Has France cracked the YC recipe?

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For the primary time, France was one of many prime represented international locations in Y Combinator’s Summer time 22 batch. Three of the eight French startups chosen by YC are additionally former residents of the Station F campus in Paris, so we chatted with its director, Roxanne Varza, to grasp how that occurred and what others might study from it. Let’s dive in. — Anna

Meet the French

France was among the many prime 5 international locations represented in YC’s S22 batch, with eight of its startups becoming a member of the accelerator’s newest cohort. That was fewer than the U.S., India, the U.Okay. and Israel. Nevertheless it was greater than Germany, which despatched six startups to YC this 12 months — a near-record for the nation, but in addition much less comparatively spectacular given its larger population than France’s personal.

In absolute phrases, France is barely equaling its personal S21 report, however that batch had 390 contributors. As TechCrunch reported final month, the YC S22 batch was much smaller, with some 240 groups. Which means French illustration is proportionally on the rise, a very good omen for France’s goal to be home to 100 unicorns by 2030.

Let’s add a caveat that we’re following YC in utilizing “French” loosely right here — nearly each single one in every of these eight groups has a distant element, and a few even have a presence within the U.S. or different international locations. Nevertheless, this isn’t particular to France, as YC famous that among the many startups in its newest batch, 35% have been distant and 37% have been remote-friendly.