Paris and Lyon – 8 July 2015– EnterNext, the Euronext subsidiary dedicated to promoting and growing the market for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), today announced the success of its first Tech Conference in Lyon. It was EnterNext’s fourth regional event, after Bordeaux, Nantes and Lille. Entrepreneurs, investors and experts took part, contributing their experiences and insights on financing tech sector[1] businesses.
Focus on financing innovative businesses in Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne and Burgundy
The Tech Conference was held on Wednesday, July 8, at Lyon’s Hôtel de Région and was organised jointly by EnterNext and the Rhône-Alpes region. It was a resounding success, with the focus on financing tech companies in the Rhône-Alpes region, Auvergne, and Burgundy and contributing to their growth.
Dedicated to the entrepreneurs driving innovative companies, the event also highlighted the range of tools and initiatives deployed in the Rhône-Alpes region to help tech companies—from start-ups to mid-size enterprises. Heads of iconic regional businesses and experts joined in to share their vision of the sector’s potential, needs and special features.
Region’s vibrant and very active tech sector backed by EnterNext
The Lyon region already has a vibrant eco-system of innovative companies built around world scale competitiveness clusters Minalogic and Lyon Biopole, plus many other top-tier clusters ranging from Clust’R Numérique and Axelera to Tenerrdis. Since EnterNext opened its Lyon office in 2013, 12 innovative local SMEs have listed on Euronext, among them Amplitude, Crossject, Carbios, Oncodesign, McPhy Energy, Poxel, Tronics, and Visiativ, raising €250 million in all. Lyon also has a large pool of innovative SMEs; Lyon, Grenoble and, recently, Saint-Etienne have all been awarded the French Tech label and six companies in the region—Adocia, Erytech, Valneva, LDLC, Metabolic Explorer and SOITEC—are part of the Tech 40 label launched by EnterNext in 2015. All are assisted by EnterNext teams at grassroots level and can tap into its many initiatives to raise their profile and meet investors.
Eric Forest, CEO of EnterNext, said: “We are happy to see so many members of the eco-system join us for this, our first Tech Conference in Lyon. There is clearly enormous momentum and scope for growth on financial markets for the region’s tech companies. At this conference, we wanted to bring entrepreneurs and advisers together to provide information and first-hand accounts of the financing options open to innovative companies.”
Joseph Brigneaud, EnterNext’s representative for the Rhône-Alpes region, Auvergne and Burgundy, added:“We’ve observed innovative companies that are very interested in raising funding on financial markets, both primary and secondary, as seen in recent transactions by Erytech, Valneva and Soitec. It’s important for EnterNext to pursue its efforts in this fast-growing sector—we are here to help businesses secure the financing they need and use capital markets to their best advantage.”
We would like to thank our sponsors of this conference:
- Acies Consulting Group
- BNP Paribas-Portzamparc
- Deloitte-InExtenso
- CM-CIC securities
- KPMG
- Lamy Lexel
- NewCap
- PWC