We will always have Paris
‘What!? You’ve moved to Paris now? Why?’
The red wine, the croissants, the cheese… so many good reasons to live in this city.
But no, these were not the drivers for such an important decision. As much as I like to get my baguette in the morning in the boulangerie next door, or say ‘ohlala’ when I hear big news, what got me excited about the move was the people.
I first lived in Paris back in 2010. Back then, you’d only hear English when tourists were around — the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, La Durée…; in rare occasions, you’d overhear a crazy American who decided to move across the pond without speaking French — ‘good luck’, I used to think.
Only a few years later, this has completely changed. Paris has managed to attract people from all over the world. The booming tech ecosystem and favourable government measures to seduce international talent have set the basis for what is, to me, one of the most promising tech markets.
The success stories of companies like Talend, Criteo, Sunrise, or Zenly (among many others) are helping people dream big. Repeat entrepreneurs are more common, with some becoming new business angels and helping to nurture the ecosystem. Ambition is finally celebrated. Mission-driven entrepreneurs are leading the change in all sectors from consumer to enterprise SaaS, through to mobility and healthcare. Call it Doctolib, Dataiku, or Vestiaire Collective, just to name a few. In fact, a Dealroom and The French Tech report from last September showed France now ranks 4th by number of unicorns in Europe. Today, students dream of joining any of these companies upon graduation or starting their own.
Investors have become more aware of the excellent talent pool in France as well as the increased level of ambition of tech entrepreneurs. This has led to a multiplication of early stage capital invested in the region as shown below.
Local money is increasing too, with France leading as the second European country having raised more new funds since 2016, according to another Dealroom report.
International investors are realising this. While in 2013 only 4% of the total invested capital in France came from North American investors, and there was virtually no Asian capital invested in the region, in 2018 the picture has changed with 14% of the investments in France coming from North America, and 2% from Asia. Indeed, back in 2013, only 23% of the total capital invested was foreign money, while last year that amount almost doubled and reached 38%.
At Balderton, we’ve been spending time in France since day one. However, having two people on the ground now makes a difference and is the consequence of our genuine excitement about the huge potential of this tech ecosystem.
While value creation is already extraordinary to-date, the potential is much bigger, especially when considering the average investment per capita and the time required for an ecosystem to properly mature and be at its highest potential.
When investing at early stage, proximity (physical and / or cultural) is important. That’s why, at Balderton, we’re focused on backing European founders. I personally wanted to be even closer to the entrepreneurs I work with or I’m getting to learn from. I love knowing I can meet with them in person in just a few minutes. I’m 9 minutes walk away from Tempow and 10 from Aircall, just to name a couple of examples.
I also like being able to catch-up with my fellow investors more often in person. Sometimes we don’t even plan for it and we end up crossing by around Sentier, at the gym, or even on week-ends — yes, sometimes it can be a bit much… but I still love it.
I couldn’t be more thankful to share this ride with the rest of the Balderton team and especially with my colleague Maxime Le Dantec, who always goes above and beyond to make anything happen. We’re all very excited about what we’re seeing in Paris and hope we can share that excitement with everyone, from local early stage founders to international growth investors who can help to magnify the already great potential of French tech start-ups.
It’s just the beginning, les amis!
