The government sets new objectives for French Tech. After the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, who expressed to VivaTech the wish to see 10 start-ups valued at more than 10 billion dollars in 2030, including five from 2025, it is the turn of Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Digital, to revise the executive’s ambitions upwards. Cédric O’s successor wants the tricolor ecosystem to send 10 unicorns to the Paris Stock Exchange by 2025, including two valued at at least 5 billion euros.
This is a logical step for French Tech, Believe and OVHcloud having recently shown the way. As early as September 2021, Cédric O had set the objective of bringing a French start-up into the CAC 40 by 2025. It is in this sense that the government launched the Next 40, its index of young shoots. the most promising, whose name refers directly to the CAC 40. In addition, the ecosystem is reaching maturity, with 11.6 billion euros raised by French start-ups in 2021; some unicorns reach valuations allowing them to consider an IPO, like Doctolib (5.8 billion euros), Back Market (5.1 billion) or even Qonto (4.4 billion).
Make the CAC 40 as attractive as the Nasdaq?
In this context, all the ingredients seem to be in place for a growing number of French start-ups to try their luck on the Paris Stock Exchange, despite a difficult context for technology stocks. “The objective of 25 unicorns in 2025 has been exceeded, we must now prepare the rest of this growth trajectory, even if we are in a phase of uncertainty”declared Jean-Noël Barrot to the echoes. “Now is precisely the time to start the construction site. You have to be ready the day when the conjecture becomes favorable again”he added.
Despite the goodwill of the government and the financial incentives implemented in this direction by Bpifrance and the Caisse des dépôts, certain tricolor nuggets could prefer the Nasdaq to the CAC 40. This is the case of Aircall, specialist in telephony from cloud company, which aims to go public on Wall Street by 2024. Indeed, the Nasdaq seems to be a natural destination for the company, since it now generates 30% of its turnover in the United States. United, against 15% in France.
Aircall would thus follow in the footsteps of other French companies, like Criteo, which have already yielded to the sirens of the American Stock Exchange. However, things could change in the future, with the potential adoption in the European Union of a Listing Act intended to make the Stock Exchanges of the Old Continent more attractive for technological nuggets and investors. The challenge is huge for Europe, but it must be met if it wants to compete with the United States in a few years.