Paris – 15 October 2015 – EnterNext, the Euronext subsidiary dedicated to promoting and growing the market for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), today invited French Tech Pass holders to a morning dedicated to financial markets. Organised with support from Bpifrance, AFIC and La French Tech, the event gave participants an opportunity to learn how markets work, understand the role of markets in today’s economy and network with listed companies.
Launched in March 2014 by La French Tech, the French Tech Pass is an innovative programme designed to give entrepreneurs a boost. Beneficiaries are some fifty businesses identified as French success stories and selected for their impressive annual growth . To guide them on the path to “hypergrowth”, the Pass offers a package of benefits including free, customised assistance from major players in business, both public (DGE, Bpifrance, Business France, Inpi) and private (AFPC, AFIC, Coface).
Thursday’s French Tech Pass event included an introduction by French market supervisor AMF, a presentation by EnterNext Chairman and CEO Eric Forest, and a round table featuring listed companies and consultants.
Eric Forest, Chairman and CEO of EnterNext, said: “Our aim for this morning’s event was to contribute expertise to our French Tech Pass entrepreneurs, since we believe that the stock exchange can help them grow into our digital champions of tomorrow. We are delighted to have brought together so many entrepreneurs, listed companies and experts here at Euronext, and we would like to thank AMF, Bpifrance, AFIC and La French Tech for their support.”
Philippe Herbert, representing AFIC in the French Tech Pass programme, added: “AFIC is proud to contribute to this morning’s event, which underscores the importance of cooperation between venture capitalists and the Paris Bourse in assisting hypergrowth companies. The investors who back these future champions have also shown concrete support for their international growth by taking part in events such as the French Tech Hub Tokyo event in early October.”
Paul-François Fournier, Executive Director and Head of innovation at Bpifrance, said: “We are delighted to contribute to this event alongside AFIC EnterNext. At Bpifrance we view listing as one means of nurturing an environment conducive to hypergrowth and we look forward to helping French Tech Pass companies meet this major challenge. We want to thank all of the partners that have contributed to this event, which we hope will give our champions' growth a boost.”