London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Why French start-ups had a record year despite COVID

Why French start-ups had a record year despite COVID

Only 11 per cent of CEOs for French start-ups were women, a new report by EY shows.

France continues to be one of the main players on Europe’s start-up scene, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on global economies, the country’s start-ups showed striking resilience and even improved on the pre-pandemic year, according to a new survey.

French digital startups grew in 2020 to record almost €7 billion of revenue, according to EY’s annual barometer of social and economic performance of French digital start-ups.

The study also showed the start-ups global revenue increased by 15 per cent compared to 2019.

Just over a third of entrepreneurs also said that the pandemic had no impact on their financing.

“Start-ups are more resilient because first, they were able to adapt very quickly to remote work, they were able to work with more agility and because of that they can be stronger,” Franck Sebag, partner at EY France, told Euronews Next.

“And we know that during this kind of crisis, for some of them, it is actually an opportunity”.

European competition


French start-ups also found opportunities outside the country. The study said 36 per cent of revenues in 2020 were generated outside of France. Meanwhile, 29 per cent of French startups were found to be backed by international investors.

But while France is recording record activity, its start-up scene is only third in Europe in terms of Venture Capital activity behind the United Kingdom and Germany.

Sebag says though the challenge should be for European countries to come together in the fight for global start-up success.

“In China, we have a kind of a slowdown on tech due to regulation,” he said.

“In Europe, for just the first half of the year, we have three times more new unicorns than in China. It means that we have something to interact and we know that between China and the US [the relationship] is not so smooth.

“So perhaps it's a good time to be more aggressive. And clearly, the key question is how are we going to have European leaders more than the national ones”.

Another reason for France’s start-up success is due to public support.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to turn France into a “start-up nation” and in 2019 he announced a €5 billion fund to support tech investments with €2 billion earmarked to help startups scale up.

He also set an ambitious target of having at least $25 billion-plus (€21 billion) companies in France by 2025.

“The public support was really great, and we believe that it should be perpetuated because it has contributed to the optimism of the ecosystem,” Clara Audry, a partner at CapHorn Invest, told Euronews Next.

“I think 77 per cent of the start-up are using the tech tax credit, compared with 60 per cent in 2019. And we have also the innovation tax credit, which is used by 64 per cent of start-ups.

“Indeed, the French government was very helpful”.

French digital startups grew in 2020 to record almost €7 billion of revenue, according to EY’s annual barometer


Strong leadership through COVID


But another reason for the success of French start-ups is also due to leadership, Audry said.

“I think maybe one common ground between start-ups or companies hit by the crisis would be the strong leadership and the ability to basically show a new plan, whether it is growth or not, a strong culture and leadership, even more, when people work remotely.

“I think it has been instrumental,” she said, adding that the ecosystem grew in 2020.

Job creation but far from gender parity


One way French start-ups have contributed to the French ecosystem is job creation. The report noted that 4,897 jobs were created by the start-ups it surveyed in 2020, which represents an increase of 13 per cent in growth.

The report also highlighted that the majority of these jobs were also for CDIs, which is an open-ended or permanent contract in France.

Recruitment is crucial for French startups to grow and remains an important focus area for CEOs, the survey said.

It also showed that parity had improved with 43 per cent female employees, compared to 36 per cent the year before.

But there is still a long way to go for gender equality as the survey found only 11 per cent of CEOs were women.

Audry says parity is improving in launching teams but admits there is still a long way to go.

“The figures show without any doubt that it is a state that's still unbalanced,” said Audry.

One solution to getting more women at the top of the ladder, she says, is teaching the entrepreneurship spirit at an early age.

“I believe that it's probably going very deep and in that in the early days and I would say school would be one of the answers for promoting entrepreneurship earlier without any consideration of gender,” she added.

The future for French start-ups


Despite the optimistic outlook for French start-ups in possibly one of the most challenging years, they still need to find resources to grow.

The survey said 21 per cent of the start-ups questioned said they were engaged to take out a loan within the next 12 months and 29 per cent are “probably considering it”.

The report also said talent was the key to growth in 2020.

But the survey said despite all the struggles, start-ups have faith in the future. A majority of them expect revenue growth between 26 per cent and 50 per cent for next year.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×