Coming to America: French Start-Ups Cross the Atlantic

FrenchFounders' inaugural Startup Tour, an event set up to promote French innovation around the world, culminated in an immensely successful grand finale in September hosted by BNP Paribas in New York. Eight finalists fought it out for supremacy following a series of local competitions held across the US, Canada and France that took in 200 initial applications.

Each participating startup had at least one French-speaking founder and was located (or in the process of establishing a location) in North America, with a jury comprising a panel of nine notable C-Suite jurors from various industries. These included the Vice Chairman of Colgate Palmolive, Franck Moison, and Deputy CEO of Eurazeo, Virginie Morgon.

In attendance was Mounir Mahjoubi, the French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, who kicked off proceedings by noting the global growth of French tech and entrepreneurship. He also highlighted the importance of diversity and, in particular, the empowerment of women in tech as essential foundations for further growth: "If you want different companies, you need different people."

Each of the eight finalists presented a four-minute pitch, followed by a two-minute Q&A in front of the jury. While the jury deliberated, Sabrina Quagliozzi of BFM TV chaired a discussion transatlantic development with French Parliament member Roland Lescure and investor Frédéric Montagnon.