The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire made this statement during a trip to the VivaTech show in Paris. France does not currently have any of these companies whose value reaches 10 billion dollars.
The French new technologies sector must have ten “decacorns“, companies whose value reaches 10 billion dollars, by 2030, launched Wednesday the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, during a trip to the VivaTech fair in Paris. “I set you other goals: ten “decacorns” in 2030, five in 2025“, affirmed Bruno Le Maire, after being pleased that France now has 27 “unicorns“, that is to say young technology companies valued more than a billion dollars.
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The government had set itself the objective of 25 unicorns by 2025, finally reached faster than expected, but France currently has no technology company valued at more than 10 billion dollars, unlike other countries. European countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden. The two most important French unicorns – Doctolib and Back Market – are worth around 5 billion dollars.
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The Minister of the Economy particularly emphasized the need for France to develop its ecosystem of start-ups in connection with the ecological transition. With 1,800 start-ups in this field, “we are fourth in Europe. It’s not good, our place is first“, defended Bruno Le Maire. “Tech companies must be the first in Europe in the fight against climate change within 5 years“, he said, presenting a prize to 20 young companies.
Support for financing start-ups
The ecological transition is one of the central themes of this edition of VivaTech, with the presentation of several innovations and the presence for the first time of the car manufacturer Tesla.
To achieve these objectives, Bruno Le Maire is committed to supporting the financing of start-ups. “Everyone has seen that financing conditions are changing radically. Easy money (..) is over and everyone must be aware of it” but “our responsibility is to continue to secure you solid funding in other ways“, he promised, citing the European initiative “scale-upwhich plans to release more than 3 billion euros, or the France 2030 investment plan launched last year by Emmanuel Macron.
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The VivaTech show, a major French event devoted to digital, began on Wednesday in Paris, for four days of discussions around the latest innovations in the sector, such as the metaverse and the “web3”, the new concepts which are shaking up the world of tech. . In 2020, it had been canceled due to the pandemic and the 2021 edition had taken place in a hybrid format, with a limitation of the gauge (5000 people maximum at the same time). A total of 140,000 people participated, including 26,000 face-to-face.
For its sixth edition, VivaTech will once again offer a website giving access to all online conferences and virtual stands. Among the headliners on the program, the show will welcome Changpeng Zhao, the boss of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, Ryan Roslansky, the boss of the social network LinkedIn, as well as several leaders of the tech giants. , CAC40 (LVMH, Renault, Orange, Bouygues…) and representatives of the main French start-ups.
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