France gets its 25th tech unicorn, reaching Macron’s goal early
France announces its 25th privately owned startup valued over $1 billion reaching government set goals three years earlier.
A unicorn is a privately held startup that has a value of over $1billion. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, aimed for France to have 25 unicorn companies before 202...
France-based Fintech Qonto nears 5 billion dollars valuation
Qonto is close to a 5-billion-dollar net-worth after recent fundraising, signaling the rise of fintech in France.
Qonto, an online bank in France, primarily for SMEs, announced on Tuesday that it raised almost 490 million euros in funding, boosting its overall valuation to approximately 4.5 bill...
French privacy regulator to fine Google, Facebook 210 million Euros
The fine is because they failed to allow French users to easily reject cookie tracking technology.
Google and Facebook parent company Meta Platforms are facing another big fine after France’s data watchdog found them guilty of violating European Union privacy rules. According to a report in PO...
Two big European mobile network operators discuss potential merger
Vodafone and Orange were talking about a potential merger without reaching an agreement. The merger can still happen.
French opposition
French authorities aren’t in favor of a proposed merger between Vodafone and Orange, Europe’s largest mobile provider. The companies had been in talks a...
Italy courts Intel over multibillion-euro chip plant
Rome is trying to convince the chipmaker to invest in Italy rather than France.
Rome is trying to convince Intel to invest billions of euros in an advanced chipmaking plant in Italy. This is according to reporting by Reuters last week. Italy is making their move as Germany seems set to land an e...
France is derailing US-EU tech trade meeting
France is derailing a joint EU-US declaration on technology cooperation against the sentiments of other European Union countries, according to several EU diplomats.
The top US and EU officials plan to discuss semiconductor shortages, artificial intelligence, and competitiveness in the tech marke...
France warns of Chinese threat to home and office routers
A group of hackers backed by the Chinese government may be expanding from state based targets to go after the private sector.
French cyber-security agency ANSSI warned of an ongoing cyberespionage campaign aimed at French organizations carried out by China-linked APT31 group.
APT31 (aka Zirco...
Big brands come together against Amazon’s empire in France
A collective of powerful brands (including Heineken and L'Oréal) have won the first round in a legal battle against Amazon, concerning contracts made with the e-commerce giant. A French court ruled against the US giant’s efforts to delay the case, in a ruling given on June 22.
According to de...
France will withdraw digital tax when global tax rules are implemented
France is ready to make a binding promise to the US to remove a national tax on digital giants, as soon as a new global taxation deal is created. The news came from French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday.
He hinted that the international deal would not have any impact on the EU's plan...
Orange announces 5G SA experimental cloud network
The project will be Europe's first 5G Stand Alone (SA) fully end-to-end cloud network.
European telco Orange announced this week that it will launch an experimental 5G network using a cloud-based open platform and artificial intelligence. The announcement comes as the EU telecom industry rushes ...
Google overhauls global advertising practices
Google has shared its plan to change its global advertising practices ensuring they do not abuse its dominance. The settlement took place between French authorities and Google to give more power to publishers when advertising.
The deal and the difference it will make
After the landmark settle...
Netherlands, Germany and France want to regulate tech acquisitions
Draft rules intended to govern companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon should be tightened to allow regulators to vet acquisitions of start-ups, according to Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
The assertion was made in a joint statement by German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier and ...