TECH FUNDING TRENDS IN FRANCE
A comprehensive, data driven look at emerging trends, investments,
and active investors in France
TABLE OF CONTENTS
6 Investment Trends
12 Geographical Trends: Paris
16 Geographical Trends: UK & Germany
18 Sector Breakdown
23 Selected Industry Breakdowns
27 Top Deals and Investors
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2
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
BOOM IN DEAL ACTIVITY TO TECH COMPANIES IN FRANCE:
Deal flow has been trending up since 2012 and recently surged
71% over 2015 full-year for a 4-year high of 368 deals in just the
first three quarters of 2016.
TECH COMPANY FUNDING REACHES A 7-QUARTER HIGH:
Funding to tech companies in France also reached a new high
mark of $1.5B in 2016. Remarkably, this is a high hit in just the
first 3 quarters of the year. Funding has generally been trending
up since Q2’13. In Q4’15, funding dropped but has since then
been growing each quarter. From Q2’16 to Q3’16, funding grew
200% to reach $857M in total funding over 145 deals.
FRENCH TECH IN STRIKING DISTANCE OF PEERS: In Q3’16,
France saw more funding than German tech startups and neared
the levels seen by UK startups.
EARLY-STAGE COMPANIES TAKE MORE DEALS: As with many
nascent tech investment markets, early-stage deal activity
dominates. 62% of deals in Q3’16 were at the early stage.
ENABLON IS MOST HIGHLY VALUED EXIT IN 2016 YTD:
Valued at $275M at the time of its acquisition by Wolters Kluwer,
Enablon comes in as the highest-valued tech exit in 2016 year-todate. Four of the top French tech exits this year were valued at
>$100M. In second was Nokia’s acquisition of Withings.
FRENCH CORPORATES STEPPING UP THEIR PARTICIPATION:
Deals with CVCs participating grew 4 percentage points from Q2’16
to 21% of the total in Q3’16. This compares to 11% in Q3’15.
FRENCH MOBILE SECTOR GAINS STEAM: While the internet
sector remains the largest area for investment, mobile has gained
steam over time and took 20% of deals in Q3’16.
BPI FRANCE LEADS AS MOST ACTIVE INVESTOR IN 2016:
Between Q1’16 and Q3’16, BPI France racked up the greatest
number of deals. Kima Ventures came in second. Partech Ventures
and Credit Agricole tied for third.
PARIS TAKES THE LION’S SHARE OF DEALS: $304M was
deployed across 65 deals to tech companies in Paris, France
through to Q3’16. On a quarterly basis, funding in Q3’16 is up 64%
while deal count remains even. Top deals include a $61M corporate
minority round to OCTO Technology, $24M to BlaBlaCar, $23M to
Alkemics, and $17M to electric scooter rental service Cityscoot.
Note on Report Methodology
Exits in this report only include the first exit of a company. Funding analysis includes
deals from accelerators and incubators, as well as debt deals, into private companies with
headquarters in France.
For questions regarding this methodology reach out to [email protected].
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3
France tech funding since 2012:
$5.5 BILLION
across
1,018 DEALS
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4
FRANCE POISED FOR CONTINUED GROWTH
“France is the country I would
bet on in Europe more than any
other.”
John T. Chambers
Executive Chairman, Cisco
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5
Investment Trends:
DEALS & DOLLARS
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6
FRANCE FINANCING TRENDS TO TECH COMPANIES
2012 - 2016 (Q3'16)
368
Deal volume for the past
three years has trended
upwards. Already, deal
flow in 2016 through
Q3’16 is up 71% over fullyear 2015.
215
166
$602
$1,482
$1,253
$1,507
131
$659
138
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Investments ($M)
2016 ALREADY A
RECORD YEAR IN
DEALS AND DOLLARS
FOR FRENCH TECH
Despite a drop in 2015,
funding in 2016 through
Q3’16 has picked back up
and has already reached
a 4-year high.
