Ever since I founded START Paris and started shuttling between Paris and Asia — Slush China, the S-tron Summit, ecosystem visits in Tokyo and Singapore — I've watched a very specific kind of founder come through: solid operators based in Shanghai or Seoul, capable of pitching a Sand Hill Road VC in five minutes, and getting absolutely stuck on France. Not because the company is weak. Because they apply a playbook that doesn't work here.

What follows isn't theory. It's what I've observed making introductions, debriefing meetings, and watching what lands and what doesn't.

1. French capital is relationship-first, not transaction-first

First thing to internalize: in France, a fund doesn't invest in a deck. It invests in a person it has known for eighteen months. The transactional logic — fire 200 cold emails, get 5 meetings, sign a term sheet — does not work. Or rather: it works so badly that it burns your reputation before you've even started.

The corollary is that you should start the conversation before you need it. Ideally six to twelve months ahead of the raise. Quarterly update emails, coffee on every Paris swing, presence at one or two ecosystem events a year. It looks slow. It is slow. It is also the only way to turn a meeting into trust.

2. The right counterparties are not the obvious ones

The reflex from Asia is to target names you've read on TechCrunch: the visible mega-funds behind recent French unicorns. As a first contact, this is almost always a mistake. These funds receive a deal-flow volume that makes your file statistically invisible.

Where I see real Asia ↔ France deals actually happen:

  • Bpifrance — the public investment bank, unavoidable. Co-invests in a huge share of rounds, runs thematic funds (deeptech, climate, Asia), and its label reassures the whole ecosystem.
  • Cathay Innovation — explicitly positioned on the Europe ↔ Asia bridge, with offices in Paris, Shanghai and San Francisco. If your story is cross-border, this is probably the first call to make.
  • Eurazeo, Partech, Serena, Daphni, Idinvest — tier-1 funds with sharp sector theses. Read their blogs, their public LP letters, their LinkedIn threads. Thesis matters more than ticket size.
  • Sector funds and corporate venture (CVC) — Orange Ventures, Engie New Ventures, LVMH Luxury Ventures, Crédit Agricole, AXA Venture Partners. Routinely overlooked by foreign founders. Which is precisely why they're reachable.
  • Family offices — Paris has an underrated concentration of these. Slower, more demanding on relationship, but solid and patient checks.

My rule of thumb: for a first round in Paris, I'd start with one sector fund + Bpifrance + one CVC. Generalists come after, once there is already a French validation signal in the conversation.

3. The cultural codes that move the needle

Nobody will tell you this to your face, but these things weigh on the decision:

  • Long-termism. A French fund will not ask about your exit strategy in the second meeting. Pitching a 3-year exit makes you look like a flipper. Talk about building a category over ten years.
  • Hierarchy. Address the right level. An associate doesn't have a partner's power, but they're the one writing the memo. Treat them seriously — they'll carry your file internally.
  • Formality. First-name terms come fast in Paris, but the opening email still starts with "Bonjour Monsieur / Madame". A "hey" LinkedIn DM reads as disrespect, not energy.
  • Lunch culture. A 90-minute lunch is worth three video calls. If it's offered, say yes, even if you fly out that evening. That's where the decision actually happens.
  • French as a mark of respect. Nobody expects you to pitch in French. But opening an email with two sentences in French, or learning a 30-second company intro in French — it changes the temperature of the room. Every single time.

4. The traps

Four mistakes I see on every trip I organize:

  1. Assuming the SF-style "warm intro" works the same way. It works, but differently. In Paris, a lukewarm intro from a founder the VC respects beats ten "hot" intros from an operator they met once. The quality of the introducer matters more than the temperature of the intro.
  2. Leading with numbers, not vision. In the US, you open with traction. In France, you open with why this company must exist. Metrics come next, and they should reinforce the vision, not replace it.
  3. Ignoring corporate funds. A well-placed French CVC can open commercial doors nobody else will. It's often where the enterprise pilots start.
  4. Showing up once and disappearing. A single Paris swing builds no relationship. Plan two or three trips over six months, spaced apart. Repetition reads as seriousness.

To close

Raising in France from Asia isn't harder than raising elsewhere. It's a different game — slower, more relational, more forgiving to those who take time to learn the rules. The reward, when it lands, is patient capital, an enterprise network you'll get nowhere else, and a "funded in France" label that opens the rest of Europe.

If you're prepping a Paris trip and want to talk it through — who to see, in what order, how to frame the first emails — email me at contact@thanaelfontaine.eu, or book a slot from the contact page. I've been working this Paris–Asia bridge since START Paris; I'd rather build it for one more company than for none.