Paris named as Europe's leading tech ecosystem, beating London
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Paris has been named as the new European tech champion, beating London for the first time on some metrics, according to data from Dealroom, which collects information on startups and venture capital firms.
Between 2017 and 2024, the combined enterprise value of Paris startups increased 5.3 times, compared with 4.2 times for London, Dealroom said, after assessing dozens of metrics that contribute to a successful tech ecosystem.
Although London attracted bigger funding rounds, the actual valuations of the companies have not increased dramatically, while the funding rounds secured by Paris-based companies have had a bigger impact on valuations, it said.
French tech companies, including Mistral AI and Poolside, raised $7.8 billion last year, less than London's $11.3 billion.
Europe has been falling behind other regions in tech innovations, with only some countries trying to boost tech investments.
While the market capitalisation of global tech, media and telecom companies rose from $7 trillion in 2000 to $34 trillion last year, Europe's share dropped from 30% to just 7%, a McKinsey report said on Wednesday.
If Europe had maintained its share, it would have generated an additional $8 trillion in market value, it said.
Paris is also the only European city on Dealroom's top five global champions list, which is dominated by U.S. cities.
It comes a month ahead of Paris hosting one of the largest global tech conferences, VivaTech, featuring top executives from companies such as Nvidia, Alibaba, Meta, OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic and Cohere. Last year's conference was attended by more than 165,000 people.
"It's not just about the competitiveness of Paris on the AI scene today, it's also about what will happen next and how we can keep on attracting the talent, investment, and the tech activities," Francois Bitouzet, managing director of VivaTech, told Reuters.
Since coming to power in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has talked about wanting France to be a world leader in AI and 'deep-tech', inviting several firms to invest in the country and pushing for creation of startup incubator Station F.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm. Editing by Mark Potter)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
News Analysis: Egypt embraces Chinese yuan to attract investment, strengthen ties
CAIRO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is set to allow Chinese firms to register and operate using the Chinese currency, the yuan -- an important step to facilitate investment and enhance economic relations between the two countries, according to Egyptian economic experts. Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Hassan El Khatib, recently announced that "Egypt will allow Chinese companies to register using the yuan in financial transactions, under the Central Bank of Egypt's support." The Egyptian investment law generally permits 100 percent foreign ownership in most sectors, according to a statement by the ministry. Licensing Chinese companies to use yuan in Egypt means these firms can open bank accounts in Egyptian banks with the Chinese currency, Waleed Gaballah, a member of the Egyptian Association for Political Economy, Statistics and Legislation, told Xinhua. The move will encourage more Chinese companies to pump investments in Egypt, which will further expand bilateral economic relations by facilitating trade in local currencies, he added. He explained that now the Chinese companies don't have to use mediating currency, such as the U.S. dollars, during transactions. Instead, they can use yuan directly within Egypt and transfer their profits back to China in the same currency. "Yuan succeeded in making a large international presence in payments in recent years," he added. The Egyptian economist reiterated that Egypt took this decision to strengthen economic relations between the two countries and to encourage more Chinese companies to enter the Egyptian market and activate trading in local currencies. Injecting the Egyptian markets with yuan will reduce transaction costs and will help Cairo and Beijing to have direct cooperation, Gaballah added. He expressed hope that increased Chinese investment and local production would help narrow the trade deficit between the two countries and reduce Egypt's reliance on the U.S. dollar in an indirect way. Gamal Bayoumi, head of the Cairo-based Arab Investors Union, hailed the move, given that the yuan is one of the International Monetary Fund's currencies and China is a friendly country to Egypt. He pointed out that Egypt is an important station for the Chinese companies to enter the Arab, African, and European markets. Meanwhile, Diaa Helmy, a member of the Economic Committee of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, confirmed that using the yuan in Egypt backs strategic bilateral cooperation. Egypt seeks industrial development and localization, which could happen in partnership with China, Helmy said, adding that the new decision will ease the pressure on the U.S. dollar in Egypt and the Egyptian cash reserve.
New Straits Times
4 hours ago
- New Straits Times
PM discusses high-impact strategic partnerships with 40 French captains of industry
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today chaired a roundtable meeting with 40 captains of industry from France with operations in Malaysia to discuss strategic investment and partnership opportunities in high-impact sectors at the global level. He said Malaysia offers a strategic position as a gateway into the Asean market, supported by political stability as well as investor-friendly policies and a dynamic industrial ecosystem. "I emphasised that Malaysia is now a major hub in the clean energy, semiconductor, and electrical and electronic sectors, and continues to play an important role in the oil and gas industry. "This potential has also been strengthened with the implementation of investment faciliation initiatives by government agencies," he posted on his personal X account, @anwaribrahim, after the meeting that was held in Paris on Friday. Anwar is leading a Malaysian delegation to the city in conjunction with a two-day official visit to France. French companies that participated in the roundtable session included Air Liquide, L'Oréal, Axens, Schneider Electric and Thales which have been well established in Malaysia and continue to show their strong commitment. Anwar said that at the same time, the government is also focusing on empowering small and medium enterprises so they can participate in the global supply chain and become strategic partners to foreign investors, including through technology transfer, training and talent development. "I also encouraged French companies to explore Special Economic Zones and halal parks in Malaysia as well as to establish collaborations in renewable energy, CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage), the digital economy, defence and aerospace in line with the country's inclusive and sustainable economic reformation agenda," he added. France has remained one of Malaysia's top five trading partners among European Union members. In 2024, the bilateral trade between the two nations reached RM15.95 billion (US$3.63 billion), and for the January-May 2025 period, a total of RM6.26 billion (US$1.49 billion) was recorded. – Bernama
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Soccer-Chelsea given huge fine for breach of financial rules
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Brentford - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - December 15, 2024 General view of a corner flag inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo (Reuters) -Chelsea have been fined 31 million euros ($36.50 million) by UEFA for breaches of its financial rules, while Aston Villa, Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais were also levied with large fines, UEFA announced on Friday. The punishments come with the potential for far harsher fines down the road, with Chelsea risking being hit with a further 60 million euros if they do not get their finances in order. Barcelona must pay a 15 million euro fine, with UEFA fining Lyon 12.5 million and Aston Villa five million. The teams agreed to settlement agreements which cover periods of two, three or four years, with the clubs' final targets to be fully compliant with the football earnings rule by the end of their specific settlement period. Additionally, Lyon agreed on an exclusion from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions should the French authority (DNCG) confirm the club's relegation to Ligue 2. ($1 = 0.8493 euros) (Reporting by Lori Ewing; editing by Clare Fallon)