Deals
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7
FRANCE QUARTERLY FINANCING TRENDS TO TECH
COMPANIES
145
2012 - 2016 YTD (Q3'16)
Q3’16 SETS A NEW
HIGH FOR DEAL
VOLUME
128
2012
Investments ($M)
2013
2014
Deals
59
56
48
56
2015
2016
$857
$273
$258
$198
$464
36
$335
$202
$159
31
$256
35
$121
$114
$68
$253
$87
$142
$177
29
28
24
$297
33
39
$124
40
41
46
$999
53
52
Deal activity in Q3’16 has
reached a 4-year high of
145 deals. On a quarterly
basis, deal activity for
Q3’16 is up 13% over
Q2’16. After dropping in
Q4’15, activity has greatly
picked up.
Funding to tech in Q3’16
is up over 200% since
Q2’16, nearly reaching
the 4-year high seen in
Q4’14.
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8
FRANCE TECH QUARTERLY DEAL SHARE BY STAGE
EARLY-STAGE DEALS
MAKE UP 62% OF
TOTAL DEALS IN
Q3’16
Q3'15 - Q3'16
6%
11%
3%
16%
3%
2%
1%
13%
14%
13%
8%
3%
7%
1%
11%
12%
1%
17%
4%
6%
11%
22%
13%
56%
55%
64%
66%
62%
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Seed / Angel
Series A
Series B
Series C
Series D
Series E+
0.4%
Early-stage deals
continue to occupy the
largest deal share in
Q3’16 with 62% of the
total deal count. Latestage deals tend to
occupy no more than
13% of the total deal
share and in Q3’16 that
share is only at 4%.
Series C rounds are
down for the secondconsecutive quarter.
Other
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9
FRANCE TECH EARLY-STAGE DEAL SIZE
AS THEY GET MORE
NUMEROUS, EARLYSTAGE DEALS DROP
BELOW $1M
Q3'15 - Q3'16
$1.4
$1.3
$1.2
$1.1
$0.9
Early-stage deal size has
been trending
downwards since Q3’15
as overall deal count
grows.
In Q3’16 median earlystage deal size was
$900K, down over onethird since Q3’15.
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Median Early Stage Deals Size ($M)
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10
CVC PARTICIPATION IN FRENCH DEALS TO TECH COMPANIES
Q3'15 - Q3'16
11%
19%
18%
17%
21%
CORPORATES
PARTICIPATE IN ONEFIFTH OF TOTAL TECH
DEALS IN FRANCE
Q4’15 saw an uptick in
the share of deals
backed by CVCs before
falling for 2 consecutive
quarters.
Q3’16, however, is up 4
percentage points over
Q2’16 for a 5-quarter high
of 21% of total deal flow.
89%
81%
82%
83%
79%
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Other Investors
Corp / CVC Deal Participation
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11
Geographic Trends: Paris
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12
PARIS LEADING FRENCH TECH SCENE
“Paris is surging with innovation, research and
startups…Paris offers history, culture and fivesense experiences. And its multitude of top-tier
universities produce programming and
engineering talent at a fraction of the Silicon
Valley cost.”
Gary Shapiro, President & CEO
Consumer Technology Association
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13
PARIS DOMINATES
DEAL FLOW TO
FRANCE-BASED
STARTUPS
Paris leads France with
162 deals to private
companies in 2016
through Q3’16. No other
city managed to grab
more than 8 deals.
Paris-based Zenly was
the largest mobile deal of
the quarter.
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14
PARIS QUARTERLY FINANCING TRENDS TO TECH COMPANIES
Q3'15 - Q3'16
65
65
PARIS: $304M
DEPLOYED ACROSS
65 DEALS TO TECH
COMPANIES IN Q3’16
Top Deals - Q3’16
OCTO Technology
$61M // Corporate Minority
32
27
BlaBlaCar
$24M // Private Equity
23
$388
$85
$225
$185
$304
Zenly
$23M // Series B
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Investments ($M)
Deals
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15
Geographical Trends: UK & Germany
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16
FRANCE HAS BANNER
QUARTER AS
FUNDING SURPASSES
GERMANY
For the past 5 quarters,
funding to France based
startups lagged behind
that of the UK and
Germany.
