DE S T INAT IONS
Willa, formerly Paris Pionnières, takes it one step further. 64
Defining itself as an accélérateur de mixité (an incubator for equality), it is dedicated to female-founded businesses; men are allowed, but start-ups must have at least one female founder. Why Willa? “‘Will’ is an expression of the future and the ‘a’ brings a feminine note. W also stands for women, winners, and so on,” says head of operations Erwan Peron-Kergourlay. Te three-floor space lies in the buzzy second arrondissement, with meeting rooms named aſter successful women – I spotted the likes of Sheryl (Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer) and Oprah (Winfrey). Tere’s a lot of work to be done, however, with only 8 per cent of Paris start-ups having been founded by women, joint lowest with Seattle in the top 15 global start-up ecosystems, according to Startup Genome.
RED TAPE CHALLENGE It won’t come as a shock to those with business dealings here that France’s complicated bureaucracy hinders growth, a reason for its lack of unicorns – it currently only has five. Goncharov argues that, despite Macron’s efforts, the main challenge still lies in people’s perception of start- ups. “In France particularly, people are so used to comfort, protection and security [in their work contracts], that they’re not striving to go further and take risks… Tis is changing but far slower than I would like it to,” he says. Start-up guarantor service Unkle sets out to circumvent
French bureaucracy by guaranteeing the solidity of a rental application to landlords, paying the owner if the tenant cannot. To rent in France, you need a permanent work contract, a strong guarantor, a bank account, and a salary three times the rent. “Te four requirements are totally inappropriate,” says co-founder Matthieu Luneau. I can relate – as a former foreign student in Paris, I was faced
NOV EMB E R 2 0 19
Throughout the city, there is a strong focus on promoting women in tech
with the nightmarish task of finding a decent flat and ended up sub-letting. “Te Paris property market is very
competitive so the best apartments go quickly,” Luneau says. ‘‘[We] allow people to have the same chance as others.” Users have to provide an identity card and a work contract (or bank account details for students), and pay 3.5 per cent on top of the
rent each month to have the guarantor. Station F offers lots of support for its users. Entrepreneurs can have one-to-one meetings with representatives of more than 30 public administrations to get advice on French laws and regulation. Amazon Web Services, Google and OVH
also offer workshops on building and scaling businesses. Macron has promised to reform labour regulations and cut taxes to boost innovation. It’s tempting to see Paris as the driving force for change,
but Breuils makes the case that the rest of France is just as important. “What happens in Paris does tend to hide what’s going on in the regions… We believe that we have a strong hub in Paris from a European perspective, but having [start-ups] in the regions is also instrumental [in transforming France into] a start-up nation.” Te city’s ecosystem value currently stands at US$19 billion, so still hasn’t made Startup Genome’s Leaders category needing to generate at least US$30 billion. Yet Paris is on the path to success. As well as the initiatives
ABOVE: Willa is dedicated to female- founded businesses
covered above, UK incubator Founders Factory has launched in Paris in partnership with insurance firm Aviva France, and plans to design, build and scale more than 140 tech start-ups over the next five years. Te prospect of more unicorns doesn’t sound quite so mythical anymore. BT
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
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