Here is an informative guide about the strengths of the ecosystem for those relocating to Paris to materialize their entrepreneurial dreams and aspirations. France is in a bid to give fierce competition to countries around the world by creating some strong startup ecosystems within it. Paris, the capital of France, is evolving faster than ever to help the country achieve the status of a startup nation and attracting many to move to the city.
A city synonymous with romance, Paris has a significant footfall of tourists each year, and the economy is supported primarily by the technology, agriculture, tourism, and energy industries. Paris has a GDP of $688 billion which makes it one of the five largest economies in Europe.
Moving to Paris can be beneficial for startups in a lot of ways. The city’s rich source of talent pool combined with supportive government policies makes it a strong startup system to be reckoned with globally. The fertile business climate has inspired several startups and startup job seekers to move to Paris.
What does Paris have in Store for Startups
Paris’s ecosystem is a startup haven, one that is flourishing by the day. There are a number of factors that this can be attributed to. The ecosystem in Paris has more than 4,000 startups that have a combined average valuation of $3.3 million. These startups belong to diverse fields and have made it big because of the favorable entrepreneurial opportunities the city has to offer. The city has a good mix of an international and local crowd as well. Here are some of the best characteristics of the ecosystem below.
Move to Paris for Access to a Brilliant Talent Pool
An important characteristic for a city to grow as a startup hub is the easy availability of strong human resource capital. Sourcing talent from within the country can help save a lot of time and effort. While a considerable share of this talent pool is students graduating from the prestigious colleges and universities in and around the capital, and the rest includes students and professionals who move to Paris to explore the lucrative startup jobs here. The low cost of hiring engineers, thanks to the French tax initiatives, has helped the tech sector in the city climb new heights.
Get Access to a Fast Growing Investment Market in Paris
Paris’s venture capital scene has played an essential role in making France one of the top three highly invested countries in the region. The startup ecosystem received investments worth over $3 billion in 2016 which indicated growth of 56% since 2014. If you are a startup or an entrepreneur relying on funds from angel investors, then you won’t be disappointed. With a community of over 3,500 angel investors, startups stand a good chance of receiving funding from any of them as long as they have a disruptive business idea. Paris is also dotted with venture capital and private equity firms that are also rich sources of funding. Some of the prominent ones include Partech Ventures, ISAI, ID Invest, and Elaia.
Move to Paris for its Innovation-Loving Bureaucracy
France has transitioned to a business-friendly nation over the years with reforms in their wealth and tax policies which previously were hostile for businesses especially the small scale companies.
The French government has introduced a new visa program – the French Tech Ticket, for tech brilliance to move into the country. The tech sector in Paris has grown immensely due to this program. The visa program has a validity of four years and is beneficial for three categories of tech talent who can get the Passeport Talent (Talent Passport) through a fast-tracked procedure. Entrepreneurs with this visa do not need a separate work permit and can be extended to immediate family members.
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, is making dedicated efforts to give rise to a “country of unicorns”. President Macron has promised an amount of over $11 billion to promote the startup ecosystem in the country to new levels by 2020. A former investment banker, the French President, believes that this can happen only when more foreign startups move to Paris and grow with the help of the incubators in Paris.
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Paris’s Booming Tech Sector
The tech sector in the city shows promising growth and is also getting recognized internationally. Paris’s tech ecosystem has been featured multiple times in global rankings. The most recent one is a place among the top ecosystems in the world in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2018 by Startup Genome. If you are a tech entrepreneur looking for avenues in the tech sector to grow, the following are the top sub-sectors within the niche which are excelling, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report.
Education Tech Startups In Paris
The education tech sub-sector is a relatively young segment with a majority of the companies in it less than three years old. Of the 320+ companies listed in the French Edtech Observatory, a lot of them are startups that are revolutionizing the education sector with groundbreaking technologies. Ornikar and OpenClassrooms are two of the notable startups in the education tech sub-sector. The former raised close to $12 million in Series A round of funding and is touted to be the first national online driving school. OpenClassrooms is an online course platform that raised $10 million in funding and has over 1 million members on the platform already.
Healthtech Startups In Paris
Healthcare shares an integral part of the total national expenditure of France. The country spends more on healthcare than any other European countries at 11.6%. The strong healthcare sector and the need for innovative technologies in it have driven the growth of the healthtech sub-sector. Companies like Doctolib and CardioLogs have ensured that the segment stays in the spotlight. Doctolib is an online platform for facilitating consults with medical specialists and has raised $42 million in Series D funding in 2017 and already has 40,000 users in its kitty. The latter offer interpretation services for healthcare experts for cardiovascular disease screening. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $6.4 million in the first round of funding.
Fintech Startups In Paris
11% of the total regional venture capital funding between the years 2012 and 2017 was brought in by the Fintech startups in Paris. The year 2017 saw more than $200 million invested in the sub-sector, a very significant amount in recent years. $47.8 million of this was raised by the startup Younited Credit, a consumer lending platform. Several entrepreneurs and startups from around the world visit the French capital each year to attend the Paris Fintech Forum, a popular startup activity in the sector.
The city is gaining international recognition owing to the growing investments and the increase in the number of entrepreneurs and startup job seekers moving to Paris. 2020 was an incredible year for Paris as its startup ecosystem performed better than ever in many aspects making the coming years also look promising. Startups in Paris are being encouraged heavily by the government through a number of initiatives and policies making it a good time for entrepreneurs to move to Paris.