🍋 Isabelle Gallo Drault 🍋

An inspiring day yesterday at La French Tech Aix-Marseille Région Sud as we welcomed Clara Chappaz, the new Secretary of State for #AI and Digital Affairs (and former head of La French Tech). Alongside the board of La FrenchTech Aix Marseille, we had the opportunity to discuss the future of AI, innovation, and the vital role our ecosystem plays in driving technological progresses. Many topics were discussed! Of course #LaFrenchTech which is representing, over the past 10 years: 25,000+ startups and over a million jobs. Its maturity is coming with resilience. The era of hypergrowth without concern for profitability is probably behind us, but innovation in artificial intelligence is not incompatible with profitable business (we are by the way reminded of this by Photoroom, demonstrating that #GenAI and profitability are possible together)! Finally, the connection of this new Secretary of State for AI and Digital to the Ministry of Higher Education and Research is a huge opportunity. While strong ties remain with the Ministry of the Economy, it underscores the crucial role of education and research in AI and entrepreneurship! It might also be a chance for th #deeptech startups, for whom the scientific dimension is an essential foundation for their future development. Exciting times ahead for La French Tech Aix-Marseille Région Sudand its members as we continue to foster collaboration and innovation at the heart of #LaFrenchTech. Looking forward to seeing how this synergy will shape the future! Julie Sébastien Théophile Volta Medical Diane Christophe Charlie Elodie Pierre-Emmanuel Alex Béatrice Frédéric Sophie Emilie Diana Nicolas Gabriel Ines Romain Alexandre Emmanuel Anne Yann Tanguy Selim Mathieu Jules Joséphine Roxana Amina Arnaud MERCIER Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence Christophe Hugon Emmanuel Roux Julie Huguet #ArtificialIntelligence #tech #education #research #startup

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I’m pleased to have contributed to Arianee’s position paper, "From A Production-Based to A Service-Based Economy: The Role of Tokenization in Decoupling Growth." This insightful paper tackles a topic close to my heart. This paper outlines numerous practical strategies for companies to progress on tackling overproduction while creating new economic opportunities. Thank you Arianee, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel and of course my friend Francois Souchet for the opportunity to collaborate. #circulareconomy #technology #circularbusinessmodels #sustainability

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The Venture market is very weird right now and it sometimes feels like we are in the hottest and coldest fundraising market ever at the same time. Time to invest or time to wait? I’ve tried to summarize my understanding of what’s happening in a blogpost. 

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🕚Here’s a flashback to an exciting and bold VC fund launch from 2023. 💸 In November 2023 France based Ring Capital announced the 1st closing of their second growth fund – Altitude Growth II - at €125 million out of a target of €250 million, with backing from the European Investment Fund (EIF), Tikehau Capital, SWEN Capital Partners and Bpifrance. 💡 Altitude II is an impact growth fund, with tickets of €5-20m dedicated to mature companies with more than €10m in revenue and profitable or positive EBITDA that are developing solutions to meet environmental or social challenges. 🌍 #Europe 📈 The Ring Altitude Impact Growth Fund strategy has already made investment in 17 exciting companies including Karos, Castalie, YouSchool,Le Mercato de l'Emploi, LeHibou, Yespark, LiveMentor, Stych, among others. 💭 “Being focused on impact and profitable companies really helped us win over investors, especially those who had already trusted us." - Nicolas CELIER, CEO and co-founder of Ring Capital. 🗞️Maddyness https://lnkd.in/eSUY3JqY 👏 For the #AudaciousInvestors unleashing innovation and empowering tomorrow🚀 Geoffroy Bragadir I Pierre-Alexis de Vauplane I Yasmina Bekkouche I Sandra Armstrong I Alban de La Bretèche I Laure Tallon I Eve Sebag I Marie-Capucine Lemétais I Thibaut Bechetoille I Servane Metzger-Corrigou I I Laurent Babut I Charlotte Lafont I Thomas Marsal I Sibylle Behaghel I Daphné Dupont Gurs I Maria Millan I Team Ring Capital … #venturecapital #vc #funds #startups #entrepreneurs #funding #impact #tech #esg #technology #innovation #france #growthcapital #venture

