Extra Crunch Tuesday: 12 Paris-based VCs look at the state of their city

Extra Crunch Newsletter

Tuesday, September 01, 2020 • By Walter Thompson

Welcome to Extra Crunch Tuesday Image Credits: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images I’ve lost track of the number of articles I’ve read predicting the end of cities as newly-remote information workers depart for rural areas, return to their hometowns, or I don’t know, buy an RV and hit the road so they can drive from town to town and help people in trouble. Rather than offer you more of the same, we asked editor-at-large Mike Butcher to reach out to VCs in two European capitals to find out how these tech hubs are adapting to the COVID-19 era. Supported by the government-led French Tech initiative and a growing number of VCs, Paris’ investor community is seeing plenty of green shoots, he found. Here’s who he spoke to: Alison Imbert, partner, Partech Alexandre Mordacq, partner, 360 Capital Partners Emmanuel Delaveau, partner, Partech Boris Golden, partner, Partech Jean de La Rochebrochard, managing partner, Kima Ventures Paul Bolardi, associate, AXA Venture Partners Shiraz Mahfoudhi, Speedinvest Guillaume Dupont, founding partner, CapHorn Martin Mignot, partner, Index Ventures Bartosz Jakubowski, principal, Alven Pierre Entremont, founding partner, Frst Capital Pierre-Eric Leibovici, founding partner, Daphni Berlin is a great place to start a tech company: it’s centrally located, affordable, and it attracts a diverse mix of talented people from around the world. Home to unicorns like HelloFresh, Delivery Hero and N26, it’s also a hub for top investors and accelerators. As elsewhere, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their short-term behavior and their long-term outlook, but all say they’re adapting to #theseuncertaintimes. “We are really doing business as usual,” said Mike Lobanov of Target Global. In his view, the global VC community should know that in Berlin, “the opportunities are as good as ever.” Mike surveyed ten Berlin-based investors to find out how COVID-19 has changed the landscape: Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, founding partner, La Famiglia Jorge Fonturbel, associate, Target Global Luis Shemtov, founding partner, Lunar Ventures Mike Lobanov, founding partner, Target Global Ludwig Ensthaler, founding partner, 468 Capital Mathias Ockenfels, partner, Speedinvest Axel Bard Bringéus, partner, EQT Ventures Eckhardt Weber, managing partner, Heal Capital Joerg Rheinboldt, managing partner, APX Axel Springer Porsche GmbH & Co. KG Christian O. Edler, partner, Christianedler.com I hope you have a fantastic week — thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch. Walter Thompson Senior Editor, TechCrunch @yourprotagonist Read more

What does GPT-3 mean for the future of the legal profession? Image Credits: Andrey Popov / Getty Images Even if you only have a passing familiarity with AI, you’re likely aware that Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) is able to generate text that looks like it was written by a human being. I’ve seen tweets, poems and jokes generated with GPT-3, but can it also create legal documents? Read more

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Podcast is social: How China's Lizhi makes audio interactive Image Credits: Lizhi FM Shenzhen-based reporter Rita Liao interviewed Marco Lai about his journey from working in radio to founding Lizhi, China’s largest podcast network. Lizhi offers an Android app with recording tools that demystify the audio-production process. "In the U.S., podcasts are often well-polished comedies, talk shows or news programs. In China, many people have dreams to become radio hosts, so we get amateur creators who are simply reading out poems they like," Lai said. Read more

TikTok's rivals in India struggle to cash in on its ban Image Credits: Diptendu Dutta / AFP / Getty Images For the moment, the rivalry between India and China has shifted away from border skirmishes to battles over intellectual property: along with 58 other apps created by Chinese companies, New Delhi banned TikTok. The move created a land rush from copycats, found TechCrunch reporter Manish Singh, “but are these skyrocketing download figures translating to sustaining users?” Read more

In a post-NDA world, does transparency help founders identify conflicts of interest? Image Credits: Francesco Carta fotografo / Getty Images Last year, I advised a friend launching a startup to make sure she got a signed non-disclosure agreement from anyone she pitched. Now, I realize my advice was outdated. Natasha Mascarenhas interviewed Nabeel Alamgir, CEO and founder of Lunchbox, about an encounter he had with an investor who did a month of due diligence before ghosting him entirely. “Four months later, that same investor's portfolio company launched a product mimicking Lunchbox,” Natasha reports. Read more

What pandemic? Inside Boston's scorching VC summer Image Credits: John Coletti / Getty Images For this month’s look at Boston’s startup ecosystem, Natasha Mascarenhas and Alex Wilhelm tried to answer the question, “how did the pandemic impact deal-making in the city?” After a slight dip in the spring, startups in the region raised more VC funding this summer than they did last year, “suggesting that the pandemic and its ensuing technological and economic changes have not hurt the area startups in aggregate, but instead provided a net boon.” Read more

Decrypted: Tesla's ransomware near-miss, Palantir's S-1 risk factor Image Credits: Treedeo / Getty Images For his cybersecurity column this week, Zack Whittaker covered: Russian charged with attempted Tesla ransomware attack Palantir says its controversial work with ICE could be an IPO 'risk factor' iOS 14 release comes with a new privacy feature Plus, the latest in $ECURITY $TARTUPS funding news. Read more

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Pupil infection rate concerns + Line of Duty resumes filming after pandemic delay

A NI business leader has said the 'resounding success' of the 'Eat out to Help Out' initiative will be extended.

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News   What's On   Lifestyle              Sep 1, 2020           Dear reader,   The vast majority of Northern Ireland schoolchildren returned to the classroom for the first time since March on Tuesday, but the day was partly overshadowed by revelations about more new coronavirus cases.    In Co Armagh it was announced that a primary two / three classroom has been closed after a pupil tested positive for Covid-19. Pupils who attend the class at Jonesboro Primary School will now have to self-isolate for 14 days from Friday past, August 28.   Meanwhile, speaking on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday morning, Professor Ian Young, Chief Scientific Officer for Northern Ireland admitted that hundreds of schoolchildren here could expect to contract Covid-19 over the winter. However, Professor Young said he was confident that they had the "systems in place" to cope with that.     A total of 49 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health on Tuesday. It was also revealed that ventilators that help people to breathe are currently being used to treat three people in the Province. No more deaths related to the virus have taken place. . On a lighter note, it was revealed that filming on Line of Duty, the hit BBC television series, has finally resumed in Belfast. Production was halted back in March as the coronavirus pandemic hit but stars like Vicky McClure and Martin Compston are back in production.  Take care   Alistair Bushe, Editor   Want total access to all of our online content? You can subscribe to our website, newsletter.co.uk for just £1 a month for 3 months - and it couldn't be easier. Signing up will get you faster-loading articles, fewer adverts and access to exclusive content and events when we run them. To learn more, visit our Subscriptions page here.           NI business chief says 'there is no doubt that Eat Out to Help Out will be extended'           A NI business leader has said the 'resounding success' of the 'Eat out to Help Out' initiative will be extended.                 Torax Biosciences launches new 'Best in Class' Hand Sanitiser   Torax Biosciences, a leading Northern Ireland life sciences and biomedical company, has launched a revolutionary new, clinically approved hand sanitiser proven to kill 99.99% of bacteria and viruses.           Call for mandatory masks in NI schools   Face coverings should be made mandatory in Northern Ireland schools, a teaching union has said.           £1.1m programme refocused to support 600 businesses   Economy Minister Diane Dodds has launched the Mid Ulster District Council £1.1million business support programme.                 View more on Coronavirus

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