Fleur Pellerin on THESE : “a beautiful showcase for French excellence in technology” – Europe1

INTERVIEW

More than 200 French start-ups gathered in Las Vegas this week. On the occasion of the Consumer Eelectronic Show (ces), the largest trade show of consumer electronics, Fleur Pellerin, former minister of the digital Economy and is now the head of the investment funds korelya, was the guest of “It arrived this week“, Saturday on Europe 1. She reiterated the importance of the show, “a fixture”, and on the creation of the French Tech.

“A wonderful technological showcase”. THESE “is a wonderful showcase of what is best in the technology, in connected objects, the hi-fi, tvs, home appliances and the tech in general. It is important for French companies to do a demonstration, because, often, the british press is not tender with France. It is said that this is not a very favorable country for businesses, as it is a country known for luxury, the clothes, the wine, the gastronomy, but not so much for the tech. And there, it is a time when there is much talk of France under the angle of creative France and of its start-up and I think it is a great showcase for French excellence in entrepreneurship and technology”, said the former minister in charge of the digital Economy.

The French Tech showcase. “When I became the minister delegated to the digital Economy, I realized that we needed to really help these French companies, which already existed, to have more visibility, be more known, I wanted that France is also known for its technology. The idea was to show that they came in a pack and that France was also” explained Fleur Pellerin, the origin of the label French Tech, under which gather French companies in THESE.

financing of the start-up still remains a problem. If the French start-ups are more likely to visit the Consumer Electronic Show, they struggle sometimes to grow. Several of them have been bought when they were very promising. This is particularly the case of the specialist in connected health, Withings, acquired by Nokia in 2016. A problem which, however, would have evolved a lot according to Fleur Pellerin. “There has been a lot of changes in recent years. Today, there is more money to help businesses grow, but it is true that there is still a problem for those who are already at a certain stage of maturity, and need to jump one step further by raising more than five million euros.”