1. In your opinion, how has the Startup landscape evolved over the years? What are some of the advantages of the current technological evolution?
Julien Cristiani
The French startup landscape has drastically evolved over the last 10 years: the market is more mature with more entrepreneurs and more serial entrepreneurs, as well as more investors and a larger group of experienced investors. The two combined along with political commitments has transformed France over the last decade into one of the most attractive countries in the world for successful entrepreneurs. That explained why, with 784 deals and‚11.57 billion raised from startups, our tech ecosystem set new records over 2021.
"Quickly think of market access at a worldwide level instead of a national level, and industrial partnership is one of the most efficient ways to reach it."
2. What according to you are some of the challenges plaguing the Startup landscape and how can they be effectively mitigated?
The startup ecosystem has a love-hate relationship with the traditional economic players. Corporations would often stigmatize startups because they are rarely profitable and worth hundreds of millions or billions of euros, and only on paper! Startups in return would denigrate corporations on their low growth rate and low potential to disrupt markets. I believe this is not just the case in France but in most other countries as well. I believe we should actually join forces, with the understanding that each side needs each other for the economy. This is slowly changing, and more and more startups work alongside corporations and SMEs. This is, for example, the case with industrial startups which frequently partner with industrial groups. Take the case of the startup Aledia (microled for new generation screen, 80m‚¬ fundraising round in 2020) which partnered with several industrial groups : Intel, Ikea, Valeo and many others.
3. Which are a few technological trends influencing Startups today? What are some of the best practices businesses should adopt today to steer ahead of competitors?
I believe the strongest technological trend influencing startups today is deep tech. By deep tech, I mean science-based startups developing disruptive technologies, usually protected with patents, which have the ability to become worldwide leaders in their industrial markets : med tech, clean tech, industry 4.0, space tech, food tech and digital technologies. Fundraising from deep tech startup have grown by 300 percent between 2016 and 2020 ($15 to $60 billion worldwide). Hence, more and more entrepreneurs decide today to move ahead from internet 2.0 and e-commerce to deep tech businesses, because they believe in impactful businesses and set out new standards in our ways of life. We at Supernova Invest are convinced that deep tech is definitely impact by design because the vast majority answers to one or several UNs SDG and because they have easy access to strong engineers and R&D centers all over France. This is for example the case of the startup Ynsect (insect-based protein) which is one of the largest industrial deeptech companies in France and soon worldwide.
4. Do you have any advice for industry veterans or budding entrepreneurs from the Startup space?
My first advice would be to think as early as possible in the project about market access and sales organization, let’s not forget that the first reason for failure is the misunderstanding of market needs and market timing. My second advice would be to quickly think of market access at a worldwide level instead of a national level, and that industrial partnership is one of the most efficient ways to reach it. My final advice would be to contact Supernova Invest, we are always happy to discuss technology and industrial projects!
