The 10 biggest FrenchTech fundraisings of 2016 (after a third of the year)

I made a list of the 10 biggest French fundraisings of 2016 so far (after one third of the year).

It’s focused on Software / Digital (I excluded biotech, drones, etc.). Delair-Tech is not there for instance.

Here is the full table.

A few very basic comments to make it more interesting:

• This is extremely counterintuitive to me (because I was under the impression that the leading London-based VCs such as Accel, Balderton, Eight Roads, Felix, Index, etc. all had French professionals and were extremely aggressive in France) but none of those deals was led by (or even involved) a foreign, “traditional” VC (Access and Nokia are different animals).
• Those were the 10 deals bigger than €10m (the next ones, Intersec and Botify are at €9m and $7m).
• The French “usual suspects” are still the most active investors in France: Alven, BPI, Idinvest and Partech.
• There are a lot of corporates involved in those deals. French ones such as MAIF, Matmut, Peugeot and Lagardère but also several non-French: Citrix, Cisco, Nokia, etc.
• I see no big deals in the Marketing / AdTech space (traditionally one of the very strong domains of expertise in France), which was also a big surprise for me. There were actually many deals in those industries but those were smaller rounds (AB Tasty, Tabmo, etc.)
• Collaborative Economy is well represented: Drivy, Koolicar, Mano Mano and Lendix, 4 of the bigger deals.
• Those 10 deals are mainly B2C deals (only Cedexis in B2B) and involve companies dealing with very basic needs (renting cars, booking hotel rooms and doctor appointments, DIY, food, school support, music streaming, etc.).
• Paris was ULTRA dominant.