The initiative launched last year by the government to stimulate the financing of growing French start-ups by large institutional investors got off to a good start, prompting the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire to raise French ambitions on Monday.
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With more than 3.5 billion euros mobilized by the 21 investor partners, including many insurers, who have generated 18 billion in investments in around fifty funds, "
this initiative has given more than the expected results
", s 'Bruno Le Maire is delighted, during the presentation of a progress report in Bercy. The initial objective was to reach 20 billion euros of investments by the end of 2022, "
I propose to you as a new objective 30 billion euros
", added the Minister, in front of representatives of partner investors.
The challenge, “
is to have start-ups that grow.
We were a nation of start-ups, we will soon become a nation of large technological companies
”, defended Bruno Le Maire, calling for the mobilization of new investors, especially foreigners.
In January 2020, in application of announcements made a few months earlier by President Emmanuel Macron, 21 institutions had committed to directing 6 billion euros of the savings they manage to growing French start-ups.
At least 25 unicorns by 2025
These young companies whose financing needs amount to tens, even hundreds of millions of euros, have difficulty finding investors capable of betting on them in France. They will "
live their life elsewhere, often in the United States
", regretted Bruno Le Maire, calling for "to
break
" with this state of affairs and "to
develop independent financing
". He expressed the wish that France could reveal by 2025 at least 25 unicorns, these companies whose value exceeds one billion euros, against 14 today.
Among the start-ups funded through this initiative, there is, for example, the company Iziwork, which has developed an application linking temporary employment offers and people looking for assignments, and raised 35 million euros last January, or SparingVision, specialist in gene therapy in ophthalmology, which raised 44.5 million euros in October 2020.