Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has impacted several businesses across the world causing an economic downturn. And, many early-stage businesses and startups have faced the worst dent in their operations forcing them to layoff employees or shut down their business. To help them cope with the effects of the pandemic, several governments have taken measures to safeguard these startups and contribute to economic development.
Top VC deals in French tech startups
In such a move, the French government came up with a comprehensive support plan of €4 billion. This fund will be aimed at aspiring French tech startups. In addition to the support offered by the French government, the VC firms in the US have also made investments in some of the aspirational French tech startups. Check out the top VC deals in French tech startups in Q2 2020 from here as sourced by Pitchbook.
ContentSquare
Founder/s: Jonathan Cherki
Funding year: 2012
Total funding: €302 million
ContentSquare is an AI powered platform that intends to aid businesses understand how and why users interact with apps and websites. The company makes use of Artificial Intelligence, big data, and behavioural data to provide recommendations. ContentSquare is touted to be one of the innovative e-commerce companies in the world that is easy and quick to use and integrate as well.
In May this year, the experience analytics platform provider secured $190 million (nearly €174 million) Series D funding. This investment was led by BlackRock’s Private Equity Partners team along with participation from existing investors Bpifrance, Eurazeo Growth, Canaan, GPE Hermes, Highland Europe, H14 and KKR. ContentSquare will use the fund to continue to invest in innovation such as AI-bbased and predictive analytics, and expand its business globally.
Back Market
Founder/s: Quentin Le Brouster, Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Vianney Vaute
Funding year: 2014
Total funding: €158 million
Back Market leads the refurbished electronics industry by selling products from certified sellers that refurbish, verify, and offer a minimum warranty of 12 months for all products. It taps into the refurbished electronics market by selling such devices and appliances such as tablets, laptops, smartphones, and other products directly to its customers.
In a recent move, Back Market secured $120 million (nearly €111.3 million) funding from Goldman Sachs, Aglaé Ventures (the venture arm of Groupe Arnault), and Eurazeo Growth. It intends to use the fresh investment in quality control, to grow a quality team by up to three times and to solidify its leadership in the industry.
Drivy (Geraround)
Founder/s: Nicolas Mondollot, Paulin Dementhon
Funding year: 2010
Total funding: €48.9 million
The peer-to-peer car rental service Drivy has been rebranded Getaround after the acquisition of the service last year for $300 million aimed at its expansion in Europe. Following the same, Drivy is now a part of Getaround completely and is unifying the brand on a global scale. Besides the rebranding, Getaround provides hourly car rental service in Europe.
In April this year, the peer-to-peer car rental service in Europe raised €91.66 million led by Bpifrance, Alven Capital Partners and SoftBank Capital. The company will use this investment to help grow its business further.
Swile
Founder/s: Loic Soubeyrand
Funding year: 2018
Total funding: €114 million
Swile offers digital solutions for employee rewards and benefits (meal vouchers and corporate gifts) through a card and an app that also helps foster engagement. The startup replaced the traditional and outdated French paper meal voucher market with a digital solution that works with the VISA and Mastercard networks.
This French tech startup bagged €70 million Series C funding in a round led by Index Ventures, its previous investor. The other investors that took part in the funding round are Bpifrance and Idinvest. The new funding will enable the fintech to expand internationally starting with Brazil and to diversify the product offering. It also plans to extend beyond meal vouchers and lunch break experiences, with a new product that enables corporate gifts to be distributed to employees using the same system.
Vestiaire Collective
Founder/s: Alexandre Cognard, Christian Jorge, Fanny Moizant, Sebastien Fabre, Sophie Hersan
Funding year: 2009
Total funding: €219 million
Paris-based Vestiaire Collective aims to limit waste produced by the fashion industry by keeping clothes out of the landfill and increasing the number of times they are worn today for a better tomorrow. The company has more than 9 million members across 90 countries across the world and operates with offices in London, Paris, New York, Milan, Hong Kong and Berlin.
In April this year, Vestiaire Collective, which is the global platform for desirable pre-owned fashion raised €59 million funding led by Korelya Capital, Fidelity International-managed funds, Vaultier7, Cuit Invest, and existing investors Eurazeo, Bpifrance, Vitruvian Partners, Condé Nast, Luxury Tech Fund and Vestiaire Collective CEO Max Bittner. The company will use the investment to transform the fashion system with circular, smart and responsible alternatives to throw-away fashion.
Alan
Founder/s: Charles Gorintin, Jean Charles Samuelian
Funding year: 2016
Total funding: €125 million
Paris-based digital health insurance provider Alan has built a platform that provides users access to medical professionals both via in-person and video calls. With this app, users can look out for medical advice, manage insurance claims and find doctors. It is designed for both individuals and insurance companies and covers over 75,000 members.
In April 2020, Alan has raised €50 million Series C funding led by Temasek from Singapore along with Index Ventures and other investors. It plans the expand into most European markets in the next five years with this investment.
Enterome
Founder/s: Pierre Belichard, Stanislav Dusko EHRLICH
Funding year: 2011
Total funding: €111 million
Paris-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Enterome leverages its knowledge of microbiome-immunoinflammatory axis to focus on the development of next-generation therapeutics. It is a global leader in both the discovery and development of novel pharmaceuticals. Enterome is working on the development of a pipeline of clinical and pre-clinical candidates focusing on cancer, inflammatory, metabolic and autoimmune diseases.
Late in June, Enterome closed the Series E funding round with €46.3 million led by new investors including SymBiosis and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and existing investors such as Seventure, Omnes Capital, Health for Life Capital, Principia and Nestlé Health Science. The French tech startup intends to use this investment to progress the clinical development of its therapeutic pipeline.
Owkin
Founder/s: Gilles Wainrib, Thomas Clozel
Funding year: 2016
Total funding: €68.2 million
Owkin is an AI startup that uses machine learning to augment medical and biology research. The Paris-headquartered startup uses ‘OWKIN Socrates,’ a proprietary platform that uses machine learning technology to integrate biomedical images, genomics, and clinical data to discover biomarkers and mechanisms associated with diseases and treatment outcomes.
This French AI startup raised $18 million (nearly €15.2 million) funding from Mubadala Capital and Bpifrance via Large Venture fund. This is an extension to the Series A funding of $25 million (nearly €21.2 million) it raised back in May this year. With this Series A extension, the overall funding secured by Owkin is now €68.2 million.
AB Tasty
Founder/s: Alix Sagazan, Remi Aubert
Funding year: 2009
Total funding: €57.9 million
Initially, AB Tasty was founded as a web analytics agency. In 2013, it started working on a SaaS product and evolved beyond that with its recommendation engine. With AB Tasty integration, websites work pretty much like integrating Google Analytics. It will provide tons of information on the visitors with just a single line of code on each webpage of the site. Recently, AB Tasty secured $40 million (nearly €36.3 million) Series C funding from Partech, XAnge, Omnes Venture Capital, Korelya Capital, and Crédit Mutuel Innovation.
InsideBoard
Founder/s: Michaël Bentolila, Yohan Bentolila
Funding year: 2014
Total funding: €33.5 million
InsideBoard is the first SaaS olatform for organisational change management. It uses AI to users understand each employee’s engagement mechanisms. InsideBoard works with the ambition to become the leading SaaS platform that will engage teams remotely.
Earlier this year, InsideBoard secured €25 million from a second funding round led by AXA Ventures and ISAI Cap Venture along with the historical fund Entrepreneur Venture. With this investment, InsideBoard will focus on accelerating international expansion and growth, especially in the US and support AI-based product development and empowerment of consulting partners.
Stock photo from Paymaster/Shutterstock
