Roxanne Varza is the former Editor of TechCrunch France (2010-2011). She continues to contribute to TechCrunch from time to time along with other publications like The Kernel, Betakit and Business Insider.
She is also the co-founder of Girls in Tech Paris, the co-organizer of the Failcon Paris conference and the co-founder of RudeBaguette, France’s first English-language publication about the local tech startup scene.
Prior to TechCrunch, Roxanne worked for the French government’s foreign direct investment agency helping fast-growing startups develop their activities in France.
She has spoken, moderated, mentored and judged numerous startup events and programs throughout Europe and also helps European startups with content and communications.
Roxanne has an Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and Master’s degrees from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics.
The craze of printing Instagram and Facebook photos is slowly but surely hitting Europe. Roughly a month ago, Nantes-based DarQRoom became one of the first European companies to offer high-quality Instagram printing. Prior to that, local Instagram printing services were somewhat limited to London’s StickyGram, which transforms photos into magnets.
Today, it’s Sincerely’s Postagram that is launching its service on this side of the Atlantic, allowing users to send physical postcards made on iPhone and Android devices to addresses in Europe. And just in time for Spring Break.
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Typically, when I think of an “early adopter,” French President Sarkozy doesn’t come to mind. The man who announced his intention to run for reelection on February 12th didn’t even have a verified Twitter account prior to that date. Fortunately for him and his campaign, he now has a verified account with over 97,000 followers. He has even made it clear that he signs his own tweets with NS.
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The first name that comes to mind when we talk about social games in Europe is probably Wooga. But the German-based social games publisher has a number of local competitors dispersed throughout the continent. In France, one of the names that has gotten a lot of attention is Kobojo, who is behind PyramidVille and Goobox.
Well, now there is a new kid on the block: Pretty Simple. And the company has just raised €2.5 million with Idinvest Partners (formerly AGF Private Equity) to produce 2-4 new games per year. → Read More
I have no idea if Lady Gaga, Jessica Alba or Cameron Diaz have good taste. But whoever is designing their fashion accessories is also selling pieces on Boticca.com. The London-based startup that launched it’s high-end designer marketplace in October 2010 has been getting quite a bit of attention from investors over the last few months. Finally, the team is announcing that it has closed a £1.5 million (or $2.5 million) round – primarily for developing editorial content, additional market channels and adding new people to the team. → Read More
“a friend in the US just told me that #DSK was arrested by the police in a NYC hotel one hour ago.”
It was the middle of the night in Paris when the news broke that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Chief of the IMF, had been pulled off an Air France flight and arrested for sexual assault. Coincidentally, he was also set to announce his candidacy for the 2012 French presidential elections next month – and could therefore become one of the strongest opponents of President Sarkozy. But now it looks like the Parti Socialiste may have to nominate someone else… → Read More
Facebook may have over 600 million users but there’s still one problem: all the info is online! How on earth are you supposed to know if that cutie you just met is single or married without access to his or her profile?! Ok, yes, you could just ask – but that’s not very tactful now, is it? So, rather than having to muster up any courage and attack the subject head on, we could all just wear our relationship status and make it easier for everyone. At least, that’s what Buump thinks we should do.
The company sells colorful plastic bracelets featuring the 5-different relationship status options in English for €5.99. There is also an additional pack with the 5 “looking for” options sold for the same price. And you can buy all 10 bracelets for €10.99 (the site also lets you buy in bulk and customize your own bracelets for orders of 1,000 or more). → Read More
Whoa, so Alven Capital has been a pretty busy bee this year – especially for a French fund. This is something like the 5th investment that the fund has announced since January, totalling over €8.5 million ($12.25 million) invested in companies like Entropysoft, HappyView, MobPartner and QuelleEnergie. Today’s investment of €1 million ($1.4 million) goes to custom travel site, Planetveo. → Read More
Oh yes, France does indeed have a tech scene. And today, TechCrunch France is hosting the first edition of #TCFRecipes in Paris, an event that will cover all the ins and outs of what’s happening in the French startup world – in English – with some of France’s hottest entrepreneurs and investors.
