Oh, oui! France woos tech mavericks with funding, easy relocation
France is seeking entrepreneurs globally to join its second Tech Ticket competition, promising winners €45,000 and a residence permit
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
After polishing up their English and mastering key Chinese words for tech pitches, Israeli entrepreneurs may need to spruce up their French.
Oh, oui! France is calling out to entrepreneurs globally to join its second Tech Ticket competition, luring them with a promise to give the 70 winning startups €45,000 in funding, a fast track to a French residence permit, a chance to be hosted by a French incubator for 12 months, masterclasses and networking events, and an easy relocation package.
Last year, one of the winning teams in the competition was the Israeli startup Tridom, which designs robots that build houses. Its two founders, Lior Aharoni and Yaron Schwarcz, are now working at the Impulse Partners incubator in Paris.
In an effort to drive its startup economy, the French government three years ago set up The French Tech, a tech startup ecosystem, to enable the creation of optimal conditions for small companies. The goal is “to enable them to grow and become global champions,” the organizers of the French Tech Ticket competition said in a statement.
Today France hosts a record number of startups. The amount of capital raised between 2014 and 2015 has doubled. France was the top-ranked European country for early-stage investments in 2015 and has the sixth-largest economy in the world, with a promise to enable access to the rest of Europe too. Over the past few years, American tech giants Google, Intel, Cisco and Facebook have set up development facilities in France, the competition organizers said.
France promises entrepreneurs a pool of skilled and affordable talent, education with a strong culture of engineers, a strong financing system with investment, incentives and infrastructure.
The Times of Israel Community.