If in a few years France has become a “start-up nation” that has seen very promising young companies emerge, few have become larger companies while remaining 100% French. Some went to the United States, others were bought by technology giants and others opened their capital until they lost their French DNA.
From there to believing that it is impossible to become a global company and remain French, there is only one step. A step that Xavier Niel refuses to take. Present on Monday in Versailles on the occasion of the Choose France summit, the head of Iliad and Free was optimistic about French startups.
Not opening your capital, is this the solution to grow in peace? Xavier Niel doesn’t go that far. “No, I tell them to try to be smart when they raise funds and not to dilute themselves,” he explains.
“Lift only what you need”
“What depresses me the most is that when you meet an entrepreneur ten years after having created his company, he tells you: ‘my business is a success but I only have 5% of the capital’. Then I find that his motivation is diluted,” continues Xavier Niel. And here is the message he sends to entrepreneurs:
“If everything goes well, don’t worry, tomorrow you will go up with a higher valuation and lower dilution. But don’t get carried away because there are people who come to you to put a lot of money today because there is a lot of money.” Today, with a small valuation, there is a strong dilution and its interest, over time, will be less strong and less important.”
Create companies capable of integrating Cac 40
Although the Choose France summit is the showcase for foreign investments in our country, concerns arise about the risk of dispossession that accompanies these investments. “We need French control, we need European control,” supports Xavier Niel.
For the founder of The Iliad, it is a model that is beginning to see its first successes. “Today, AI startups that have raised significant funding have maintained control. These are people who are in France, based in France, who have maintained control of their company”, illustrates Xavier Niel.
For him, “what we need is to create today, beyond Cac 40, new entities that join this Cac 40.” “If you take the American stock indices, most of the companies are technology companies. We don’t have them in France and for tomorrow, that is a problem.”
Source: BFM TV
