to […]
What is FreeSense, and why might it create more problems than it solves?
Objects fitting the IoT (Internet of Things) definition present the challenge of balancing security with ease of use. Those who design and use them have been struggling to balance this equation. A recent discovery by researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University, has potentially solved this problem. The IoT issues The problem with having all of your […]
This week in FrenchTech venture capital: My Coach Football, BnbSitter, myElefant
Earlier this week, we covered PKparis’ €1M seed round. Because of yesterday’s Ascension day, a public holiday in France, funding deals were all announced between Monday and Wednesday. Among these investments into French startups, other small and early stage deals happened, with Bpifrance participating in most of them. Here are some of the most notable deals: […]
The Digital French Council is worried about French government position on Open Data
Just a couple weeks after a loud argument between RATP -a state-owned public transport operator, and CityMapper -a public transit navigation app, the CNNum calls out French parliamentarians in a press release, encouraging them to support open data on the occasion of the digital Republic draft bill led by Axelle Lemaire -Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs, […]
HomeRez announces €4 million fundraising conducted by Entrepreneur Venture and XAnge
Rental properties booking and distribution service HomeRez has raised €4 million in a round conducted by Entrepreneur Venture, XAnge, and several business angels including David Roche (ex-President Hotels.com), Nicolas Brumelot (Founder Go Voyage, Founder MisterFly), Pablo Szefner (Justfab) and Frederic Halley. The Paris-based startup is a centralised service for the booking of holiday rental properties, it is the brainchild of three former […]
Europe’s loveliest startup offices and coworking spaces
While we’re not all working out of Mom’s garage, many of us can relate to startup life in less-than-optimal conditions. When you’re starting out, running water, electricity and (obviously) wifi are about the primary benchmarks for somewhere you can set up operations – heck, it’s part of the charm. More than once, we’ve had someone […]
Reform without innovation: why the French labor reform is inconsistent with social progress
The French labor reform has led to considerable controversies and serious opposition from labor unions and students. The draft bill, envisaging to help firms getting around easier the 35-hour work week, limiting severance payouts and reducing unions’ power to block company moves, has as an objective to safeguard and promote the competitiveness of businesses operating […]
Farming in Paris: fact or fiction?
The defining characteristic of La French Tech is, arguably, innovation for a global market. Irrefutably the darling of CES 2016 and a growing leader in fields including, but not limited to, big data, mobile gaming, ad-tech, IoT, sharing economy and med-tech, France’s startup footprint is starting to look more like the makings of a global […]
France converging its open data strategy with startup innovation
On Tuesday, January 12th, Secretary of State Axelle Lemaire invited several entrepreneurs to the Ministry of Economy and Finance in the frame of the #dataday to underline the economic measures of the « Projet de Loi pour une République numérique », as well as to exchange on which strategy to adopt to make the access on open […]