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Start-up nation: Macron’s France lures US, UK tech
PARIS, Jan 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – France was an unlikely choice of location
for Mark Heath’s new start-up, given that the American’s mastery of the
French language is, by his own cheerful admission, “atrocious”.
But the fast-talking New Yorker is among a growing crowd of British and
American entrepreneurs drawn to France by an optimistic mood under President
Emmanuel Macron and political worries at home.
“Every man has two countries — his own and France,” said Heath, quoting
his favourite old expression.
“That saying has new wind in it these days, especially with the way things
are going geopolitically.”
Heath is set to launch his company Talaria at Station F, the cavernous
Parisian train depot that has been transformed into the world’s biggest
start-up hub.
The 35-year-old fell in love with France while serving a NATO stint with
the US air force. He enrolled in a French business school last year, and is
now developing a telecoms cable for financial markets.
Aside from wanting to learn French, he picked Paris over Silicon Valley
because of a tech scene fast becoming one of the most exciting in Europe.
Anglophone entrepreneurs have long regarded France with trepidation, not
least because other European countries were seen as happier to do business in
English.
Yet Station F took more applications from US and UK start-ups last year
than any other countries, surprising even its director Roxanne Varza.
“What we’re starting to realise is that it may also be the political
climate that is making these start-ups look for a new place,” said Varza,
herself an American.
President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration tirades have rattled start-ups
reliant on international talent, she said, while some British firms are
grasping for a European foothold as Brexit looms.
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– ‘So long, fish and chips’ –
A vast glass and concrete structure filled with modern art and MacBooks,
Station F is emblematic of Macron’s vision for a dynamic new France.
Funded by telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, the 3,000-desk “campus” opened
in June shortly after Macron’s election, with Facebook and Microsoft among
companies nurturing its start-ups.
Macron has said he wants France itself to “think and move like a start-
up”, swiftly moving to reform its complex labour regulations.
That has already tempted back some French entrepreneurs who previously
turned their backs on home.
In a blog post titled “So long and thanks for all the fish and chips”,
Frenchman Jean Meyer said Macron’s reforms had prompted him to move his
dating app Once from London back home to France.
“I have lost track of the number of developers, marketing managers or data
scientists who refused to join us following the Brexit vote,” he added,
saying the labour reforms were the icing on the cake.
Yet much of what is drawing tech firms to Paris predates Macron.
State investment bank Bpifrance, set up in 2013, has played a leading role
in developing the sector, and it was Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande
who set up new visas for start-ups entrepreneurs.
And tech firms say it is long-term factors, such as universities that
produce talented engineers, that really make France attractive.
Yet investment firm Atomico credited Macron with fuelling higher optimism
in France than anywhere else in its 2017 State of European Tech report, not
least thanks to his planned tax cuts.
Britain remained the biggest recipient of venture capital funding at $5.4
billion (4.4 billion euros) with France behind on $2.1 billion — but France
closed the most deals, it noted.
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– Admin woes –
“The amount of support given to entrepreneurs is certainly in my
perception much stronger than we could possibly get in the UK,” said Tom
Pullen, a 41-year-old Londoner who launched his consultancy Innovinco in
Paris last year.
“Here we’re sure to remain inside the single market,” added Pullen.
“For a start-up business like mine which is targeting large corporations –
– it will necessarily make things easier.”
But for Zahir Bouchaala, another Brit who has moved into Station F, it
would be an overstatement to say that doing business in France has changed
overnight.
“It was a lot simpler to open and a maintain a company in the UK,”
admitted the 35-year-old software developer, though he too is positive about
the mood under Macron.
Station F has a large office connecting entrepreneurs with officials to
explain complex regulations, from patents to social security.
Even so, Bouchaala is grappling with a bewildering stream of paperwork on
everything from pensions to healthcare, now that his firm Bevolta has grown
into a team of 10.
“France is still a country that is employee-focused more than boss-
focused,” he said. “Even in the start-up world.”
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