EuraTechnologies, France's leading start-up incubator and gas pedal, has announced a €24 million fundraising round with the Mulliez Family Association and Entreprises et Cités (via ECTech) among other private investors. All the historical shareholders: the European Metropolis of Lille, the Hauts-de-France Region, the City of Lille, the Crédit Agricole Nord de France, the Caisse d'Epargne Hauts de France and the Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, also participated in this round. EuraTechnologies was founded in Lille in 2009 thanks to the determination of Pierre de Saintignon, then vice-president in charge of economic development for Lille Metropole. Declaring that " the role of an elected official is to create the conditions for economic development," he led this project to renovate industrial wastelands, in particular the Leblan-Lafont factories, to house EuraTechnologies on 115,000 square meters. Ranked among the top three gas pedals in Europe and a precursor of the French Tech movement, EuraTechnologies is now the spearhead of the digital economy in France and the largest incubator in Europe, with a total of 150,000 square meters of space in the Hauts-de-France region. It has over 300 companies and 6,500 employees. It supports start-ups in various sectors: FinTech, InsurTech, LegalTech, Cybersecurity, AgTech, SpaceTech, Robotics & Industry, RetailTech & E-Commerce, PropTech, EdTech & HRTech. Last year, 225 startups graduated from the various programs compared to 100 in 2017.

Deployment of a new roadmap thanks to this fundraising

This investment will enable EuraTechnologies to embark on a new strategic stage to better support all transitions, economic, environmental and social. The new roadmap will be deployed around 4 priority areas

Employment

EuraTechnologies will strengthen its team to offer more international and deeptech support to the startups it hosts and aims to create 3,000 permanent jobs by 2023.

State-of-the-art equipment and collaboration

  • Of the €24 million, €10 million will be invested in cutting-edge technological equipment, particularly in cybersecurity, AgTech and PropTech;
  • EuraTechnologies aims to be a key meeting place between the world of research and deeptech startups in the region. The latter will have access to equipment and will share their uses with R&D centers, large groups and universities;
  • One of the first investments planned is a cyber-range for the Cyber Campus.

Environmental transition and NetZero commitment

  • To respond to the digital and environmental transitions, EuraTechnologies has made strong commitments and aims to become the leading NetZero incubator in Europe by 2030;
  • The incubator wishes to involve its ecosystem of start-ups in this transition, and will give the entrepreneurs it supports access to NetZero training and tools to accelerate their transition.

Creation of incubators in 10 Eastern European countries and emerging ecosystems

  • EuraTechnologies will open 10 incubators in Eastern European technology universities and in emerging digital ecosystems;
  • EuraTechnologies, ideally located halfway between Paris, London, Brussels and Amsterdam, aims to be the gateway to Western Europe for startups in these ecosystems.
Martine Aubry, former French Minister and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of EuraTechnologies, states:
"Our digital incubator in Lille, dear to its founder Pierre de Saintignon, is entering a new dimension, leading the way to an even more inclusive and environmentally friendly startup ecosystem. Since its creation, EuraTechnologies has become the largest startup incubator in Europe. This fundraising will extend this dynamic to new players. Opening the capital of this technological jewel to private investors will help accelerate their digital transformation and create 3,000 additional jobs by 2027. I'm delighted about this and I have no hesitation in proposing that the City of Lille support this dynamic by investing over €1 million itself."
Translated from EuraTechnologies, premier incubateur français, lève 24 millions d'euros pour accélérer son développement

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