Startup founders may have some flaws, but indifference is usually not one of them.
All of them change the world and create new things because they care deeply and commit themselves fully to their mission. And that is the trait we love the most in all our stakeholders.
The good news is that there is more than one way to join our ecosystem of movers and shakers, so check them out and pick your best fit!
Today’s newsletter is a snapshot of our collective achievement during the last two weeks.
Enjoy it as much as we did writing it!
🐣 Startup News
Barbara Sapik, founder and CEO of STYL, on the future of gaming and female entrepreneurship
Playing is enmeshed in the fabric of society, it serves a ubiquitous role in learning and creating social bonds. Gaming constitutes its most modern version, pushing the boundaries in countless directions. Today we immerse ourselves in the world of gaming with Barbara Sapik, alumni of the HEC - 42 Launchpad and founder of STYL (Smart Technology You Love), a one-of-a-kind company designing smart objects, hybrids between classical tools and digital games. Their very first product is a motion control for smartphone games in the shape of a pen called Spinity.
What are your thoughts on the future of gaming in the next 5 or 10 years?
[…] Nowadays, when you think of a game, you generally think of a video game. I find it quite sad. I think we are increasingly looking for reality in our gaming experience, through emotions and sensations, seeing, hearing but also touching. We’re already seeing huge progress in video games requiring players to be active. That’s also STYL’s objective.
A recent study ran by BCG reveals that women-led startups since 2008 raised on average 2.5 times less than men-led startups in the tech sector. Does this resonate with your own experience?
“ […] I was very lucky to be honest. Our first investment came through Xavier Niel, the big founder of Station F and Ecole 42. Therefore in my experience since the early beginning, it wasn't a question of man or woman. […]
However, questions from VCs and business angels are very different for a man and for a woman I think. Men are raised to think that they are the best and that they can achieve whatever they envision, no limits. Questions for men are designed to boost their motivation. Questions for women are: “How are you going to make sure that clients stay with you?”, “Aren’t you scared you won’t exist anymore in 5 years?”, “Is the business you’re in safe enough?”, “Are you sure you’ll have enough clients?”, “Do you really need that much? Maybe we can do less.” and so on. Most questions directed to women revolve around safety. […]”
💰 Funding
The economy might be navigating through uncertain times, but 4 of our startups have nonetheless managed to raise considerable funds in the last few months:
Badakan, platform enabling companies to find and manage staff for short-term missions, raised €5 millions.
Garantme, service which facilitates access to housing by acting as a rent warrantor, raised €4 millions.
SaaS startup TwicPics has raised €1.2 million to keep building their responsive-image-as-a-service platform and save the internet from web bloat.
Spacefill, platform offering professional temporary storage in more than 3,000 partner warehouses in Europe, just raised €7 millions and was praised by Bruno Le Maire.
🏆 Prizes
This fall we are celebrating social and eco-friendly startups! Toutes mes aides is cited amongst the 10 best initiatives Tech for Good 2020 and Vertuo is one of the finalists of the Cleantech Open France prize in the category Water, Air and Biodiversity Protection.
🗓 Events
In this regard, you can further your commitment to sustainability with Lakaa who is co-organizing a big cleanwalk on September 19th in Paris. Or join Vesta Construction Technologies at the GreenTech Verte 2020 meetup on October 5th in Station F.
Also interested in what the future has to hold in terms of business? We’ve got you covered! Learn about the digitalization of HR with Elevo. Join them online at the Future of HR event in partnership with Deloitte on September 29th. Or join Pitchboy at the HR trade fair on September 22nd, 23rd and 24th at Porte de Versailles.
🍾 Launches
Hopefully you didn’t miss last week’s interview of Tom Pullen, founder and CEO of Innovinco because he just announced the launch of INNO 101, a series of 2-minute innovation YouTube videos three times per week. And hopefully nor did you miss Driss Hafid’s interview in the newsletter before that, because he also announced the official launch of Bunji, a software specifically engineered for realtors, this September.
