Macron goals for surge in variety of French tech unicorns by 2030 By Reuters

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron, who sees progress within the nation’s tech sector as essential to his plans to spice up the general economic system, stated on Friday he hoped for a surge within the variety of French tech “unicorns” or start-ups by 2030.

Macron stated he wished the variety of French know-how unicorns to succeed in at the least 100 by 2030, in comparison with 27 at current.

“What goal am I fixing for us? To attempt to develop 10 tech giants in Europe, within the coming 5 years, and to extend the variety of our unicorns to at the least 100 by 2030, which is possible,” Macron advised the Paris VivaTech convention.

Paris has historically lagged New York, California and in addition London in Europe as a know-how and finance hub, however the French know-how sector has just lately notched up a number of high-profile fundraising rounds for some firms.

Macron’s preliminary election as President in 2017 additionally coincided with the launch of the tech sector start-up web site ‘Station F’ in Paris.

Earlier this yr, French on-line financial institution Qonto raised 486 million euros ($508.eight million), know-how and knowledge administration firm Castor raised $23.5 million whereas Shift Expertise final yr closed a $220 million fund-raising spherical.

Macron additionally welcomed the truth that Paris has been residence to some high-profile tech sector flotations.

French cloud computing firm OVHCloud floated final yr, whereas French music streaming platform Deezer can also be planning a Paris inventory market itemizing.

($1 = 0.9552 euros)