Macron Secures EUR5 Billion Investment to Boost French Tech Startups
September 17 2019 - 4:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Noemie Bisserbe
PARIS -- French insurers and asset managers have pledged EUR5
billion in investment for homegrown tech firms as part of President
Emmanuel Macron's push to nurture France's fledgling startups into
a cohort of highly valued heavyweights.
Mr. Macron announced the funding on Tuesday before hosting a
dinner for executives from about 40 sovereign funds and
venture-capital firms -- including KKR & Co., Accel and
Lightspeed Venture Partners -- at the Élysée Palace on Tuesday
evening. Investors include AXA SA, BNP Paribas's insurance unit,
and Natixis SA according to French officials.
A spokesman for AXA declined to comment. BNP Paribas and Natixis
didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
"We need to create our champions," Mr. Macron said, adding that
his goal was to have at least 25 French tech unicorns by 2025,
referring to companies with valuations exceeding EUR1 billion.
Mr. Macron, a former investment banker, is trying to attract
foreign tech investors to Paris as part of his efforts to make the
City of Light a European technology hub rivaling London. He is
hoping that the new pledge by some of France's largest insurers and
asset managers will attract other foreign investments in domestic
startups, according to the French officials.
France has directed billions in tax breaks and subsidies to
domestic startups. But many have struggled to grow because they
lack the financing Silicon Valley firms receive from
venture-capital funds and other investors, which often push them to
scale up before going public. Successful French startups, by
contrast, typically find a foreign buyer or relocate to the U.S. to
list on Nasdaq.
Kard, a Paris-based startup that offers banking services to
teenagers, has raised EUR3 million ($3.3 million) and is currently
in the midst of its next round of fundraising. But Scott Gordon,
its co-founder and chief executive, says he is speaking mainly to
U.S. and U.K. venture capitalists rather than French ones because
the Americans and British have a bigger appetite for risk.
"When you talk to a U.S. or U.K. VC, they say, 'How can we put
in more money to move faster?'" says Mr. Gordon. "A French VC says,
'How are you going to make money, and how soon?'"
Under Mr. Macron's three-year plan, French insurers and asset
managers have agreed to invest more money directly into startups or
to channel their investments through established venture-capital
funds. They can also plow money into a fund set up by France's
national investment bank Bpifrance, French officials said.
--Sam Schechner contributed to this article.
Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 17, 2019 15:57 ET (19:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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