2023 has been a slow year for the world's venture landscape, with many countries experiencing slow investment rates short of the record activities achieved in previous years. However, France is not one such country. According to the EY Venture Capital Barometer in France, the French startup ecosystem is the only ecosystem to have paced forward achieving a 16% increase in venture funding.
France's startup ecosystem is blazing through the global downturns and turmoil and coming out strong. In this article, we have compiled a comprehensive list of Venture Capital Firms and Angel Investors in France that may become the right funding partner in your startup journey!
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Why Should You Raise Funds in France?
Here are some reasons why startup founders should consider raising funds in France:
Strong VC Activity: France's venture capital activity has not slowed down and has only picked up pace in recent years. According to the government-backed initiative La French Tech, over 735 innovative French startups raised EUR13.5 billion in 2022, up from EUR11 billion raised in 2021. This made France the only major European ecosystem to see a funding increase, as the European VC investment has declined overall by 18%, with the UK and Germany witnessing sharp drops of more than 20% and the American and Asian markets at over 30%. Furthermore, there have been numerous events aimed at increasing European venture capital funds' capacity to provide funding to EU-based startups, such as the Scale-up Europe and Paris Venture Capital World Summit.
Strong Government Support: Startup support in France is unrivaled, with numerous initiatives and regulations introduced to foster the ecosystem in France. For instance, President Emmanuel Macron presented a France 2030 plan, a EUR 30 billion investment plan aimed at the key sectors of France's economy, with nearly EUR 15 billion dedicated to startups. In the same year, he introduced the Scale-Up Europe initiative which brings together startup founders, researchers, investors, and corporations with the goal to make Europe home to tech giants valued over EUR 100 billion by 2030. The French Tech Visa has also been introduced to make the process of moving, living, and working in France easier for international startup founders and employees, and the French Tech Ticket program provides funding and support to foreign entrepreneurs looking to launch their startups in France.
Active Startup Ecosystem: The startup ecosystem in France is thriving, with various stakeholders playing an active role in the development of the ecosystem. This includes a large community of entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors who are genuinely passionate about moving the country's ecosystem forward through innovation and entrepreneurship. There is also a wide range of top startup incubators and accelerator programs in France that offer support, mentorship, and resources to help startups succeed.
Venture Capitalist Funds in France
The venture capitalist funds below are actively looking for investments in promising companies throughout various stages and sectors. The stages stated do not limit the possibility of getting funding if your company is at any stage other than what is listed.
Year of Inception: 2017
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed
Focus: Technology
Notable Portfolio: Beanstock, Trustpair, Aplo, Joko, Cohort, Mantra
Year of Inception: 2008
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A
Focus: DeepTech, Enterprise, Software, Marketplaces, Entertainment
Notable Portfolio: Dataiku, The Fork, AramisAuto, Evaneos, iBanFirst
Year of Inception: 2017
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A
Focus: FinTech, Digital Health, Mobility, Smart Houses, Cybersecurity
Notable Portfolio: Zelros, Sesame it, Vitaance, Wenalyze, Wetterheld
Year of Inception: 2015
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A
Focus: Hardware
Notable Portfolio: Renaissance Fusion, Remedee Labs, Giraffe360, Alcatraz
Year of Inception: 1997
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Deep Tech, Business Process Automation, Mass Consumer Disruption
Notable Portfolio: Arbe, Casavo, Cubyn, Exotec, Exotrail, Siteflow
Year of Inception: 2013
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Carbon Maps, Exotec, Sharelock, ViewPay, TrustPair
Year of Inception: 2009
Stage: Pre Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Technology
Notable Portfolio: Alma, Evaneos, Opal, Pubstack, Flowdesk, Pelico
Year of Inception: 2022
Stage: Seed
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Panopli, Buldi, Axonaut, Origami Marketplace, Orion Semantics
Year of Inception: 2016
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Food
Notable Portfolio: Mammaly, Pyxo, Air Up, Her One, KoRo
Year of Inception: 2008
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Life Essentials, Human Empowerment, Regenerative Economy
Notable Portfolio: 365Talents, Lalilo, Supermood, OpenClassrooms, Telegrafik
Year of Inception: 2021
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Technology
Notable Portfolio: Jimo, Anybuddy, Finary, Snowball, Moneybounce, Magma App
Year of Inception: 1998
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: B2B Software, Consumer, Deeptech, Hardware, Impact Media
Notable Portfolio: Mindler, Vestiaire Collective, Picanova, Singulart
Year of Inception: 2011
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Deep Tech, Fintech, Health, Industrial Tech, Marketplaces & Consumer, SaaS & Infra
Notable Portfolio: Packhelp, Tier, Flaviar, Bitpanda, GreyParrot, Twaice
Year of Inception: 2017
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Education / Learning
Notable Portfolio: 360Learning, Invivox, MerciApp, Codary, Labster
Year of Inception: 2010
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Industry 4.0, Mobility, Energy
Notable Portfolio: Betterway, PacketAI, Digital Lumens, SolarX
Year of Inception: 2010
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Science and Technology
Notable Portfolio: Beekeeper, Climeworks, Therapixel, Code Intelligence
Year of Inception: 2007
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
Focus: Technology, Travel, Education, Energy, Entertainment, Fashion, Finance & Insurance, Food, Health & Wellness, Housing, Mobility, Productivity, Retail
