Exclusive: French tech firms which raised over €1 million in 2009
[France] As my first post on Techcrunch Europe I thought it could be interesting to give you some insights on the French market, and especially the situation regarding fund raising. So here is a list of (almost all) French companies in the web industry that have raised more than €1 million in 2009. Divided into three categories (Web, Mobile & E-Commerce), they are ranked by decreasing amount, and then by date.
Despite all my research, I cannot guarantee that this list is 100% exhaustive, but I am pretty confident that this list covers 95% of transactions made in 2009. Don’t look for a source for each line, they were too numerous. But the main ones were company or investor websites, Journal du net or Neteco and blogs etc – and of course previous articles published on TechCrunch ;-)
Web
- Easyvoyage : 31,6 million euros in Oct. 09. As related on Techcrunch, this financial transaction (the largest one of the year in France) is a mix between fundraising and LBO. 21, 1 million euros were invested in equity by new investors Gimv and UFG Private Equity and 10,5 million via loan. Funds Actem Partners and Seventure quit the capital of the company. Easyvoyage is a comparison engine for travel deals with activities in several European countries.
- Dailymotion : 17 million euros in Oct 09. No need to present the second video sharing platform after Youtube. As we related earlier on Techcrunch, Advent Venture Partners, Partech International, Atlas Ventures, AGF Private Equity and FSI participated to this third round.
- Goom Radio : 9 million euros in April 09. It’s the second round after a first one of 3,2 million, with Wellington Partners, Partech International & Elaia Partners. Goom Radio wants to change the way we consume radios, bringing them to the web, and allowing anyone (a user or a brand) to create its own one.
- Virtuoz : 8,9 million euros in Jan. 09. After a first round of 1,6 million euros in 2005, this is huge second round, made in the US with Mohr Davidow Ventures (previous investors Galileo Partners & Inventures Group also participated). Virtuoz offers virtual agents for service and sales, enhancing user experience on brand websites.
- Tvtrip : 7 millions euros in Fev. 09. After a first round of 3,5 million euros in July 07, 7 million euros were raised with investors AGF Private Equity, Balderton Capital & Partech International. Tvtrip offers a hotel video guide allowing users to choose their hotel after looking at videos of them.
- Deezer : 6,5 million d’euros in Oct 09. It’s the second round for Deezer after a first one of 5,7 million euros. AGF Private Equity joins existing investor CM-CIC Capital Privé. With Deezer (on web & mobile) it is possible to listen for free to all kinds of music.
- Mixcommerce : 5,5 million euros in Mai 09. Mixcommerce develops e-commerce presence for brands, not only by managing the development but also the user acquisition, marketing, logistics etc. This second round of financing was made with Innovacom and Xange Private Equity.
- Kewego : 4,7 millions euros in Jan. 09. Third round for Kewego who is a B2B video platform. After two round of 5 millions euros each, existing investors Banexi Ventures Partners & CDC Entreprises participated to this new round.
- Bluekiwi : 4,7 million euros in June 09. Bluekiwi is editing Enterprise Social software, enabling companies to create powerful professionnals networks. Soffinnova partners, the historical investor, participated in this new round, joined by Dassault Systemes.
- Video Forever : 4,5 million euros in April 09. Video Forever, now For-ever.com, is specialized in the digitalizing of old supports such as VHS, slides or printed pictures. This second round was lead by 360 Capital Partners with the participation of historical investors.
- Ma-residence.fr : 3 million euros in April 09. First round with several well-known (but not named) entrepreneurs and BAs. Ma-residence.fr is a social network only for local use, such as bringing together inhabitants from buildings or from neighborhoods.
- Konbini : 3 million euros in July 09. This first round was made with NextStage. Konbini is a web-tv with different channels : society, culture, music etc. Differentiator is not coming from the technology itself but from the quality of the content they provide.
- Jolicloud : 3 million euros in July 09. Jolicloud, well known because of its founder Tarik Krim, has raised 3 million euros in a first round with VC funds Mangrove Capital Partners and Atomico Ventures. Jolicloud is a new operating system for netbooks.
- Convertigo : 3 million euros in Sept. 09. This is the first round for Convertigo with VC Auriga Partners. They’re specialized in Enterprise Mashups : allowing companies to reuse their existing assets to build “web 2.0” composite applications.
- Wedia : 2,6 million euros in June 09. Wedia is a software content management and cross-media publishing company. This second round was closed with BNP Paribas Private Equity and XAnge, historical investor in Wedia.
- Pearltrees : 2,5 million euros in Sept. 09. It’s the first round for this young company, proposing a disruptive way to share and discover the web, using maps (trees) made by users. No VC has been announced but several BAs.
- Allofamille.Fr : 2 million euros in Sept.09. The service, that will be launched Q1 of 2010, is announced as a recreation portal dedicated to kids with a full variety of content, games, social features etc. This first turn was made with D&P Entrepreneurs.
- MxP4 : 2 million euros in Mai 09. MxP4’s develops solutions for making music richer and more interactive on the web. This it the second round for them, with Soffinnova Partners and Ventech, after a first one of 5 million euros in March 07.
- Scan & Target : 1 million euros in April 09. This company provides a SaaS solution for the real-time analysis and filtering of user generated content text. Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Scientipôle Capital are the two VCs of this first round.
