“We are counting on you, we will get everyone”: Emmanuel Macron urged private investors to give more support to French technology companies, whose leaders he met at the Elysee on Monday.
The sector is suffering “the biggest scare in twenty years”, he stressed, because after a record year 2022 of collection, for six months the ecosystem has seen its financing fall.
“We should not wait for things to improve to do so. We are too slow. I, if I had waited to put public funds until the end of the Covid epidemic, it would not have been the same in this room, ”he pleaded before 250 players in the sector.
“Layoffs, difficulties in accessing capital, bankruptcies, excess valuation”, “the context is much tougher”, but “you will come out stronger if you have known how to survive”, he assured.
In particular, the Head of State promised to “guarantee that the French invest more in innovative companies”, referring to the mission entrusted to the deputy Paul Midy (Renaissance) to find new tax incentives.
“Il n’y a no raison que les esprits chagrin no raison. On va y arriver, on en sortira plus fort”, at-il conclu, lors de cette réunion qui célébrait les dix ans du label French Tech, creé sous Francois Hollande .
Innovation, ecology and industry
The Head of State wanted to salute the success of the start-ups that have integrated the Next40/French Tech 120 labels (the 120 most promising French start-ups).
This class of 2022, which has around thirty participants, gives a privileged place to revolutionary innovations, the ecological transition and industry. Companies on the list raised 5.8 billion euros last year, almost half of the 13.5 billion euros raised by French startups.
New entrants include two unicorns (valued at over $1 billion): EcoVadis (corporate CSR performance assessment) and NW Storm (electric vehicle charging stations).
This list also includes nine start-ups that have raised more than 100 million euros, including ClubFunding (crowdfunding), Electra (charging stations), Flying Whales (air cargo dirigible balloons), Innovafeed ( breeding insects for food), Pigment (financial planning), Verkor (electric batteries), Safti (real estate), Wifirst (Wi-Fi for professionals) and ZePlug (recharging stations). Also worth mentioning is Interstellar Lab and its biodomes for growing plants on Earth and in space.
Source: BFM TV
