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For the first time, France was one of the top-represented countries in Y Combinator’s summer 22 batch. Three of the eight French startups selected by YC are also former residents of F . station campus in Paris, so we chatted with its director, Roxanne Varza, to understand how that happened and what others can learn from it. Let’s dive in. – Anna
Meet the French
France is among the top five countries present in YC’s S22 lot, with its eight startups join the latest group of accelerators. That number is less than the US, India, UK and Israel. But it’s more than Germany, which sent six startups to YC this year – a record almost for the country, but also less impressive than with its larger population than that of France.
In absolute terms, France is only equal to its own S21 record, but that batch had 390 participants. As TechCrunch reported last month, lot YC S22 is much smaller, with about 240 teams. This means that France’s representation is increasing proportionally, a good omen for France’s goal is to be home to 100 unicorns by 2030.
Let’s add a warning that we’re following YC for loosely using “French” here – almost every one of these eight teams has a remote component, and some are also present in the US or other countries. This isn’t specific to France, though, as YC notes that of the startups in its latest batch, 35% are remote and 37% are remote-friendly.
