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  • I am in Paris getting a tour of the world's largest startup campus.

  • Station F is home to 1,000 startups along with corporations, investors and organizations.

  • The space spans more than 360,000 square feet.

  • While the building itself measures 190 ft by 1,017 ft.

  • That makes Station F nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower.

  • A desk here costs $235 on average per month, a figure about half as much as other coworking spaces in Paris.

  • But don't just call it co-working.

  • Station F hopes to be considered a sort of startup university.

  • And to work here, you have to apply through one of the incubator or startup programs

  • hosted by various organizations and companies.

  • You see a lot of the biggest tech company names like Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon.

  • But it's not just tech companies, either.

  • You'll also find retail, luxury and other types of industries.

  • This is Homeric. He returned to France in 2015, after living in China as an expat.

  • He's now working for an augmented reality company called Bear and it's based in Station F.

  • France is a small market, we're only 68 million, but if you find this market you can develop a good SME

  • and have recurrent revenues which will help you finance growth in the U.S. or somewhere else.

  • The goal here isn't only to create the largest startup campus in the world under one roof,

  • but also to put France at the forefront of the international startup map.

  • The vision of Station F was backed by Telecom billionaire Xavier Niel,

  • who's poured $285 million into the project.

  • The space is a former train depot that's now been designed into three separate sections.

  • The Share space is where events take place, along with private offices and on-site services.

  • It's hosted the likes of Facebook's Sheryl Sandburg and French President Emanual Macron.

  • A little bit underground, you have these lockers where people can store their stuff overnight,

  • and they're along the same lines as where the train tracks used to be.

  • The middle section is called, Create, where it's exclusively for startups to work out of,

  • but in true entrepreneur style, that could also mean taking a break sometimes, too.

  • Finally, the Chill zone is home to this Italian restaurant, called La Felicità,

  • it's considered to be the largest restaurant in Europe.

  • It's open to the public, yet its proximity is a perk for with those actually working in Station F.

  • When we ask our startups why they come to Station F,

  • it's not for being in a beautiful building, it's not for paying inexpensive prices.

  • It's actually to be surrounded by 1,000 entrepreneurs.

  • Roxanne is the program director for Station F and helped launch the concept in 2017.

  • Everybody here is selected so we have a certain, kind of, level of entrepreneur that we have on campus.

  • And they love being able to talk to people that have encountered the same difficulties, that have resources,

  • that have contacts, they're really sharing with each other and I think that's the main resource that you find here.

  • Station F was born around the same time the French President took office

  • and he emphasized wanted to turn France into a quote, Startup Nation.

  • France now has a lot of the elements necessary to actually create new companies.

  • You have access to a lot of early-stage capital, you have a lot of talent, you have a lot of government support.

  • That's Ben. He's a venture capitalist for the firm, SOSV.

  • It's both a really good networking place, a place where business is done

  • and also a very good symbol of France's efforts towards startups.

  • But, while the initiative is highly symbolic of the intent for France to take off,

  • whether it proves to be successful or not isn't necessarily guaranteed.

  • What's still missing in the ecosystem are things around skills for growth,

  • maybe marketing skills as well, knowledge of international markets.

  • And the last thing that's also missing I think in the environment is habits and knowledge around exit.

  • A lot of startups are being created, but really the proof comes when you have an exit

  • and most of those exits tend to be M&As, rather than IPOs generally.

  • But Ben says French companies and founders are less familiar with acquisitions.

  • And that may be the final piece they need to keep Station F on track.

  • Hey guys, it's Uptin. Thanks for watching.

  • Do you think Station F can help put France on the international startup map?

  • Let us know in the comments below and also check out more videos here and here.

  • And we'll see you next time!

I am in Paris getting a tour of the world's largest startup campus.

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