Reflets Magazine #141 | Clara Chappaz (E12), CEO La French Tech

Clara Chappaz (E12) is on the cover of Reflets Magazine #141. The new CEO of La French Tech tells all about her career and her ambitions. Here is a free online translation of the article.

Reflets Magazine: We heard that you were a unanimous choice when you were interviewed by the La French Tech panel. Was taking over the lead at La French Tech a logical choice for you?

Clara Chappaz: After almost three years at Vestiaire Collective, I found that I was ready to move on. We had restructured the company and it was powering ahead on a very positive trajectory, and so the time had come for me to seek out a new adventure. I’d been thinking about getting involved in this ecosystem for a while, and when I was offered an opportunity to do so with La French Tech, it seemed like an obvious choice. I still took some time to think it over, though, because deciding to work for a government body isn’t a decision to be made lightly, especially as before that point I’d only worked in start-ups. I needed to be sure that I’d be able to give my all to the role.

RM: Did the French government’s reputation for sluggishness not put you off?

C. Chappaz: Put me off? No, even though it’s true that it was a real change of ecosystem for me. So yes, I asked myself a lot of questions about my ability to adapt to an environment that was hitherto completely unknown. One month later, I’m delighted with the decision I made. I’m seeing that the French Tech Mission works in something like start-up mode, with lots of agility and flexibility, with shared projects and research within which we make an individual contribution. It was a really nice surprise.

RM: You took over from Kat Borlongan who flew the flag for La French Tech for three years. Was that an additional challenge?

C. Chappaz: I see it as more of an opportunity. It’s not often you come into an environment like that when you’re starting a new job. There’s an outstanding dynamic in place: before 2021 was even over, we’d raised more than €10bn, double the amount raised in 2020. We now have over 20 unicorns in France, compared to just three in 2017, so we are seeing a real acceleration which is the result of the work carried out over the past few years by Cédric O, French Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, and Kat Borlongan. We have moved past the “believing” phase and we’re now in the expansion phase, a challenge that I look forward to overcoming.

RM: What are your goals and your vision for the next three years at the helm of La French Tech?

C. Chappaz: Before I accepted the role, Cédric O told me about his aim to bring the support offered by the French Tech Mission to the mass market, to scale it up in the image of what the start-ups in La French Tech are doing, and what I did at Vestiaire Collective. It’s a goal that I share in full. Today, we are actively supporting some 200 start-ups from the French Tech120, Next40, and now the new Green20 programme dedicated to players in the ecological transition. The aim is to grow from 200 to 1000 every year, all while continuing to support the biggest companies – those in the French Tech120 and Next40 – who were selected based purely on economic criteria. Because we’ve noticed that internationally there’s still no French – or even European – tech company among the top ten global market capitalizations. There’s still a long way to go, and that’s precisely why we are going to continue supporting it. On the other hand, we want to commit to greater diversity by offering our services to companies in every territory out there. The idea is to support entrepreneurship in every region, and to do so, we can count on 13 capitals and 60+ French Tech communities in mainland France and its overseas territories, as well as 40+ communities abroad. Lastly, we also have a goal of offering support beyond just digital companies, FinTech, and Marketplace, etc. to encompass start-ups in Deep Tech, i.e. the industrial companies for whom we are still lagging behind. And all of that as part of the “France 2030” government investment plan that has been allocated €30bn, half of which has been ringfenced for supporting companies in the emerging and disruptive technology sectors.

RM: Why did you make that decision?

C. Chappaz: Because even though we are seeing clear acceleration in La French Tech, especially with the record levels of fundraising, investments tend to be too concentrated on the digital sector. Meanwhile, a lot of Deep Tech companies are still having problems securing funding, partly because investor strategies are all too short-term. The pace of research and innovation in Deep Tech means that it can be years before a product reaches the market. The same is true of French reindustrialisation and sovereignty in particular strategic sectors; here, I’m thinking mainly of quantum technology, a field in which a number of French companies have invented processes that are highly coveted, or sometimes even copied, by American companies. We have all this talent in the research world in France, and that’s something that we absolutely must support so that they can achieve their full ambitions. Abroad, they often admire the quality of our researchers and engineers.

RM: Is there anything unique about La French Tech?

C. Chappaz: The French ecosystem is indeed very unique, in no small part thanks to a very strong cultural and societal heritage that’s different from those of the English-speaking world or the Chinese. We aren’t focused on growth at all costs, with values also counting for a lot in the growth of French businesses. Take Mouvement Impact France and the Tech for Good community, for example, launched by ESSEC alumni Jean Moreau (E07), and which are developing tech and digital solutions to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable, more responsible society. The value system for French tech companies is very specific to them, and our job is to support them in it. That’s why we launched the Green20 programme that groups together 20 innovative companies in the ecological transition field, an extremely important sector in terms of scientific research, but which still contains very few international players.

RM: How would you explain La French Tech’s current success?

