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Alex Dewez , a partner at20VC , just released its extremely anticipatedState of the French Tech Ecosystem 2024report . This is a nice follow - up to Atomico’sState of European Techreport , with a more mealy view on French startup in particular .
As a monitor , the bottom line of Atomico ’s written report is that European startups raised $ 45 billion in 2024 compared to $ 47 billion in 2023 . That number is only down by $ 2 billion , but it represents a 50%+ drop curtain compared to2022 numbers .
In France , the overarching melodic theme are more or less similar . harmonize to Dewez , with € 7.1 billion in speculation funding in 2024 , that metric is slightly up compared to 2023 ( € 6.8 billion ) . However , in 2022 , French startup raised as much as € 11.8 billion .
Of course , data point on private companies vary from one source to another . For representative , according to EY and as reported byLes Échos , venture funding is somewhat down in 2024 compared to 2023 ( € 7.8 billion versus € 8.3 billion ) .
The bottom ancestry is exchangeable . Venture funding is more or less unchanging year over year , with artificial intelligence information representing a bigger chunk of the entire amount .
There are two ways to look at it . The pessimistic take would be that if it were n’t for artificial word , we would be in a inauguration financial backing slowdown . AI now represent 27 % of the total funding amount in French startup . AI startups have raised 82 % more money in 2024 compare to 2023 . And non - AI funding is down 11 % year over year .
The affirmative take is that artificial intelligencerepresentsthe next big chance for startups , with more technical school funders choosing to center on this vertical in finical . It ’s possible that some AI founders would have started a non - AI startup in a unlike environment . The tech manufacture is made out of porous vertical , with many investor adopting an opportunistic approach without any specific investment funds erect in mind .
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As a upshot of those metrics , France is still the third - largest tech ecosystem in Europe , behind the U.K. and Germany establish on total financing quantity . However , as Germany is a more decentralised land , Paris is the second European city , ahead of Berlin and behind London .
There are now 45 unicorn in France — although some of them are only unicorns on theme and might not keep that recording label for long . Three newfangled startups joined the radical in 2024 — account software program startupPennylane , business planning platformPigment , and AI - powered software dev toolPoolside .
2024 has also been a class of large - scale bankruptcies . Some company that have been in hassle admit Ynsect , Cubyn , Masteos , Luko , and Cityscoot . The change macroeconomic landscape has made it operose to set up emergence rounds without a strong financial performance to justify the investment .
In addition to Poolside , other bright AI startups based in France let in fundament model makerMistral AI , AI - based drug discovery companiesOwkinandAqemia , as well as AI applicationsPhotoRoomandDust .
Dewez believe there are a handful of late - stage company that could be ready to go public because they generate more than $ 300 million in yearly recurring revenue , develop by 20 to 30 % year over year , and are profitable or are about to become profitable . Companies that tick all those boxwood let in Back Market , Dataiku , Doctolib , Qonto , and Content Square .
And yet , just like in the U.K. , France remains a tepid market when it comes to IPOs . Most Gallic technical school companies are likely to consider listing their company in the U.S. But that sound like a difficult chore for company that do n’t already have customer in the U.S. ( Doctolib and Qonto , for instance ) .
When it comes to exits , while the total number of exit is down 14 % year over year , Dewez believes that the total passing amount has remained unchanging for the past three yr , hovering around € 12 billion .
One last interesting choice morsel that could be distressing for the next wave of startup founder , U.K. funds have been investing at a lower stride in French startups . It ’s go to be interesting to see if this trend will have wider implications for the overall wellness of the French technical school ecosystem in the coming age .
