While India is becoming one of the top five countries with a healthy ecosystem, France may just become the next hotspot for upcoming start-ups. French Minister of State for the digital economy Axelle Lemaire announced last week that a new entrepreneur visa package called the French Tech Ticket. Now foreign entrepreneurs can get a work visa, a grant worth $14,000-28,000 for each team member, free office space in an incubator in Paris as well as an English-speaking advisor for administrative purposes.
This was announced at the La French Touch Conference and is currently limited to 500 applications. However, teams that wish to apply need to be co-founders with one French founder who lives abroad. Everyone should be fluent in English and stay for at least six months in France.
After a period of six months, around 50 individuals will be given the French Tech Ticket with the first batch starting in January 2016. This start-up initiative is reminiscent of the Start-Up Chile program. In 2010, the Chilean Government started accepting dozens of teams every six months by providing them a visa, a $32,000 grant and light mentorship.
Many saw Start-Up Chile as a great way to travel and bootstrap your company thanks to the grant, and France is looking to recreate the same thing. But of course, Chile and France are both looking to convince entrepreneurs to stay longer after the initial 6-month program.
With global platforms accepting and promoting the start-up culture, the industry is yet to reach its saturation point.
