Communication - Press
La French Tech Community Bengaluru To Help Start-Ups Share Lessons With Global Peers
India is home to 600 French companies. Of these, 100 tech start-ups that operate in 10 cities became a part of a global French tech community on Tuesday with the launch of La French Tech Community Bengaluru-India.
The launch makes Bengaluru one of the 48 international cities which are part of the French tech movement in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and West Asia.
The French tech movement, of which India and its IT capital city Bengaluru are now a part of, is a common platform for start-ups to share and learn from each other. “I am very pleased that the Bengaluru-India Community can act as a bridge between start-ups in France and in India” said Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, at the launch of La French Tech Community Bengaluru-India.
Created in late 2013, La French Tech is the nickname of the French start-up ecosystem and is a Government-backed movement bolstering France as one of the best countries in the world to start and scale global tech champions. It encompasses start-ups that share a global ambition, at every stage in their development. French tech represents both digital pure players and medtech, biotech, cleantech start-ups among others.
Stating that India is a digital technology giant and the heart of this giant is here in Bengaluru, Ziegler said, “Close to 250 software companies have their headquarters in Bengaluru, including some of India’s most successful start-ups such as BigBasket, Ola, Swiggy and Udaan, not to mention 150 out of the 600 French companies present in India. Atos, Altran, Capgemini, Dassault Systèmes, Sopra Steria, Technicolor, Idemia and Thales are here in Bengaluru, as well as, well-known incubators and accelerators such as Numa, AirbuBizlab, Catalyst from Societe Generale and Sodexo.”
La French Tech Bengaluru-India’s agenda is to promote the local French tech ecosystem on a global scale, help French tech start-ups understand and access the Indian market and connect the Indian tech community with the French ecosystem. Two of the six Board members of La French Tech are Indians – Aruna Schwarz, founder and CEO of Stelae Technologies and Vijay Nadadur, co-founder and CEO of Stride.ai.
France is also growing into a nation of start-ups. In the first four months of this year, 165 start-ups in France raised a total of €1.43 billion, 72 per cent more than in the previous year.
Four companies reached ‘Unicorn status’ including DoctoLib, Deezer, OVH and BlaBlaCar. A recent study by Ernst & Young has named France as one of the most attractive places in the world for international investment. "Like India, we believe that the future of business, employment and perhaps even the world will be led by innovation from dynamic, young and disruptive companies" said Ziegler.
Source : The Hindu Business Line
