Entrepreneur is a French word. France is now known for more than its expertise in wine, cheese and luxury. Unexpectedly, France was the third country most represented at CES this year in Las Vegas, displaying a variety of new technological techniques and gadgets. While France traditionally only had a few large technology companies, like Altran, the technology consultancy, and Daily Motion, the online video-sharing website, in the past few years, it has now become a true player in the digital economy. With the explosion of successful and smart startups in the country, France is now a central participant. Currently, France focuses on more than just digital design, but also concentrates on innovation and technology while remaining aware of new trends like home tech.

Among the 200 French companies (65% more than in 2015), over two thirds were startups. According to CES Unveiled, the official media of the event, 45 of the 165 most innovative businesses originated from across the Atlantic. Forbes states the CES 2016 was principally composed of French startups.

Strong marketing campaigns established by Business France, a governmental agency, enabled the surge of French tech participants this year. The agency, along with governmental support and the young Minister of the Economy, Emmanuel Macron, drew attention to French startups with « La French Tech ». Over the past two years, the latter helped raise funds and brought media attention to these campaigns in order to focus on the biggest tech events – the CES in Vegas, as well as SxSW in Austin, TX and Slush in Helsinki, Finland.

The recent changes in governmental policy, which included lowering the barriers of entry for entrepreneurs and tax incentives, in addition to initiatives like La French Tech explain the new growth of French entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur is now a new trend. So much so that 25% of graduates from France’s top business school HEC want to open their own startup. They have been inspired by the successful Vente-privee.com and PriceMinister, two online retailers, or BlaBlaCar, a ride sharing app to travel around Europe (€176 million of revenue last year). The Nantes-based 10-vins won an innovation award for its originality and promise: the product D.Vine aerates and decants wine in one minute. This demonstrates that French businessmen now not only focus on the country’s area of expertise, but go beyond.

The FACC Los Angeles was excited to participate in the success of French Tech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show!