In Q3’16, buoyed by a
$279M deal to OVH.com,
total funding was 85%
higher than that to
Germany-based startups
and only 7% behind the
UK.
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17
SECTOR BREAKDOWN
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18
FRANCE TECH QUARTERLY DEAL SHARE BY SECTOR
Q3'15 - Q3'16
4%
9%
2%
16%
6%
13%
13%
4%
15%
7%
7%
9%
2%
7%
10%
6%
13%
13%
20%
70%
67%
64%
70%
57%
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Internet
Computer Hardware & Services
Software (non-internet/mobile)
MOBILE GROWS DEAL
SHARE. MOBILE AND
INTERNET TAKE 77%
OF DEALS
Internet investment
dropped 13 percentage
points in Q3’16 to settle
at 57% of deal count.
This is the lowest share
for the sector in the past
5 quarters.
Mobile & Telecom saw a
corresponding increase
in deal share, reaching
20% in Q3’16.
Mobile & Telecommunications
Electronics
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19
FRANCE MOBILE & TELECOMMUNICATIONS INVESTMENT
ACTIVITY
Q3'15 - Q3'16
29
$98M INVESTED OVER
29 DEALS TO MOBILE
SOFTWARE &
TELECOM
COMPANIES IN Q3’16
Top Deals – Q3’16
Zenly
$23M// Series B
17
WeMap
$2M // Seed
9
Nomad Education
$0.9M // Seed
$38
$28
$17
$98
7
$22
7
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Investments ($M)
Deals
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20
$33.7M
$23.6M
$22.7M
$20.5M
$12.3M
COMPETING IN THE MOBILE SECTOR
Q3’16 saw significant growth in deal share to the France mobile sector. The
above companies, shown with total funding received to date, had the largest
rounds of Q3’16 in mobile. Two of the top five deals were to marketing
platforms Ogury and Adotmob. Zenly, at $23M the largest mobile deal in
Q3’16, was funded by Benchmark and Kima Ventures, among others.
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21
FRANCE INTERNET INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Q3'15 - Q3'16
89
83
$307M INVESTED
OVER 83 DEALS TO
INTERNET
COMPANIES IN Q3’16
Top Deals – Q3’16
BlaBlaCar
$24M // Private Equity
39
32
Alkemics
$23M // Series B
36
$438
$96
$200
$208
$307
Cityscoot
$17M // Series A
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Investments ($M)
Deals
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22
SELECTED INDUSTRY BREAKDOWNS
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23
FRANCE ADVERTISING TECH INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Q3'15 - Q3'16
11
9
$30M INVESTED OVER
11 DEALS TO AD
TECH COMPANIES IN
Q3’16
Top Deals – Q3’16
Ogury
$15M // Series B
6
TVTY
$7M // Series B
4
Sync2ad
$2M // Series A
$13
$5
$1
$8
$30
1
Q3'15
Q4'15
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Investments ($M)
Deals
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24
FRANCE MARKETPLACES INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
$34M INVESTED OVER
9 DEALS TO
MARKETPLACES IN
Q3’16
Q3'15 - Q3'16
10
9
Top Deals – Q3’16
StarOfService
$10M // Series A
Stootie
$8M // Series A
4
Investments ($M)
$42
$34
Q4'15
$9
Q3'15
Ulule
$6M // Series A
3
$2
$36
3
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Deals
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25
FRANCE TRAVEL TECH INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Q3'15 - Q3'16
$23M INVESTED OVER
8 DEALS TO TRAVEL
TECH COMPANIES IN
Q3’16
13
Top Deals – Q3’16
8
Cityscoot
$17M // Series A