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I was honored to join a panel yesterday, moderated by Jean Rognetta and Morgan Hunault-Berret, with fellow panelist Olivier Martret. The provocative topic on our agenda: “Have French VCs already lost against US VCs in GenAI?” It was the opportunity to share our thought at daphni, here are a few takeaways: 1) Fund size matters: While it's evident that apart from BPI, French VCs lack the critical size to play a significant role in foundational models funding rounds. However, reducing GenAI startups to 200M+ seed rounds is an oversimplification. We see a clear market segmentation between foundational models - that share caracteristics with infrastructure deals - and application layers. There are probably 4 deals in the last 18 months where French VC could not positionate. The issue of the size of French VC funds is an old debate, older than ChatGPT. 2) International mindset: French startups have been criticised a lot in the past for lacking ambition and international mindset. We have been expecting what’s happening right now for a while: it's time to celebrate. Most of the world's leading VC funds are now co-investing with us in France. 3) A Seed GenAI startup still have the problematic of a seed startup: Seed has always been dominated by local actors for sourcing reasons but also because the support you can bring is really ecosystem specific. 4) Co-investment: We're actually very enthusiastic about co-investing with US VCs, who bring added value and help French startups penetrate international markets. From an exit perspective, pursuing a US IPO remains the best scenario and requires to success in the US at some point. Having the right US VC in series A is a great support. 5) Building a Top Ecosystem: France is on track to establish itself as one of the world's top three ecosystems for GenAI, a feat not possible without foreign VCs. This isn't just national pride – it's a sentiment echoed by global investors who recognize the dynamic changes occurring within our borders and knock at the door to exchange about it. More to come soon! Thanks Louis Petitjean and Matthieu Bouhelier 

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🚀 New Initiative born from Vectors Capital. Pavina Adunratanasee is leading the work from Vectors side. https://lnkd.in/gG2KSaXS We're honored to introduce #CatalyzeClimate, a first-of-a-kind Climate Finance Lab that aims to accelerate global #decarbonization and strengthen #climate resilience. 1️⃣ Our mission is to #mobilize innovative financing mechanisms, accelerate technology hashtag #deployment, and scale #climateinfrastructure via fostering cross-sector collaboration across hashtag #finance, #policy, and #industries. 2️⃣ We believe that #catalyticfinance can play a unique role through a combination of grants and blended capital in unlocking capital for bringing tech to market and scaling climate infrastructure.​ 3️⃣ Taking a differentiated approach, we are focused on: 1. Demonstrating Technological & Commercial Viability 2. Addressing Investment Gaps 3. Creating Market Platforms 4. Advocating for Supportive Policies 💸 Our goal is to mobilize funding commitment for $4 trillion a year that is required for the climate transition from the global financial system. ⚡To kick off the initiative, we’re happy to announce the Catalyze Climate Launch event in the #AsiaPacific region taking place in #Singapore in September followed by launch events in hashtag #SF and #LA. #SG roundtable will be “Bridging the Sustainable Financing Gap: Fostering US - APAC Partnerships for Emerging Climate Infrastructure Advancement.” ✌🏼If you’re a climate investor, lender, or asset allocator and would like to get involved please DM me. 💡 Backed by a team of financing, scientific, and technical experts; and most importantly taking an industrial lens to solving climate challenges: Naman Lahoti Wanwipa Siriwatwechakul Kreshna Y. Rahmat Sasilada Sirirungruang Meghan Oesterle, M.S. Daniel Paley Keyi (Nancy) Kang

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Only 4% of EU VC's have previous startup experience... versus 60% in US  In CVC in EU it will even be worse... (educated guess)  There are some more interesting insights on the low level of support by VC's, the needs from startups, .... in the article below  This confirms also the need for more VC Platform roles in the EU #vcplatform (see my previous post on VC Platform roles)  #venturecapital 

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Time to step up Germany 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 Corporations have pledged to invest €15bn in France at the “Choose France” summit — an annual event held since 2018 to facilitate foreign investments in the country. A large chunk of the money will be dedicated to AI. Microsoft stole the show after announcing its largest investment in France to date, a €4bn cash envelope to build more data centres — and expand existing ones — across the country by the end of 2025. The focus is on increasing the capacity of GPUs, which are needed to run large AI models. Amazon also announced that it’ll invest €1.2bn to further develop its French cloud and AI infrastructure. Quantum computing was also on the agenda. IBM pledged to invest €45m to expand the company’s research efforts in France. Up to 50 quantum researchers and engineers will be recruited in the country in the next year.

