Welcome To The French Tech Ecosystem

77%. That's the number widely reported in various media since a few days. During the same period, overall direct foreign investment across the European Union went up (including in Germany). So the french case looks very real and concerning.

This doesn't bode well for future startups, which may strive to find fundings.

Also note that as an investor hoping to make a nice exit, the case of DailyMotion (mentioned in an article) where a french minister jumped in and forbid the sale to a foreign company, is not something reassuring.

An article who made the top page on HN a few days ago about 30 startups with a $1 bn valuation had... 3 startups in Europe! (and zero in France)

I know that now there's a defense against any criticism regarding France's stance: simply name-call people pointing out the various issues plaguing France by calling them "french bashers" doing "french bashing".

But I can't help but think that the people writing these "feel good" articles about France doing great may be putting their heads in the sand.

That number is particularly concerning in that one of the defense constantly invoked near the end of 2013 against "french bashing" was that direct foreign investments were still very high... But they were using the numbers from 2012.

I think it was expected: you can't constantly raise taxes, put an exit tax, prevent exits from happening, have a president which publicly said that he hates the rich, etc. and think that there's not going be any consequence.

I find it also sad that the various issues cannot be discussed anymore without having an army of journalists invoking "french bashing".

That sentence tells you all you need to know about the author and his perspective, I think.