In France, Shaila Sahai says pitching investors usually goes like this.
She is a woman, Black and a CEO, and when she walks into a meeting with investors, armed with a slide deck for her fintech startup We Take Part, she’s often greeted with bafflement. “They are surprised, and they can’t hide it,” she told me.
She’ll go on to pitch her company, and then: “They usually just leave the conversation,” she said. “I’ve had people say, ‘Oh, okay, nice, very interesting. Thank you. See you soon.’ And we were in the middle of a conversation.”
In France, Sahai isn’t alone in facing this almost systemic avoidance of people who look like her, but you wouldn’t be able to find any proof of it. The French startup ecosystem for Black founders is shrouded in mystery, especially because France’s embrace of universalism and its color-blind approach to economic and social policy has meant that there is little to no data or visibility into the startup and venture capital industry’s racial and ethnic diversity.
The country does not track its racial diversity metrics (former French president Nicolas Sarkozy tried and failed to change that about 14 years ago), meaning that while racism continues to exist in the country like everywhere else in the world, there is no hard evidence of that racism. Many Black founders are reluctant to draw attention to themselves and instead move in silence, contributing to a lack of success stories about them.
We have to fight all these stereotypes to prove we can do interesting things.
For those looking to break into the tech sector, this lack of information makes it look like there is nothing happening within venture capital for Black founders.
Naturally, that isn’t true: Laura Pallier raised a $20 million Series A for her fintech SaaS platform Regate last September; Alvyn Severien closed a $13 million Series A for his algae products company Algama in January; Nelly Chatue-Diop raised $2 million last year for her web3 investment startup Ejara; Bruno Mendes Da Silva raised $3.5 million last year for his AI-focused data startup Heex Technologies; and Sebastien Luissaint raised $2.4 million last August for Myditek, an agtech startup.
This list isn’t comprehensive, of course, but it’s representative of the fact that Black founders can and do run fast-growing businesses in tech and other fields. “We are invited to speak, we are invited onstage to testify,” Sahai said. “But we have more to bring to the table than just testaments. We should be invited to the decision-making process. We should be funded. And that’s it.”
“It’s impossible that you can be their equal”
Black people in France have faced a long history of discrimination that’s been swept under the rug. Many Black people in France hail from or are descendants of immigrants from its Outremer or “overseas departments” — mostly islands such as Réunion and Martinique — and are legally French citizens. Others have ancestors from former French colonies in Africa, including Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal.
Sahai, who was born and raised in France, believes the country is still “embarrassed” about its history of enslaving and colonizing Africans and Afro-Caribbeans. Despite that, deep-seated racial stereotypes and prejudices still fester in the country, manifesting in the form of economic discrimination against Black entrepreneurs, a few founders told TechCrunch+.
Compared to the U.K., where there have been more open and honest conversations about racism and colonialism, she said the French don’t want to acknowledge their history.
Rodolphe-Emmanuel Hospice, founder of a healthcare company Clikodoc, based in Martinique, often has to go to mainland France to fundraise due to a lack of investors on the island. But when he does get to France, he sees many people like him being treated as if they’re complete foreigners, he told TechCrunch+.
“We are seen as rural people [instead of] urban people. We are not taken seriously,” he said, adding that Islanders like himself are often considered lazy. “Also, we come from small markets, so we have to fight all these stereotypes to prove we can do interesting things.”
He also said some financiers like French fintech Silvr — which partners with French banks to help founders get funding — only work with companies located on the mainland. “It does not include financing startups based in the Outremer, and we don’t have any understanding as to why,” he said. “It’s impacting Black founders indirectly because those overseas territories are mainly populated by Black, mixed-race and Indian people, and it limits our access to funding.”
Silvr confirmed to TechCrunch+ it does not offer products in the Outremer and will not do so, at least for the upcoming year. The company did not immediately respond to comment as to why it doesn’t offer services in those regions.
Granted, there are reasons why a company such as this might not operate in the Outremer, such as the cost. The absence still has an impact on the startup ecosystem, however. Indirect discrimination also impacts people on the mainland, regardless of whether it’s intended.
Paris is segregated along class lines which separate the city along ethnic lines, too. Many Black and brown people within the Île-de-France region live in what is known as the “banlieues” or the “outskirts” of Paris. The conditions of these neighborhoods vary, but they nevertheless have negative stereotypes. Raphaël Jabol, the founder of legal services startup Ekie, grew up in one of these neighborhoods.
