The French Tech Ticket – a government startup scheme to attract new business to France – announced the first set of 2016 winners with President François Hollande welcoming the successful entrepreneurs at the Élysée Palace in Paris.
The scheme was launched back in May last year and promised successful applicants funding of €12,500 for six months; fast-tracking to obtain a French residence visa; free office space in a startup incubator that provides training, mentors and business networks and help with French paperwork with an English-speaking advisor.
The 23 lucky startups, made up of four French and 45 foreign entrepreneurs, were greeted by President Hollande who made a speech outlining his plans for France to become “a land of innovation” and thanked the winners for their “trust in France”. He also announced that tax provisions will be made to attract foreign businesses to France and also to lure back any French talent that had emigrated to other countries.
The second tier of the scheme was also revealed where 200 additional entrepreneurs will be helped to create their startups by January 2017, not only in France but in 13 other cities worldwide. And a third tier of French Tech scholarships will be provided to assist talent from vulnerable neighbourhoods to carry out their projects with a seed fund.
Related article: France's Startup Scheme Offers Ticket to Success
Below are the list of the winners along with the startup incubators that will be housing them and the innovative projects that won them a place on the scheme. Congratulations to all of them!
1. AGRIVERSITY
Founders: Cynthia Pizarro (Chile), Jorge Pizarro (Chile), Natalie Morales (Chile)
Incubator: Numa
Project: An online education platform dedicated to the training of farmers.
2. BIFASOR
Founders: Rym Soussi (France), Steven Jay Silverstein (US), Zakaria Dabone (Burkina Faso)
Incubator: Paris Pionnières
Project: Bifasor is a matchmaking platform for transport and logistics in Africa.
3. BRAND PIT
Founders: May Yamaura (Japan), TT Chu (China)
Incubator: Numa
Project: Analyzing customer behavior through image recognition technologies.
4. CHALLENGING SOLUTIONS
Founders: Astrid Collonnier (France), Ekaterina Shukh (US), Wesley Siebenthal (US)
Incubator: Usine IO
Project: Open-source robotic mobility to revolutionize the accessibility of wheelchair users worldwide.
5. CHIFCO
Founders: Amine Chouaieb (Tunisia), Mehdi Karoui (Tunisia)
Incubator: 50Partners
Project: A box that measures the energy consumption of the house and equipment to better control it.
6. COPHENOL
Founders: Emmanuel Thiery (France), Mariana Bittencourt (Brazil)
Incubator: La paillasse
Project: Transforming coffee into a compound that can be used in acidification of soil and as a fertilizer.
7. DYMOND CLEANTECH
Founders: Raphael Kiran (India)
Incubator: La paillasse
Project: Electrochemical treatment of water using eco-innovative high quality diamond electrodes (made in France) for effective disinfection and water purification.
8. ELUM
Founders: Colin Cyril (France), Karim Alami (Morocco)
Incubator: Construction & Energie – Impulse Partners
Project: Analyzing energy consumption to reduce the electricity bill for its customers ready for their transition to renewable energies.
9. FARMINAL
Founder: Waleed Sorour (Egypt)
Incubator: Numa
Project: A dairy farm management solution for large and medium-sized farms.
10. FUELLING | IT'S TIME TO MOVE
Founders: Raul Cabanillas (Argentina), Sam Leach (UK), Tomas Buedo (France)
Incubator: 50Partners
Project: Helping HR departments to reward their employees for their efforts with a fun application.
11. GAIUS AUTOMOTIVE
Founders: Brian Fan (Canada), Christian Jansen (Canada)
Incubator: Usine IO
Project: A fleet of electric three-wheeled motorcycles for urban logistics in order to reduce pollution and traffic congestion.
12. Guesswork
Founders: Boobesh Ramalingam (India), Mani Doraisamy (India)
Home Incubator: Startup42
Project description: Guesswork recommends products to customers by analyzing their profiles on social networks allowing them to offer the right products based on their interests.
13. INFUTHE
Founders: Mike Liu Yang (China) Qian Yang (China)
Incubator: Paris & Co
Project: Reinventing the tea bag to promote a new tasting experience.
14. INSPIRO
Founders: David Su (USA), Dominique Star (USA)
Incubator: 104 Factory
Project: A mobile platform for innovation and collaboration in the arts.
15. MESH UP
Founders: Borna Scognamiglio (Italy), Francesco Travagli (Italy), Wissam Sammouri (Lebanon)
Incubator Home: Paris & Co
Project: Helping users make the right career choice using data-mining and location.
16. MEVRY
Founders: Ngoc Nguyen Chan (Vietnam), Ngoc Son HAN (Vietnam), Ngoc Trung Tran (Vietnam)
Incubator: Startup42
Project: Real-time facial scanning and 3D technology from low-cost cameras with a secure client/server.
17. PIN & TUCKER
Founders: Anthula Nunes (Canada), Tracie Wagman (Canada)
Incubator: Paris Pionnières
Project: Allows users to have instant opinion of friends while shopping and helps businesses influence their customers in key moments of the purchase process.
18. POLYWED
Founders: Andrey Temlyakov (Russia)
Incubator: 50Partners
Project: Technology based on the analysis of data to improve the fertilization success rate of IVF.
19. PRESSMATTIC
Founders: Md Muntasir Rashid (Bangladesh), Moin Uddin (Bangladesh)
Incubator: Startup42
Project: Transforming the WordPress content management system in a software development module and application.
20. Q-BOT
Founders: Mathew Holloway (UK)
Incubator: Construction & Energie – Impulse Partners
Project: Robotic solutions for inspection and the insulation of buildings and infrastructure in hazardous environments.
21. SMASHRUN
Founders: Christopher Lukic (US), Jacklyn Giron (Philippines)
Incubator: Paris Pionnières
Project: Helps joggers stay motivated and improve their performance through data visualization and analysis.
22. TIMEJOY
Founders: Luliia Kropacheva (Russia), Elina Elek (USA), Igor Dmitriev (Russia)
Incubator: Paris & Co
Project: A smartphone application that helps professionals to get to meetings on time and be more productive.
23. TRIDOM
Founders: Lior Aharoni (Israel), Yaron Schwarcz (Israel)
Incubator: Construction & Energie – Impulse Partners
Project: A robotic 3D printer able to produce or strengthen a building to significantly reduce costs.
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