Mobile
- Goojet : 6 million euros in June 09. It’s the second round after a first one of 2,3 million euros back in Dec. 07. Investors include Orkos Capital, Partech International, Elaia Partners & IRDI-ICSO. Goojet is a “mobile social media” proposing an app (iPhone, android, j2me etc.) to discover and share different kind of news, links etc. on the mobile. (Disclosure : I am working @ Goojet)
- Streamezzo : 4 million euros in Mai 09. It’s the fourth round (previous one was in Dec. 07 for 15 million euros!) for this company offering rich media technologies in B2B for mobile applications. Investors include Sofinnova Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, Qualcomm, NTEC, GET Valorisation and newcomer Innovacom.
- Meilleurmobile.com : 3 million euros in April 09. This is the third round, with Oddo Private Equity, for this online shop specialized in selling mobile phones with or without contract. Differentiator is a huge database allowing visitors to compare all kinds of combinations with phones, operators, options etc.
- Unowhy : 2,9 million euros in April 09. This first round was made with 123Venture. Unowhy is a digital media group editing content, services but also hardware (iPhone apps but also recently the QooQ tablet) in the culinary field.
- Playsoft : 1,5 million euros in Oct. 09. This funding round came from OTC Asset Management. Playsoft is specialized in the edition in B2B of mobile applications for several platforms, with a strong focus on games.
E-Commerce
- Delamaison.fr : 10 million euros in July 09. It’s the second round for Elbee, the company behind Delamaison.fr, who is the number one in France on the home furniture e-commerce market. Investors include NextStage, XAnge Private Equity & OTC Asset Management.
- Spartoo : 10 million euros in Oct 09. It’s not 100% official but this European Zappos-like is about to close its third round (previous rounds : 1,2 then 4,3 millions with A Plus Finance & CM-CIC Capital Finance).
- 24h00.fr : 6,5 million euros in Jan. 09. It’s the second round (first one was 6 million euros in Feb. 07) with investors Seventure & AGF Private Equity. 24h00.fr started with a concept of private sales and is now an online shopping portal for women.
- Bazarchic : 6,5 million euros in June 09. Second round of financing for this competitor of Vente-privée.com, specialized in private sales of fashion or design products. Investors are Neuflize OBC, EPF Partners and media group Le Figaro.
- MyFab.com : 5 million euros in June 09. After a first round in Jan. 08, investors BV Capital and Alven Capital participated to this new round. Myfab is specialized in on-demand manufacturing of designer furniture and housewares.
- MadeinDesign : 4,5 millions euros in Sept. 09. First round with Gimv for this e-commerce website started in 1999 that has become the leader in France & UK in the design products market.
- Monshowroom.com : 4,3 million euros in Feb. 09. First round made with Alven Capital and Crédit Agricole Private Equity, monshowroom is an online shopping portal dedicated to women fashion products, from the current season (and not from previous one, like in private sales shops).
- Wanimo : 3 million euros in Feb. 09. Wanimo is an online shop specialized in products and accessories for pets. This is the second round for them, with Alto Invest, Alven Capital and Entrepreneur Venture.
- Alloresto : 2,5 million euros in Sept. 09. Alloresto is a portal giving access to a database of 2500 restaurants doing home catering with online ordering. This first round was closed withBNP Paribas, le Crédit du Nord and Avenir Entreprises.
- Keldelice : 1,5 million euros in March 09. Mix between a portal and a shop, Keldelice is focused on high-quality, local gourmet products, referencing more than 12000 products from 700 indepedent producers. Credit Agricole Private Equity is the unique investor of this turn.
- Expertissim : 1 million euros in Sept. 09. First round with fund Nextstage for this young campany offering the first portal to buy and sell security art items, each time valued and guaranteed by independent experts.
- Ma-papeterie.com : 1 million euros in Oct. 09. First round for this company, with Alto-Invest and NCI Gestion. Ma-papeterie.com is an online shop specialized in stationary and office supplies.
- Maxicheque : 1,04 million euros in March 09. Maxicheque is editing electronic gift certificates that can be used on plenty of online shops. This round, the third one, was made with several private investors.
- Sesamea : 1 million euros in April 09. Up&net, the company behind Sesamea has made this first round of financing with CapDecisif and Caisse Interfédérale du Crédit Mutuel. Sesamea is an online gift card provider.
Some others are not 100% web companies but are worth noting : Talend, with its open source date integration business, raised 12 million dollars in Jan. 09, Bizanga has raised 8 million dollars in Feb. 09 for its email management platform, Etoile Media Group, a CRM and online micropayment specialist, has raised 8 million euros in Sept. 09 Anevia, an IPTV & VOD solutions provider has raised 5 million euros in April 09, Rhapso has raised 3,5 million euros for its CAD software in Mai 09, Squid Solutions, a customer Intelligence company, has raised 3 million euros in Feb. 09, Bonitasoft, editing an open-source BPM soft, raised 2 million euros in Sept. 09, Talentsoft, a SaaS for human ressources and talent management, has raised 1,6 million euros in Oct. 09, Systancia, who developps a solution for virtualising applications and workstations, has raised 1,5 million euros in Jul 09, Easycare has raised 1,65 million euros in Aug. 09 for its customer service homeshoring solutions,
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="125" width="187" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="105" width="187" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="133" width="187" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