C. Chappaz: It’s firstly down to the quality of our entrepreneurs and their highly ambitious ideas and who, through their hard work, have secured the resources to guarantee their success. Next, I think that there’s been a real change of mindset among young French entrepreneurs who are thinking globally from the outset, with international growth part of their plans from the word “go”. Then it’s also a question of appeal and resources, and that’s where government action has been a huge success, especially through the launch of the French Tech Mission, which has enabled French tech to resonate all around the world. Not to mention the investments made, notably through Bpifrance and the Tibi initiative, launched in 2019 by the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance to promote funding for tech companies – a whole range of initiatives that have created capital available here, in France. The appeal of our ecosystem had attracted several major foreign investors like Softbank and Tiger Global M (we didn’t have that same draw a few years ago), investors who have made a major contribution to the recent latest record-breaking fundraising rounds completed in recent months. Lastly, the French Tech Visa was relaunched last summer and makes it easy for talent from all over the world to join our start-ups and contribute to their growth.

RM: What will you be working on today?

C. Chappaz: First of all, I’ll be keeping up support for companies that have already launched, including the largest ones amongst them, and especially abroad, which today account for 40% of total turnover, a figure that is expected to rise to 60% over the next few years. Then we have areas for improvement with regard to regional and social diversification, and mass-market applications. When it comes to the regions, there’s one statistic that says it all: 50% of start-ups are formed outside of Paris, but they only receive 20% of available funding. The same is true of the people creating companies: today, most of them come from France’s grandes écoles. This is why we decided to launch the French Tech Tremplin, with the aim of optimising opportunities for groups that are underrepresented in starting new businesses by providing funding and specialist training, as well as a mentoring system, so that all the talent there is out there has access to the same benefits as entrepreneurs from more privileged backgrounds. It’s one of the prerequisites for scaling up to the mass-market that I brought up, and which, over the next three years, will enable us to support one thousand new companies. La French Tech means more than 20,000 start-ups that provide more than one million direct and indirect jobs, and that will create just as many more over the next few years.

RM: Following a number of professional roles in e-commerce overseas, you joined Vestiaire Collective in 2019. What motivated that decision?

C. Chappaz: It was a company that was looking to promote more sustainable ways of consuming products, something that I was very passionate about at the time and that offered a solution to an issue that was very important to me. And then I saw the business model – a peer to peer marketplace – as a real intellectual challenge, during a special phase in the start-up’s growth, which included a change of management. I’d also been thinking for a while about coming back to France and putting the experience I’d earned abroad to use serving a new French company. So the planets had aligned.

RM: What made Vestiaire Collective such a success?

C. Chappaz: For me, it was arriving at a time when major changes were taking place within the company. That gave me the freedom to question past decisions, and to have no fear of making difficult decisions. I always say that entrepreneurship is never a straight line. The most important project that I worked on was the launch of a new business model called “Direct Shipping” between sellers and buyers. It may seem trivial, but it was pretty fundamental to Vestiaire Collective’s growth: it enabled the company to lower its commission and attract more sellers, who were the key to the marketplace’s success.

RM: Will your experience as an entrepreneur be useful in your new role?

C. Chappaz: It will give me a good understanding of the challenges that lie ahead, as well as issues with funding, so I’ll know what the entrepreneurs are going through. The fact that I’ve worked in a number of foreign countries – whether in Southeast Asia or the United States and Great Britain – will enable me to better understand what works in these different ecosystems

RM: Alongside your role at Vestiaire Collective, you also ran the Women Empowerment Task Force. Is the “feminisation” of French tech important to you?

C. Chappaz: Yes, because that’s an integral part of the better and greater diversity that I was talking about earlier, and there’s still a long way to go. It’s important to note that in France, only 10% of businesses are founded or co-founded by women, and that they account for just 5% of investments. There’s a huge gap, so it’s vital that we work to boost the visibility of women in the entrepreneurial world. We need to give them the chance to take part in training, access mentoring and coaching programmes, help them to source funding, and offer them better support throughout their journey as entrepreneurs, as well as helping them to meet each other within communities of female entrepreneurs.

RM: What do you remember about your time at ESSEC?

C. Chappaz: For me, those were some amazing years. Very positive. I was very involved with student life at ESSEC, as a member of the student union. That was where I learned how to organise events, and how to listen to students and find solutions for them, which really helped me grow as a person. And then I really liked the fact that ESSEC gives you responsibility for creating your own curriculum: that’s something that teaches you very early on to make decisions, which comes in very handy later on in the world of work. In fact, ESSEC was where I learned that anything is always possible.

RM: Have you stayed in touch with any old classmates?

C. Chappaz: Yes, a lot of them. Often as friends and sometimes through professional connections, or even both, like with Morgan Hilmi (E12), the Co-Founder of Beebs, a community marketplace for young parents, and who I advised for a while. I made some very strong friendships at ESSEC. We regularly do things together and it’s amazing.

RM: And connections with ESSEC?

C. Chappaz: I lost track of what’s going on while I was abroad, but I’ve been back in touch since I returned to France. I’ve had a lot of contact with the Entrepreneurs Club, which didn’t exist back in my day. We are organising an online event on 25 January, from 7pm to 8.30pm (sign up here). I noticed that ESSEC has maintained close connections, built around particular themes, with many of its former students. It creates a very positive dynamic and great sense of solidarity amongst us – whether that’s to do with very specific ideas about entrepreneurship or about fundraising – it helps us to build a robust network around shared challenges.

Interview by François de Guillebon, chief editor of Reflets Magazine.

Translation of an article published in Reflets Magazine #141. Read the full issue in French here. Subscribe here to get the next issues (in French)!