Notable Portfolio: Tink, Reddit, Zolar, La Fourche, Lovys, Kontakt.io
Year of Inception: 1988
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series B, Series C
Focus: Chipset, Data, Hardware, AI, Networks, Service, Software
Notable Portfolio: Aryballe, Cozy.io, AIVerse, Gemplus, Heptagon
Year of Inception: 2015
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Enterprise Software, Fintech/Insurtech, Digital Health, Consumer Tech
Notable Portfolio: Dayforward, Vida, Tive, Arta, AxonIQ, Futurae, Mytraffic
Year of Inception: 1982
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Food HR / Training E-commerce, Marketplaces, B2C Services, DNVBs, Energy Fintech / Banking, Health Infrastructure / Data Management, Insurtech KYC / Cybersecurity / Security Marketing / Acquisition Media / Content Mobility, Operational Tools, Payment, Supply Chain, Tech Tools, Travel / Hospitality
Notable Portfolio: Advano, Chatdesk, Cazoo, EuroPass, Finantier, Joko
Year of Inception: 2009
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Healthcare, Biotechnology
Notable Portfolio: Asarina Pharma, Cardiologs, DNA Script, Dynacure, Talix
Year of Inception: 2016
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: InsurTech, HealthTech, Mobility
Notable Portfolio: Birdie, Continuity, TrueNorth, Qare, Poncho
Year of Inception: 1972
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Life Science, Healthcare, Sustainability
Notable Portfolio: Abivax, Biocortex, Core Valve, DNA Script, Kiro
Year of Inception: 1998
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Life Science / BioTech, Consumer Tech, Cyber Software
Notable Portfolio: Vestiaire Collective, Nexthink, Neolane, Vade, Devialet
Year of Inception: 2016
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Flow Engineering, Superlist, Instabox, Frontify, Watty
Year of Inception: 2015
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Witco, Context, Faume, Pasqal, Fox Intelligence
Year of Inception: 2017
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Technology
Notable Portfolio: Airbnb, Slack, Noom, Spotify, Meero, Lyft, Trello
Year of Inception: 2016
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Technology
Notable Portfolio: Fintecture, Big Blue, spotahome, Legl
Year of Inception: 2002
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: BioTech, Climate Change, Cloud Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Data & Digital Acceleration, Digital Health, Digital Life Sciences, Digital Transformation, FinTech, InsurTech, Remote Human Organization
Notable Portfolio: Continuity, Volterra, SandboxAQ, Talent.io, Opentrust
Year of Inception: 2021
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Digital, Saas, eCommerce, Marketplace, Consumer App, Service, Consumer Products
Notable Portfolio: Klarna, Revolut, Instacart, Finovox, Trusted Health, Dotfile
Year of Inception: 2001
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Health, Digital Tech, New Space
Notable Portfolio: Ludocare, BabySafe, Exotrail, Implicity, NexDot
Year of Inception: 2008
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Aircall, Fairmarkit, Dolly, Reecall, Adaxis, DataGalaxy
Year of Inception: 2012
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Smart Hardware, Future of Commerce, Digital Media, Future of Work
Notable Portfolio: Beam, Foursquare, Nest, Shopcade, Graphcore
Year of Inception: 2004
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Technology for Care, Data, Impact, and Trust
Notable Portfolio: Skello, Lydia, TreeFrog, Cajoo, Mister Spex
Year of Inception: 1999
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Web Industry, Consumer Goods, SaaS/Cloud, BioTech, Construction and Bulding Materials, Hardware, Medical Devices, Medicines, Mobile, New Space, Quantum Physics
Notable Portfolio: Opensee, SeqOne Genomics, Geophoros, Evaneos, Moncler
Year of Inception: 1999
Stage: Series A, Series B
Focus: Web3, Frontier Tech, Digital Brands, Productivity Software, Data & Developer Tooling, Social & Entertainment, SaaS, Finance, Marketplaces
Notable Portfolio: Beam, Dataiku, Cryptio, Meero, Kiln, Stripe
Year of Inception: 1997
Stage: Series A, Series B, Series C
Focus: Life Sciences, Digital Technologies
Notable Portfolio: BiomX, Corwave, Enterome, Artifakt, Homerez, TransferGo
Year of Inception: 2009
Stage: Series A, Series B, Series C, Series D
Focus: Finance
Notable Portfolio: Finlex, Hawk:AI, Tesseract, Tuum, Hypatos, Akur8
Year of Inception: 2001
Stage: Series B, Series C
Focus: Enterprise, Consumer, Healthcare
Notable Portfolio: Hinge Health, Ollie, Evaneos, BlueJeans, Tuya, Ardelyx
Angel Investors in France
The Angel investors listed below are part of an Angel community located throughout France. They may act as an individual or as a syndicate to fund projects of their preference, so these networks are the best opportunity for you to find a potential Angel with an aligned vision and interests.
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: -
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Geosophy, Deep Color Imaging, eyeGauge, Vetbiobank, Sismo
Stage: Seed
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: Nossa!, Sensivic, Inorevia, Inga, Eatic, Cashway
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: AgriTech, Consumer, Digital Education, Hardware, Health Sport
Notable Portfolio: Beekast, Nurea, Cardiawave, Hillo, Braintale
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: -
Stage: Seed, Series A
Focus: Sector Agnostic
Notable Portfolio: BeeGuard, AltaRoad, Braintale, Cizoo, Fizimed, Internest, Magma
Closing Thoughts on VCs and Angel Investors in France
An indicator of a strong startup ecosystem is its ability to weather economic downturns. It is clear that France's startup ecosystem is maintaining its stronghold in the European and even worldwide scene, being able to secure ample sources of funding despite the market slow-downs. This is thanks to the government's efforts and commitment to strengthening, defending, and catalyzing the nation's startup machine. France's strong entrepreneurial culture and focus on innovation are unparalleled in the European startup landscape, and the country is continuously progressing further; making France a promising destination for startups seeking to secure funding for their ventures.
Find VCs and Angel Investors in Europe:
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