Many start-ups covet a place in an incubator.
This term, which was absent from our vocabulary just a few years ago, has now become an essential part of our understanding of the main support mechanisms for companies, and start-ups in particular, in France.
They offer decisive advantages to the projects they decide to take under their wing, and in several forms: hosting the company on their premises, advice, help in the search for financing, development of strategic growth policies, implementation and monitoring of the project over several years.
SeDomicilier has compiled a list of the best business incubators in France. Follow the guide!
In 2018, France has more than 80 business incubators, half of which are located in the Paris region.
Numa 's reputation is well established.
This incubator has been in existence for over 15 years, and is renowned for the intensity of its support program, albeit for only three months.
Numa offers a wide range of training courses designed to help start-ups meet all the challenges inherent in the creation of their project: refining the business model, creating a business plan, market research, obtaining financing, management advice, communication, creating and adapting strategic policies, etc.
Numa places particular emphasis on the importance of fund-raising, and offers to support companies in their search for solid, reputable financial partners.
Located right in the heart of the capital, Numa's results attest to its effectiveness: 85% of start-ups created are still in business.
Day One is a young incubator, born in 2012, but it has no reason to be ashamed of its performance: over 20 million euros have already been raised in the course of some forty supported projects.
It is supported by renowned business consulting experts such as Gilles Babinet, named France's "digital champion" by the European Commission.
He is in charge of promoting the benefits of a digital society in France, and is a specialist in issues relating to artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
Marc Simoncini, famous founder of the Meetic dating network, lends his support to the team, bringing his experience of working with young entrepreneurs. He is also the founder of the Jaïna investment fund , with which Day One has a partnership to facilitate financing.
Other funds such as Partech and Extendam have a special relationship with Day One.
Strictly speaking, TheFamily is an investment company offering the services of an incubator.
The support it offers young start-ups is based on three major pillars.
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Obtaining "unfair advantages", i.e. one or more elements enabling the company to create a unique offer, likely to be successful on the market. The aim is to highlight what the competition doesn't have, and which would be difficult for them to acquire even if they wanted to. This also involves negotiating free services with companies such as Amazon, Facebook or PayPal.
- Advice, to build the most solid project possible
- Financing, the key to launching a project
In return for its services, TheFamily takes a 3% stake in each of the companies it supports.
Paris & Co is a network of some twenty incubators located throughout France.
Thanks to its size, it has already supported more than 500 start-ups since its creation, putting it at the top of the podium of the most dynamic incubators!
Each incubator is unique in that it is dedicated to companies in a particular business sector: tourism, the digital revolution, artificial intelligence, and so on.
Based on a logic of sharing and passing on skills, it has the original feature of organizing regular meetings between seasoned entrepreneurs and young start-ups through its Open Innovation Club.
BIC Montpellier is an incubator supportinglocal entrepreneurship, i.e. only companies created in the Occitanie region.
What sets it apart from its competitors is its exceptionally long support period: between three and five years of support are offered to selected projects.
It focuses on a number of targeted business sectors: healthcare, information and communication technologies, biotechnologies and advanced technologies in the service sector.
In operation for over 25 years, nearly 90% of the companies created remain active over the long term.
There's no shortage of incubators in France, so much so that we were recently cited as one of the world's most dynamic countries for start-up growth.
Businessman Xavier Niel launched "Station F" in early 2017, a 34,000-square-meter startup campus in the heart of Paris
Its aim is to host a "complete entrepreneurial ecosystem" of entrepreneurs, partner companies, investors, experts and consultants.
The creation of this space once again reinforces France's attractiveness and economic dynamism for entrepreneurs.
Written by our expert Paul LASBARRERES-CANDAU
July 17, 2018
