France looks to invest in India's startup ecosystem; signs seven deals at Venture Capital Symposium

Venture Capital Symposium, a summit led by Business France and Kutniti said that seven deals were signed by the end of the event held in New Delhi in December 2019. Other deals are currently being discussed, it said.

The second edition of the symposium saw 17 French venture capitalists, business angels, and corporate funds participating, to identify actionable investment opportunities in India.

With a total value of more than seven billion Euros, the participating funds at the event met about 100 startups in various fields such as deeptech, education, fashion, food & beverages, along with organisations such as T-Hub, Huddle, GrowXVentures, and Nasscom to further explore collaboration opportunities in India.

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Jean-François Ambrosio, Trade and Investment Commissioner for South India and Head of the Tech and Services Department at Business France, India, told YourStory that the Indian startups also had the opportunity to evaluate the potential of their solution in the French market.

"With the French government wanting to make France a “startup nation”, several initiatives are being implemented to attract the world’s most innovative startups. The Venture Capital Symposium, as well as the global network of La French Tech, is one of them," he added.

The Venture Capital Symposium started with panel discussions, bringing together experts from the major Indian startup accelerators, unicorn founders, funds, and corporates to give the participants real insights into India’s innovation ecosystem.

Some of the funds who participated in the event include Régis Antomarchi (Head of Sales - India & South Asia, Airbus Helicopters); Christophe Trad (CEO at Viatis, Business Angel); Thibault Cuny (CEO India, Pernod Ricard); Alexandre de Coupigny (Co-founder, Brand Finance); Ronan Denoual (Founder, North Digital Angels); Tim Guillois, (Investment Manager, Galileo Partners); Ram Divedi (Co-Founder Kutniti, Geopolitician, Business Angel, Professor); William Dieu (Plan Director India, Idemia); Raphael Tharreau (Owner, Tharreau Family Office / Finta); Daniel Arfaoui (Director of Investment and Real Estate, Decathlon); Luisa Munaretto (Founder - Brands and Beyonds and Board Member - Aster Capital and Claranova); Siddhartha Bagri (Co-founder, Kutniti), and Arnaud Mauduit (Le Petit Club).

Business France is an Invest India like body of the French Government which largely helps investors, startups, and businesses from France to explore the Indian market. The event organized by Kutniti aims at maintaining strong bilateral ties between India and France.

"India is one of the most important markets for the largest French companies, with France being the 9th largest foreign investor in India with 600 subsidiaries, generating an annual turnover of more than $15 billion. With deeper strategic ties between the two nations, France is now looking to invest in the soon to be largest startup ecosystem in the world, i.e. India," Jean-François Ambrosio said.

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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