Yescapa
$3M // Series A
5
Group Corner
$1M // Seed
Investments ($M)
$23
Q4'15
$66
Q3'15
$4
$1
1
$25
2
Q1'16
Q2'16
Q3'16
Deals
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TOP DEALS AND INVESTORS
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27
FRANCE TECH: MOST ACTIVE INVESTORS
2016 (Q3'16)
RANK
INVESTOR
SELECT INVESTMENTS
RANK
INVESTOR
SELECT INVESTMENTS
1
Nomad Education, Drivy,
BizMeeting
8
Alkemics, Evaneos
2
Zenly, PayFit, Heetch
8
HomeRez, Tellmeplus
3
Alkemics, Lendix, ManoMano
8
Dictanova, Argosim
3
Mimosa, Helpfood, Stokkly
8
Zenly, Dayuse
5
Tediber, Tiller Systems, Cubyn
13
OpenClassrooms, Sqreen
5
Cozy Cloud, SamBoat,
TravelerCar
13
AntVoice, Wizbii
5
Klassroom, Evioo
13
Intersec, Cozy Cloud
8
Babbler, Intersec
BPIFRANCE LEADS
AS THE MOST ACTIVE
INVESTOR IN FRANCE
THROUGH Q3’16
Bpifrance and Kima
Ventures round out the
1st and 2nd spots for
most deals in the first 3
quarters of 2016. Partech
Ventures and Crédit
Agricole tied at the No. 3
spot while 360 Capital
Partners, MAIF, and
SmartAngels.fr round out
the top 5.
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28
TOP FRANCE TECH EQUITY DEALS
Q3'16
COMPANY
AMOUNT/ROUND
ROUND INVESTORS
$279M/ Private Equity
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co,
TowerBrook Capital Partners
$61M/ Corporate Minority
Accenture
$55M/ Private Equity
Keensight Capital
$24M/ Private Equity
Baring Vostok Capital Partners
$23M/ Series B
Benchmark,
IDInvest Partners,
Kima Ventures,
Jerry Murdock
$23M/ Series B
Partech Ventures,
Serena Capital,
SEB Alliance,
Index Ventures,
Cathay Capital Private Equity
$20M/ Series B
Aster Capital,
Serena Capital,
CapHorn Invest
$17M/ Series A
LeasePlan
$15M/ Series B
Ventech,
CoVent Partners,
IDInvest Partners,
Airtek Capital Group (ACG)
$13M/ Series C
Omnes Capital,
CapHorn Invest,
Naxicap Partners
OVH.COM, OCTO TOP
LIST OF LARGEST
DEALS IN Q3’16
Internet service provider
OVH.com leads the pack
in Q3 with $279M in
private equity from
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
& Co. and TowerBrook
Capital Partners.
In 2nd is IT consultancy
OCTO Technology with a
deal in which Accenture
took a $61M minority
stake.
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29
WEARABLES AND
SOFTWARE-AS-ASERVICE TOP EXITS
RANKINGS
The most highly valued
exit by a French VCbacked tech company in
2016 YTD was the March
acquisition of software
company Enablon by
Wolters Kluwer.
In 2nd was the $191M
acquisition of wearables
company Withings by
Nokia.
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30
INSURANCE FRAUD
PREVENTION
SOFTWARE TOPS AI
DEALS
After completing a $10M
Series A in May 2016,
Paris-based Shift
Technology is now the
most well-funded AI
company in France.
In 2nd is Tellmeplus,
based in Paris and
Montpellier, with $4.7M
in Seed financing from
February 2016.
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31
TOP EXITS IN FRANCE
RAISED $39M OR
LESS PRIOR TO EXIT
In a move to bolster their
network traffic
management and
analytics functions,
Sweden-based Enea
acquired Qosmos—
which had raised $39M—
for $57M in October
2016. Enablon was
acquired for $275M after
raising only $15M.
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32
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@cbinsights
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