Occitanie: the region once again in the Top 3 for tech fundraising

L'Occitanie se situe cette année encore dans le Top 3 des levées de fonds tech. UNSPLASH – UNSPLASH

The EY Institute's biannual barometer shows that the Occitanie region is rising to third place nationally in tech fundraising in the first half of 2024, totaling €195 million over 30 operations. 413 startups raised €4.3 billion nationally, showing a recovery in the sector after a sluggish period. Artificial intelligence and software thus dominate investments.

The French start-up sector is showing signs of recovery after a difficult period, according to the latest biannual venture capital barometer published by the analysis firm EY. The report shows that 413 companies have raised a total of €4.3 billion. in the first half of 2024. A stable amount compared to the same period in 2023, but which shows a 5% increase in the number of operations.

A market dominated by the rise of artificial intelligence

“These figures reflect the state of convalescence of French Tech after the big cold snap of the last 18 months” analyzes in the report Franck Sebag, partner at EY and director of the study. The market seems to be regaining some dynamism, driven in particular by the rise of artificial intelligence.

Read also: Montpellier biotech Sensorion announces a €50 million fundraising

The sector is thus among the top 5 of the largest fundraisings, with Mistral AI (468 million euros), Electra (304 million), H Company (184 million). A list completed by the fundraisings of Hysetco (200 M€) which popularizes the use of hydrogen, and the software suite for businesses Pigment (134 M€). Thus, the software sector regains first place with 1.5 billion euros raised, a sharp increase of 50% compared to 2023. “This performance is mainly explained by the acceleration of projects around Generative AI” underlines the report.

We also note that the "green technologies" sector, Greentech, comes in second position with 1.1 billion euros, followed by "Life Sciences" with 474 million, which shows a 20% drop in value.

The region is in the lead at the national level

In terms of regions, Île-de-France naturally remains the locomotive of the ecosystem, capturing 68% of the amounts raised. Nevertheless, the report notes that the region Occitanie is doing well, rising to third place in the national ranking with 4% of fundraising, behind the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (which displays 474 M€ of funds raised, and increasing). Occitanie totaled 30 operations for a total amount of 195 million euros in the first half of 2024, a clear increase compared to the 132 million raised over 19 operations in the first half of 2023.

Also read:Montpellier start-up Bfore.ai, an expert in predictive cybersecurity, announces a $15 million fundraising

At the regional level, we note in particular the €50 million fundraising carried out last February by the pharmaceutical company Sensorion, or the €15 million fundraising carried out in April by the cybersecurity structure Bfore.ai.

A changing ecosystem

While the amounts raised remain significant at the global level, we are seeing a change in the nature of the operations. Fundraisings of more than 100 million euros, referred to as “mega-rounds”, are up 54% in value for a stable number of operations (7). Conversely, funding rounds between 50 and 100 million euros are down 33% in value and 40% in number.

“In the current climate of uncertainty, it is imperative to stay the course and above all to keep in mind that a sudden change in the rules of the game could put a stop to this dynamic” warns Franck Sebag.

With these figures, France retains its first place in the European Union, ahead of Germany, which totaled 3.6 billion euros in fundraising over the half-year, down 12% in value and 16% in volume. The United Kingdom nevertheless remains very active, and for its part totals with a notable increase of 21% of the amounts raised, for a total amount of 8.4 billion euros.

Methodology

The EY Barometer of venture capital in France lists the equity financing operations of companies in the creation phase or during the first years of existence, with a date of operation from January 1 to June 30, 2024, and published before June 28 2024.

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