May ecosystem news by Chris O’Brien for the French Tech International Community

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Welcome back to our monthly French Tech News roundup. I am your host and guide, Chris O’Brien, an American journalist and the founder of The French Tech Journal newsletter.

Last month, I noted the big funding rounds of insurtech startup Alan ($220M) and BlaBlaCar ($120M). That seemed remarkable, but it turned out to be just a prelude to the one of the most bonkers runs I’ve seen in the French Tech system over the past seven years.

Right after that one-two punch, driving education startup Ornikar announced a $120 million round. AI startup Shift Technology followed with a $220 million round. Then came Ankorstore on May 17 with $102 million. And finally, the next day Back Market closed a new round of $335 million.

That's $1.1 billion among six companies in just one month. And that doesn’t count Jellysmack, which raised a big round from Softbank (though it didn’t disclose the amount) which the company said gave it unicorn status. Beyond that, there have been a host of mere 8-figure rounds over the past few weeks (EasyMile raised €55M) that now seem, well, ho-hum.

Considering that French startups raised $5.2 billion for the whole year and now 6 companies have just raised more than 20% of that figure in one month...well, like I said, that’s bonkers. It’s with noting that there is a huge amount of liquidity sloshing around global markets. And we’re seeing a similar dynamic across Europe. Still, French Tech is having a moment. You can read more of my thoughts on this here.

Being Green

The French government in early May announced one of its newest startup programs: French Tech Green20. The goal is to identify 20 greentech start-ups that have the potential to be world leaders in the ecological transition. This is part of a larger effort by the government to focus on ways tech can improve society. The anointed companies are: Lhyfe, Lactips, Materr'up, Greenly, Algama, BeFC, Deepki, Dualsun, Entech, Hello Watt, Kayrros, Metron, namR, neoplants, ombrea, Poly To Poly, Spareka, toopi, Urban canopee, and Waga Energy. They are doing things like reducing greenhouse cases, reducing waste, and improving air quality.

By the way, if you’re still new and trying to understand the ecosystem, it’s important to note that the government plays an unapologetically large role here. To understand more about that, check out this interview with French Tech director Kat Borlongan where she unpacks La French Tech and how it’s trying to be a bridge between startups and the government:

"The idea is that whether we like it or not, the government is part of startups, whether it's when they're creating their company, when they're getting visas, when they're applying for funding through BPI," she said. "And instead of telling startups to come to the government, we decided to take the government to the startups."

And now you’re caught up! See you next month.

Chris O’Brien