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realm, securing €5 billion from investors to boost tech companies over the next three years, with the aim of reaching 25 unicorns (privately held start-ups valued at more than €1 billion) by 2025. For this to succeed, the country is reliant
on independent ventures such as Station F, a €250 million project launched by Niel last year. Te campus offers accelerator schemes for early-stage businesses, from its “Founders” and “Fighters” programmes to 29 others from the likes of Facebook and Microsoſt. Te 34,000 sqm space in the 13th arrondissement on the Leſt Bank is the base for 1,200 start-ups, 3,000 workstations, eight event spaces and 60 meeting rooms. Te best way to appreciate its huge size is to approach
it from the opposite end, as I did, and walk its 310-metre length, the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower laid flat, to reach the entrance. To make life easier for those who use the place, there are “public streets” for shortcuts between the three zones – “Share”, “Create” and “Chill”. Te reception sets the tone for the design of the space, with a hologram projected overhead. It’s rather futuristic, and security is high, with a badge needed to access every zone apart from Chill. Tis area houses La Felicità, a colourful 1,000-seat food court from the Big Mamma Group – a burgeoning dining start-up that recently expanded into London with its restaurants Gloria in Shoreditch and Circolo Popolare in Fitzrovia. Other on-site benefits include a lab with 3D printers and laser cutters, and more than 40 venture capital firms to whom entrepreneurs can pitch. When I visited at the end of July, young entrepreneurs were hard at work in the pod-like meeting rooms, which
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jut over the vast central area. According to Station F, 42 per cent of them come in on weekends and 18 per cent have spent a night on campus. It seems as if their work ethic is paying off – between June 2018 and June 2019, Station F’s start-ups collectively raised €317 million. Once signed up to a programme, you can still
apply to the other schemes on offer. Take Wilov, the first pay-when-you-drive car insurance app. Initially on the Founders scheme, it was later selected by
Startup Garage from Facebook, a six-month programme for data-driven start-ups. Wilov’s chief executive, Pierre Stanislas, and chief technology officer, Philippe Breuils, were thrilled. “Te team facilitate interactions with people you would never have been able to access previously,” says Breuils, citing senior people in Silicon Valley as an example. Wilov has since featured as an “Editor’s Choice” on the Apple App Store, the only insurance app to receive the accolade. Te monthly desk price is €195, or free in the case of the
Fighters programme – a considerable selling point given that the average price of a desk in Paris is €703 per person per month, according to Instant Offices. In June the company moved into the co-living sphere
ABOVE: Pod-style meeting rooms at Station F; Wilov is the first pay-when- you-drive car insurance app
with the 100-apartment housing extension “Flatmates”. Rent starts at €399 per month for a standard room with shared bathroom. “Housing is a main pain point for people coming from outside Paris,” says Grégoire Martinez, head of community and communications; a third of its start-ups come from outside of France. Other ideas in the pipeline include a five-star hotel for visiting venture capital firms and high-profile people – there are few large hotels in the area.
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
PATRICK TOURNEBOEUF; JEEROME GALLAND; MEERO – VIVA TECHNOLOGY 2019
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