Startup ROI Audio

Rémy Astié is the co-founder & CEO of Vauban. He is a French-born, UK-based entrepreneur working to build a new set of infrastructure for private investing. We discuss Vauban's founding story, the fundamentals of venture capital, the future of private markets, the role of blockchain and DeFi, and his perspective on the European Tech ecosystem.  

Ying graduated from HEC Paris School of Management, and worked in companies like L’Oréal, LVMH and French Tech star Devialet. She has 5 years of startup experience in both company building and scale-up phases, leading business development, strategy and marketing. Currently, she is the Co-Founder & CEO of Plantik Biosciences with the aim of shaping the future of plant breeding, starting with cannabis/hemp.   

Our conversation covered:

• Ying's background & foray into the world of startups

• Plant biodiversity, climate risk and agricultural points of failure

• GMOs versus Gene-Editing • The Politics of Hemp/Cannabis

• The Future for Plant Geneticists 

Elina Berrebi is a founding partner at Revaia, the largest female-led venture fund in Europe. Along with her co-founder, Alice Albizzati, and the investment team and Revaia she has successfully raised and deployed their first growth fund of roughly €250M. Revaia is a mission-driven, pan-European growth equity fund with an emphasis on ESG principles and holdings in the public and private markets (otherwise known as a crossover strategy). Her multi-cultural upbringing, rigorous scientific background and passion for helping build the next generation of positive European companies brings a fresh perspective to the venture space.  

Shownotes:

Mike Charalambous is the Founder & CEO of Threedium, the leading 3D eCommerce solution on the market. As a Cypriot, Mike made his way into tech entrepreneurship from an atypical location. From his High School studies in English to the French university system, he eventually landed in London where he currently resides. The Threedium platform has enabled leading eCommerce and luxury brands create compelling shopping experiences in the digital realm. The current tailwinds behind crypto, web3 and NFTs has positioned Mike and team at the center of the transformation of the internet, what he calls Web2.5. Mike has experimented personally with practical use-cases for NFTs, participated in metaverse fashion shows and is a pioneer with regard to applying cutting-edge web3 technology to the fashion and eCommerce space.

*note: we encountered some audio issues during recording. If you find a silence hit the +30 seconds button a couple times until audio returns (happens once)

Musings on Entrepreneurship in French Pop Culture

Companies covered: Too many to count!

The French startups seeking to integrate carbon accounting across the value chain

Companies covered: Greenly & Sweep

The most ambitious AI Project You've Never Heard Of

Companies covered: Hugging Face

How France's Startup Scene is Pushing Us Towards the Final Frontier

Companies covered: Loft Orbital, ThrustMe, Interstellar Lab, The Exploration Co.

A Better Search Engine

Companies covered: Algolia

Tracking the No-Code Revolution: IFTTT to AI-Powered Developers

Companies covered: Bubble

Engineering plant varietals for a new climate

Companies covered: Plantik Biosciences, Neoplants

A Very French-Giving Edition of Startup ROI

Companies covered: Yuka, Too Good To Go, Phenix

How French Risk-Aversion could be their Greatest Asset

Companies covered: Luko, Shift, Wakam

The Sleep Tech Spectrum: Mattress Delivery to Measuring Brain Waves in Space

Companies covered: Dreem, Tediber, Withings

French tech's heavy lift to displace the machinery of the Construction Industry

Companies covered: XtreeE, Backacia, Hiboo

Web 2.0s Final Frontier: Property Tech in France

Companies covered: Bien'ici, Flatlooker, Pretto, Proprioo, Liberkeys, Unlatch, Matera

Distributed design's bumpy on-ramp to the 21st century enterpriseCompanies covered: Klaxoon, Claap

France's plan to run a green pill simulation for industrial hydrogen production

Companies covered: Lhyfe

The unlikely tech incubator serving it's most innovative dish to date

Companies covered: Sunday App

Contentsquare & the Definitive Playbook on Internationalization for French Tech

Companies covered: Contentsquare, Heuritech, Bodyguard.ai, Purchasely

How the Creator-First Economy is Shifting Paradigms in Music Discovery & Distribution

Companies covered: Believe, Deezer, Stage11

How tech & crypto are changing the fundamentals of fan participation and sports betting for the better

Companies covered: SoRare, Pandascore, Betclic, PMU

Financial Literacy via French #Fintech

Companies covered: Kard, Lydia, Nalo, Finary

The startups hoping to replace doom-scrolling with digital mental health apps

Companies covered: Teale, mindDay

Digital Sovereignty & Macron's Ambition to put La French Tech on the Map

Companies covered: Scaleway, OVH Cloud & 3DS Outscale

Post-Pandemic Consumer Social: Stepping Stones to the Metaverse

Companies covered: Cappuccino FM, BeReal, Zenly & Powder

The Unbundling of Le Bon Coin & The Future of Digital Marketplaces

Companies covered: Leboncoin, Meero, Malt, Welcome to the Jungle, Back Market, ManoMano, Vestiaire Collective, BackMarket

A history of France's favorite social benefit and the technology companies looking to bring it into the 21st century

Companies covered: Swile

Alan and the digital health transformation France didn't know it needed

Companies covered: Alan

Can France's Radioactive Past Deliver Carbon-Neutral Energy?

Companies Covered: Renaissance Fusion

Alan and the digital health transformation France didn't know it needed

Companies covered: Alan

Navigating the Modern Job Market in French Tech

Companies covered: Jobteaser, Welcome to the Jungle, Iziwork, & Trusty

This is an Audio Version of the Weekly Newsletter: Startup ROI

Disrupting French cuisine with plant-based diets, insect protein, & lab grown meat

Companies covered: Ynsect, Gourmey, Algama Foods, Innova Feed, Les Nouveaux Affineurs & Les Nouveaux Fermiers

This is an Audio Version of the Weekly Newsletter: Startup ROI

Mobility Tech in the 15-Minute City

Companies covered: Ornikar, Angell Bike, Vulog, Heetch, Virtuo