Hey, remember those Italian guys who spent 2 years trying to get their startup funded in Italy and raised $101K in 19 days when they arrived in the States? There’s a tendency on this side of the Atlantic to criticize European investors but it turns out they may not be so different from their American counterparts after all. The proof? It has just surfaced that Jimmy Fairly – a brand new “buy one give one” startup that was born at Startup Weekend Toulouse in November – managed to score €200K in just 3 weeks. → Read More
Social networking is definitely no longer targeting just the young adult demographic – and Kima Ventures wants a piece of the larger social networking pie. Xavier Niel and Jérémie Berrebi’s seed fund has just announced a $150K investment in YellowBrck, a Foursquare-like social network for parents. → Read More
Recently, Paris-based Tigerlily seemed like it was slipping under the radar. It’d been a while since we’d heard anything from the company that we suggested Nestlé take a look at when the brand came under fire on social media platforms last year. Tigerlily had also caught a bit of attention before, as it was a finalist for LeWeb in 2009 and the Europas last year. But the startup that specializes in social marketing or Facebook fan page solutions has just announced that it has raised €900K or $1.3 million. → Read More
In January, MediaStay became the first French ad network to be approved by Facebook. Then, in the beginning of April, the company announced that it had raised €15 million ($21.5 million) to take its Tap-joy like game monetization solutions international – mainly in the US.
Today, MakeMeReach, a similar French ad network, is announcing that it too has raised money for international development. The company – which was approved by Facebook in January shortly after MediaStay – has just closed a €3 million ($4.3 Million) round with 3 French funds, Alven Capital, Siparex and UFG-Siparex. The cofounders are still apparently the primary shareholders. → Read More
Alright, who is up for a round of Lily Allen Tetris? Yes, that’s right, now you challenge your friends to various games on Facebook and select the music as well. But this is about more than just background music. MXP4‘s new social music gaming app – called Bopler Games – uses the company’s “automated level design” technology to automatically synchronize the game with the song, based on its melody, rhythm and structure. Translation: the difficulty of the game will reflect your selection in music.
The application currently features 4 different games – including previously released Pump it, which hit 1 million users within its first month. MXP4 is also in the process of developing another 6 games, which should be released shortly. → Read More
If you’re one of those people that thinks that horoscopes are a load of nonsense – simply vague statements that could essentially fit anyone – you’re definitely not alone. But Astrolome is seeking to change that. The Israeli startup has just closed a seed round of $300K with Kima Ventures and some additional business angels in order to develop a real-time personalized horoscope platform.
The company’s secret sauce lies in using an individual’s birth chart (date, time and place of birth) and current location to provide a more accurate reading than the majority of horoscopes – which give strictly sun sign information. Therefore, each user receives a more customized astrological reading rather than generic information designed to pertain to as many people as possible. In addition, the platform is complete with social features, enabling users to rank forecasts for accuracy and share comments on various events with their friends and other users. → Read More
Mediastay is a French company that kind of stands out from the rest – and not just because it was founded by a group of teenagers back in 2000 (co-founder Eric Bennepthali started back when he was 16). The 60-person company specializing in online gaming payment solutions has just announced that it has closed a €15 million ($21.5 million) round of funding for further international development. The money comes from Iris Capital and IdInvest Partners (formerly AGF Private Equity). → Read More
With gas at roughly $4/gallon, French carpooling site Covoiturage.fr has just announced some 1 million carpoolers on its site. Now, its competitor Tickengo has just scored a seed round with Kima Ventures. Coincidence?
The rather active seed fund of Xavier Niel and Jeremie Berrebi did not reveal the exact amount invested in Tickengo’s platform, which was initially launched in 2006 in only 4 French cities: Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse. It wasn’t until 2008 that the platform opened up to all of France and later became available to the US, Canada, the UK and Belgium. → Read More
Yeah, this round of funding is huger than huge. Well, at least for Europe. And while it may be nowhere near Groupon’s, like, billion-dollar-round, it is definitely amongst the bigger deals on this side of the Atlantic.
Multiple sources have confirmed that they are currently in discussion with Luxemburg-based Wikio Groupe, who is in the process of securing a very large round of funding. While no official information has been released, the 8-figure number could easily hit 9-figures in USD given the current exchange rate. That would make it one of the biggest rounds of funding to take place in Europe this year. → Read More
Rumors have been flying around for the last week about a possible acquisition of DailyMotion, the French-born equivalent of YouTube. And the first half of the 2-part transaction has just been confirmed; Orange will acquire roughly 49% of the company for approximately €59 million (€58.8 million) with the rest to follow shortly. → Read More
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