Need a fresh start? Bulb and Luko are launching NouveauDepart.eu in France to help you save money and make eco-friendly decisions while moving in to a new house. And Garantme is launching a service which supports businesses in their search of new office spaces.
🔧 Tools
Dropcontact.io has made its debut on Zapier to automatically integrate email search, data verification and enhancement on all your sales and marketing workflows.
Elevo has created an HR toolkit.
💼 Jobs
Luko is the leading neoinsurance company in France and has one ambition: to protect millions of European households. In their opinion, insurance is not an end but a means to take part in the construction of a fairer society. They are looking for their CRM manager to contribute to their growth!
Garantme is the startup that has the keys to your next home. No guarantor? No problem! The Garantme team is young, multicultural, talented and dynamic. Join them!
It’s back to school! École M developed a new model of bilingual kindergarten to offer each child a personalized education and reduce educational inequalities. By 2023, their goal is to develop a network of 15 innovative bilingual schools. Today, École M is looking for afterschool tutors!
To find all of our startups’ job offers in one place, we created a job board. It’s new, check it out!
🎧 Podcasts
Anomia : “The reference in media law” with Christophe Bigot (in French)
SeedLegals : “The legal need-to-knows when incorporating, fundraising and growing your business”, When Unicorns Fly / The Startup Podcast with Anthony Rose
Okarito : “How to close a €2.1M seed for a SaaS Business Travel, a few days before lockdown”, Runway Series Originals with Rémi Duvoux
🎥 Videos
For the first time in very dense city centers, Celsius plugs in buildings to geothermal energy, reducing carbon emissions by 90%.
Geoffrey Costilhes was on B SMART to introduce Popmii, augmented reality without using an app.
Talking about tech, have you ever wondered why women are still utterly underrepresented in tech entrepreneurship? Listen to what Isabelle Rabier, founder and CEO of Jolimoi, has to say about this.
🚀 Incubator news
Conversation with Frédéric Iselin, affiliate professor at HEC Paris
All too often we tend to associate professors with purely theoretical knowledge. This is far removed from the truth, just take a minute to meet Frédéric Iselin, affiliate professor at HEC Paris and founder of two different innovative startups, to change your mind. In this conversation, we will cover several subjects ranging from pricing to how conflicts arise in the founding team of a startup.
“France is paradise for entrepreneurs. I think we need to realize that.”
- Frédéric Iselin, affiliate professor of entrepreneurship at HEC Paris
Why each startup is like our first boyfriend/girlfriend
What kind of partner are we?
Not a one night stand
Incubated startups can stay as long as they wish.
Not self-obsessed
We’re focused on teaching and empowering others.
Not controlling
Incubees pick and choose which ressources they need.
Not jealous
We always push our startups to get what they can wherever they can.
What kind of ex are we?
In one word, caring. We keep in touch and encourage our alumni to come back as experts, speakers or business angels for the next gen, but that’s not all…
🍾 Launches
Don’t miss the online launch of a new center on artificial intelligence and data analytics for science, business and society by HEC Paris and Institut Polytechnique de Paris. You can log in with the username “Event” and the password “live2020-b”.
🗺️ International
This week was supposed to be the first at the Incubator for 5 Korean startups which had been selected to join us for a three-month program. Unfortunately, their physical visit to Paris had to be cancelled, but we saw it as an opportunity to evolve our offering and switched to a full online program.
And thus this week was actually the start of our this program, so stay tuned to discover their projects and achievements!
🔗 Top clicked links of our last newsletter
Episode 2 of Sparkmate with Claire Chabaud, CEO of FusionBra
Rémi Rivas, mentor at the Incubateur HEC Paris, encourages entrepreneurs to think out of the box
Backacia: a solution to reduce waste from construction and public works
📧 Contact
“Ask not what startups can do for you – ask what you can do for startups”