La French Tech is an initiative launched by the French government back in 2014, in Paris, intending to turn Europe into a unicorn community that can compete with other big startup communities around the world such as Silicon Valley. The initiative is already joined by 150 key European tech players and over 23K vetted startups, 280 VCs, and 4K corporates.
The goal of the program in 2022 is to build a roadmap to scale the tech ecosystem, develop prosperous economies, achieve social cohesion, and reach climate transition targets. So far, La French Tech has assisted 24 tech champions that have gained unicorn status, reaching the 2025 target set by the French President three years in advance.
“At the beginning of our efforts to build La French Tech community in Krakow, we had to do a lot of work to understand the local market better in order to be a relevant bridge between the French government and the Polish ecosystem. Three years later, we have built a chapter with more than 250 startups and scaleups that are founded by both French and Polish entrepreneurs. Out of these, 13 scaleups are part of the Next 40 ranking for scaleups which are valued at almost €1B or that have raised more than €100M in the last three years,” Romain Rebour comments.
In addition to creating tech synergies between Poland and France, La French Tech Krakow has built strong partnerships with organizations such as Business France, the agency in charge of supporting French companies in their international development, as well as the General Consulate of Krakow, The French Embassy in Poland, and CCI France-Poland.
La French Tech Cracow is also a keen supporter of bringing people together. In 2022, the chapter is organizing four live events with keynotes and startup pitching competitions. In addition, La Tech Tech Cracow is partnering with other event organizers so that members of the community can gain visibility as guest keynote speakers, jury members, and moderators.
The list of activities in which La French Tech Cracow is engaged goes on and on. The chapter provides 5 hours of free mentoring to startups and companies who need the founder’s advice. There is also a soft landing program in partnership with La French Tech Lyon Saint-Etienne. Every year (when there are no Covid restrictions) they have 5 companies from the Lyon chapter come to Poland to do an exploration of the Polish ecosystem; afterwards, they sent 5 companies from Poland to explore the French ecosystem. According to Romain Rebour, this initiative has proven to be a successful method for creating solid and long-lasting partnerships.