France Blockchain Ecosystem
This non-exhaustive list of startups, ICOs, conferences, VCs, organisations and people of France’s blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem.
🚧 Blockchain projects that raised equity
Acinq — working on the scalability of bitcoin protocol, lightning network; raised USD 1.7 million from Serena Capital
Embleema — a protocol to manage health data; raised USD 3.7 million from Techstars, Pharamgest
Ledger — hardware wallet; raised USD 88 million from Draper, Xange, Cathay Innovation, Samsung, Cap Horn.
Spot — cryptocurrency portfolio & market tracking app; raised USD 1.2 million from Kima Ventures
Stratumn — platform to develop enterprise-level blockchain applications; raised USD 9.7 million from BNP Paribas, Otium
Coinhouse — a marketplace to buy and sell crypto; raised USD 2.8 million from Xange, Consensys
Woleet — Timestamping & Electronic signature; raised EUR 1 million
Liquid Share — post negotiation trading platform; raised from Euronext, Societe Generale
Iznes — plaftorm to invest in funds; raised from a few asset managers
Utocat — invest in SMEs ; raised USD 2.6 million from Leap Venture, BPI France
Paymium — exchange; raised EUR 1 million from Kima Ventures, Newfund
MoneyTrack — protocol for directed money; raised from Truffle Capital
Sorare — marketplace for football crypto goods; raised from Kima Ventures, Consensys, Seedcamp
⚡# ICOs in France
- 18 according to AMF (French SEC)
- 16 (French team + ICO domiciled in France between 2014-18) according to Avolta Partners
Check out Avolta’s presentation: ICOs 2014-2018
💵 Venture Capitalists investing in crypto/blockchain projects
- Serena Capital
- Kima Ventures
- Korelya Capital
- Xange
- Cathay Innovation
- Truffle Capital
- Otium Ventures
Also — Bpifrance (France’s public investment bank) invested a total of EUR 9 million via grants (no equity).
👛 2 Cryptocurrencies in the top 100
- Ark, founder: Francois-Xavier Thoorens; marketcap (as of May 20th, 2019): USD 63 million
- Tezos, founder: Arthur Breitman; marketcap (as of May 20th, 2019): USD 1.1 billion
📛 Conferences
- EthCC (Ethereum Community Conference). This is the go-to community-driven conference in France for crypto. 1500 attendees. Organised by Asseth (see below)
- Others: CryptoMondays Paris, Paris Blockchain Week
🌎 Non-profits & associations
- La Chaintech — consortium of organisations lobbying for blockchain technology
- Le Cercle du Coin — promotion of adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
- Asseth — promotion and education of Ethereum blockchain and organiser of EthCC (Ethereum Community Paris)
- CryptoFR — a forum and a Slack group gathering 1500 people
- FD2A French Digital Asset Association — promotion and lobbying for investments in crypto assets
👩🚀 People
- Eric Larchevêque & Pascal Gauthier, Ledger
- Arthur Breitman, Tezos
- Francois-Xavier Thoorens, Ark
- Pierre-Marie Padiou, Acinq
- Ambre Soubiran, Kaiko
- Nicolas Louvet, Coinhouse
- Jerome de Tychey, Asseth, Consensys
- Claire Balva, Blockchain Partner
- Frédéric Montagnon, LGO markets
- Corentin Denoeud, Blockchain studio
- Gilles Fedak, Iexec
- Xavier Laversiere, ECAN
- Jérémie Waquier, Alyra
- Cyril Bertrand, Xange
- Ken Timsit, Consensys
🚢 Institutions & Corporates
👇🙊
Kudos to Ivan de Delastours, blockchain lead at BPI, for helping me put together this list; also thanks to Simon Polrot and Brian O’Hagan.
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