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📺 Yesterday I was interviewed on #BFMBusiness to share the insights of our recent study on the bankruptcies of post-Series A companies in France. Since we created the company 10 years ago, we have always aimed to provide the best insights to facilitate investment in private companies. With this report, we want to highlight the structural and conjectural challenges faced by entrepreneurs & investors to anticipate the risks. Thanks a lot to Laure Closier for this dynamic interview! #startup #scaleup #growth #tech #scalex #scalexinvest ScaleX Invest By Early Metrics https://lnkd.in/dGqfqMDg

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in French :) https://lnkd.in/e7W5Hu6T #capitalraising #startups #fundraising #founders #venturecapital #investors #vc #vcfunding #technology #startup #tech

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Together with our CTO, Antoine Latrille, I'm delighted to share the study on AI adoption that we conducted across 80 of our startups in France and in the USA. Here is a preview of the key insights: 1) IA integration is about wining the race of productivity => 70% of companies have implemented IA and 67% reported productivity gains. Motivation is not only internal as 1 over 4 startup fear competitor could outpace them. 2) Internal knowledge is preferred as outsourcing => for 90% startups as they want to ensure they can swiftly adapt to AI advancements and maintain control over their innovations 3) US ecosystem is more favorable but both French and American startups share desire to integrate AI => 10 out 12 AI tools are coming from the US with a more favorable regulation and bigger AI investments ($67b against $2b in France in 2023). However 95% of French startups have or want to integrate IA and 1 over 5 have participated in our IA Booster program. Initiated in December, Newfund IA Booster was meant to support startups learn from real-life AI applications, promoting an in-house approach to innovation. At Newfund, we're committed in bridging cross-Atlantic differences and supporting our startups in harnessing the full potential of AI to outpace global competition. To read more about the study: https://lnkd.in/eArUP4uR #AI #Startups #Newfund #USA #France #Innovation

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🌍 On November 6, at 6H30, Xavier Lorphelin, Managing Partner and Co-founder at Serena will join Les Catch'up du Hub event, organized by Bpifrance & France Digitale, to share how VCs can help startups set and achieve measurable climate goals. 🌿 In a world where sustainable growth is no longer optional, building a business with strong environmental foundations is essential. Yet, many startups struggle to implement effective climate initiatives due to limited resources, frameworks, or expertise. At Serena, as a mission-driven firm, one of our core objectives is to support the positive social and environmental impact growth of the companies in our portfolio. 💡 During the Catch'up du Hub event, Xavier will share Serena’s approach to building climate-resilient companies—starting with practical steps like measuring carbon footprints and setting data-driven, actionable sustainability targets that support long-term growth. Our goal is to help founders navigate the challenges of climate action in ways that are both realistic and aligned with business objectives. 📅 On the agenda: A keynote session featuring Anaïs Blarel, Sustainability Manager at Revaia, and Adrien Destrez, co-founder of Carbon Cutter, who will present their climate guide tailored for VCs. They’ll cover key questions: What does an effective decarbonization strategy look like for early-stage startups? And which frameworks can drive the most impactful change? Following the keynote, Xavier will join a roundtable discussion with seasoned investors who have firsthand experience in advancing ESG within venture capital.. Panelists include Sophie Flak, Managing Partner of ESG & Digital at Eurazeo, Gaëtan Bonhomme, PhD, Partner at Breakthrough Energy , and Caroline Lebel, Investment Director at Bpifrance Large Venture. 🔗 Secure your spot now to join us on November 6 and explore how the investment ecosystem can become a true ally in climate action!👇 📍Bpifrance - Le Hub - 4ème étage, 6-8 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris

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Are French unicorns ready for their IPO? I'll say yes, and probably even a bit better than German startups! Let me tell you why. Most IPOs are driven by the CEO / CFO couple but there is a third important wheel to this constellation: the CMO! A big part of a successful IPO and then stock exchange valuation is communication. It's all about trust, baby! And trust is built through communication & thought leadership. French startups are often very strong in being transparent and proactive in their communications. So this is a solid basis to work on. Here are my learnings from working on KATEK GROUP's IPO: ‣ It's not all about the press: Yes, mandatory investor relations (IR) news have to be communicated through the press. By going further and also using your company's owned channels you show even more transparency to your stakeholders. Communicating on LinkedIn will enable dialog with your investors. ‣ IR does not need to be boring: Financial reports might not sound as sexy as the next big brand campaign, but it can be. Use videos to explain the numbers further, plan live Q&A sessions with the CEO. Be creative and stay true to your brand's values. ‣ It's about the people: The stock exchange market is a numbers and money world. By involving your C-level in the communication you will be able to build up a stronger trust in your company. In people we trust! Here think about news hijacking to position your C-level as the experts they are, do video interviews or quote statements. You can read more about KATEK's IPO and strategic communication here: https://lnkd.in/dFYscP3k #IPO #ListedInFrankfurt #FrenchTech #StartupCommunication

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📰 Great paper released in the well-known French newspaper La Tribune about the bankruptcy trend in the French tech industry. The report highlights the research we've run recently on this topic with a great interview by Edouard Thibaut COO of ScaleX Invest 😎 Maurice OMS Banque de France ScaleX Invest By Early Metrics 👉 Franck Sebag #Tech #Investment #Startup #Scaleup