While Jabol didn’t necessarily feel discriminated against when he sought fundraising, he still described the ordeal of learning the social codes of the venture ecosystem as “tough.” “This is the first step of creating inequality,” he said. “Poor education.”
Moulaye Tabouré, founder of African e-commerce platform Anka, said his first investors were largely French angels or former entrepreneurs. As an African, his relationship with the French landscape is somewhat different from that of someone from the Outremers. The African market is much larger, with noted billion-dollar growth, and it has more public success stories and multiple unicorns.
Still, he had his challenges. Though he said he felt discrimination in the ecosystem wasn’t necessarily based on skin color, he believes there is a lack of cultural awareness on the part of the investors. He was often questioned about the size of the African market, or about whether people would actually buy his product. “With clear ignorant undertones,” Tabouré added. “No matter what data points you share with them, because it is so far from most investors’ reality, and they are not curious or risk-prone, you feel perpetually out of place.”
Sahai summed it up differently: French sociocultural beliefs and actions are contradictory, and when founders from Black backgrounds come into meetings, investors don’t know what to do. When faced with a Black founder, she feels most of the French investment community’s thoughts flow something like: “Should we welcome them and give them the same chance and the same place as the others, or should we remain careful?”
“It’s impossible that you can be their equal,” she said.
Yet, there is positive movement in the ecosystem
Despite all that, France is not without its share of investors who want to live in a more equitable world.
Tech accelerators like Les Déterminés, L’Ascenseur, Station F’s Fighters Program, and French Tech Tremplin are making strides in helping empower people from “underprivileged” backgrounds, though the French usually look at this from a class perspective.
Any fund looking to boost resources for Black founders in the country will probably have to market itself similarly to avoid causing cultural discomfort by being so obvious with its mission. This aspect of French culture is called “doing things without naming them,” one founder told me.
Many French Black founders often don’t rely solely on French investors and frequently look to other countries for venture capital funding, including the U.K. There’s also Google Black Founders Fund, which targets Europe broadly, and Brussels-based The Blueprint VC, which is currently regarded as one of the only funds with an investment thesis aimed at backing diverse founders in France and Belgium.
Anka’s Tabouré depended on Station F and EuraTechnologies, and said most of the practical tips for his company came from conversations with peers or online content like YC Startup School. He said many diversity initiatives hadn’t lasted long in France but pointed to helpful programs such as Afrique Diaspora, which seeks to help Black founders from all parts of the Francophone world, including Francophone Africa. Pass Africa, launched by Bpifrance and the African Presidential Council, also seeks to provide resources for French founders in Africa.
There are several accelerators, too. Within the Outremer, entrepreneurs can tap a number of networks, including the Outre-Mer Network and territory-specific networks, such as the Guyane Développement Innovation and J’Hoptimise in Guyane (French Guiana), and Le Village, Le Réseau Entreprendre, and Techbooster in Martinique. Other funding schemes and government grants exist, of course, and since these territories have more diverse ethnic populations, the intake of these programs is inherently more inclusive.
But after tapping into these resources, some Black founders choose to still gear up to raise venture fundraising in France. They understand the basics: Work harder, prove traction and provide investor returns.
When I asked Clikodoc’s Hospice if he’s heard how Black founders are typically treated in mainland France so he can prepare, he said that ambiguity is still one of the main problems. “That’s what we’re missing,” he said. “We’re missing the success stories that can inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs. There are no real stories about Black founders in France.”
Jérôme Idylle, who is looking to raise capital for his Outremer-based software services company, said stories of Black people finding success are underreported, which only serves to reinforce biases and prevents them from receiving support and other forms of social capital. In turn, that results in lucrative business networks remaining closed to them.
To overcome these obstacles, he advocates demonstrating by example. “Create success stories again and again,” he said. “We have Black entrepreneurs who have managed to go beyond all these limits and have paved the way.”
Eight years ago, Idylle managed to raise $1 million from a crowdfunding campaign for his first startup, and he says in 2015, his company became the first West Indian tech startup to raise venture funds from a Parisian firm. He’s going back to Paris now for his new company, and he remains undeterred. “It’s all a matter of time until things change in the right direction,” he said.
But for others, it’s already too late. Sahai has started looking to the U.S. and the rest of Europe for money. “I have no hope,” she said of the French landscape.