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You wanna know how startup funding is going on right now in Belgium 🇧🇪 ? 🔮 I shared with Maxime SAMAIN (L'Echo) my point of view on that matter. 🦄 < >🐌 Article here: https://lnkd.in/e9qbCKKX Discover my take on the situation in 4 points: 1️⃣ More experienced 🐼 Belgium's startup scene boomed around 2015. These early-stage investors, the Business Angels, have gained experience through their investments made between 2015 and 2020. This newfound expertise makes them more rigorous in their analysis and more demanding of startups, ultimately limiting funding for a select few. 2️⃣ Investment shift ↩ The 2022 inflation surge reshaped investor mindsets and expectations. This trend solidified in 2023, becoming the "new normal." Consequently, 2024 witnessed a significant decline in funding for startups lacking a clear path to profitability. 3️⃣ Cycle ♻ The pre-pandemic boom in startups (around 2020) is now experiencing its first wave of bankruptcies. This has understandably shaken some Business Angels' confidence. While this cycle is natural, fear currently dominates investment decisions for many. 4️⃣ Post trauma 🤕 We are in a “post trauma” period. The above elements are making Business Angels much more risk averse. To restore confidence, we need to see successful Belgian 🇧🇪 startups emerge. Thankfully, time can be a healer, and some inspiring success stories 💪 are likely unfolding even as you browse this tremendous LinkedIn post 😜. Let's scale it up! 👏 #startups #scaleups #buildingbridges

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We’re officially live with VentureBlick Discovery! 🙌🏼   After months of preparation (and talking about it in concept and on paper), I’m pleased to announce that our Discovery platform – where all key players in the healthcare innovation ecosystem can connect and collaborate – is officially launched!   This journey has not been without its fair share of challenges, and we are still at the very early stages of this platform development, but I can already see the immense possibilities of everyone being able to find each other.   Discovery is designed to bring together advisors, investors, innovators, and distributors from all over the world for better visibility, connections, and collaboration. 💡🩺🌍   It will become more meaningful as more and more people from within the healthcare innovation ecosystem come on board.   I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to this effort – whether it was by giving feedback at the conceptualisation stage, being one of our early adopters, or socialising this concept within your own network – a big thank you for contributing to our journey! 🙏🏼   This is just the beginning and we’re working hard to introduce more interactive features.   In the meantime, check it out and come on board Discovery! https://lnkd.in/gVtD5y_h If you have any feedback about your experience on Discovery, do share. We will improve it step by step together. #VentureBlick #Discovery #oneplatform #healthcareinnovationplatform

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For all those in scale-up, 25 mins of listening to Seb is well worth it. A really clear set of priorities and realities of growing (and turning around) scale-ups. https://lnkd.in/esnuxRKr

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[🎙️] Do you know what French companies are doing to achieve their ecological transition and develop an economy that respects planetary boundaries? 🌍 Let me introduce you to the « CEC » (Convention of Companies for Climate), for which I’ve just been appointed (one of the many) spokesperson (or Top Voice, as LinkedIn likes to call it 😉). I had the incredible opportunity to take part in the very first edition back in 2021 (I'll tell you more about the origins of this initiative and the people in the photo in a future post.), right when the world was debating whether we should continue business as usual or completely rethink our societal and economic models. The experience was so eye-opening that I offered to become the CEC’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (yes, I’m shooting high! 😅) to share this initiative and its learnings with our friends around the globe 🌍. After all, I had been elected Minister of Foreign Affairs of the « ideal Social Economy government » by Carenews readers in 2018. We’ll start by sharing some content in English. But first, a quick intro for those wondering: What exactly is the CEC?👇 Founded in December 2020, the Convention of Companies for Climate (CEC) aims to make the transition from an extractive economy to a regenerative one irresistible by 2030. It’s ambitious, but with motivated leaders and engaged experts, anything is possible 💪 Between 2021 and 2022, the first edition brought business leaders together in a collective effort to redefine their models within planetary boundaries. Today, there are 17 CEC programs, with over 2,000 leaders (CEOs & « Planet Champions ») and 1,000 companies redesigning their future. And the cherry on top 🍒: the CEC is expanding to Switzerland and Belgium soon! If you’re curious to learn more, check out what the CEC is all about 👉 https://lnkd.in/eTbMeEXt That being said, over the coming weeks, I will share with you stories, tools, and concrete examples of businesses of all sizes undergoing their transformation 🌱🌍 #CEC #TopVoice #Climate #Business #Economy #FutureIsNow

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