FACC boosts trade and investment between France and the Southeast.

Leaving behind airport-like security measures that allowed one-person-at-a-time access to the French Consulate building in Buckhead a year ago, The French-American Chamber of Commerce — Atlanta Southeast (FACC) planted its roots in the heart of Silicone Orchard. It has become a part of the innovation ecosystem of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners and has much to celebrate.

How have things gone since they heralded their repositioning to a smart city with real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, using robot-delivered ribbon and scissors during their Peachtree Corners inauguration? I weighed-in with Katherine Lafourcade, Executive Director of the FACC since January 2021, to discuss how the well-timed relocation has played out to date.

Serendipity at its finest

It was perfect synergy — the strategic move to a vibrant tech environment in combination with the official launch of the La French Tech Atlanta community. Atlanta received this French government-backed accreditation in 2021. It’s now one of 12 American cities that aid French tech startups looking to branch into the United States and American tech companies looking to cross the Atlantic and branch into France.

The La French Tech presence in Curiosity Lab, along with the FACC, solidifies Silicone Orchard as a startup hub — a desirable destination for international tech companies and investors.

Curiosity Lab enables startups to prove out new technologies in a real-world setting with infrastructure that includes cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology, autonomous vehicles, drones, robotics and solar roadways.

Lafourcade deems the move advantageous. “The space at Curiosity Lab is amazing,” she said. “There’s always something new and different happening. It’s always evolving. It’s fun to be in that environment. They’re digging holes, moving walls, there are drones, robots — kind of everything. What a great thing to be able to offer access to all of that as a chamber of commerce.”

With a terrific team of people and fluid connections to the wider community around Atlanta, the FACC intends to remain at Curiosity Lab for the long haul.

“Onward and upward! Curiosity Lab generates interest and piques people’s curiosity. It’s an easy sell. Peachtree Corners is unique. It’s pretty special,” Lafourcade beamed.

PTC — The host with the most

The city has embraced the FACC, offering support every step of the way. “Peachtree Corners has been an amazing partner. They help by sponsoring events. I joke that they’re ‘the Yes People,’ but they really are! They help in any way they can. I think they’ve been instrumental in the chamber doing as well as it is now,” Lafourcade said.

French American chambers exist solely through their membership and events. There are no subsidies or funding coming in from elsewhere.

After having been hit hard by the COVID outbreak, the FACC is presently thriving. Being in a milieu that attracts the interest of French technology companies looking to expand facilitates partnerships as the Chamber has much to offer.

“We work closely with the French Consulate, the Metro Atlanta Chamber,” Lafourcade said. “We have really great connections with the city and the mayor’s office of international affairs. We’re in the heart of a bustling community. Our location really helps that role.”

A hub of innovation, open-mindedness and an entrepreneurial spirit

While the FACC has a special focus on France, the collaboration and development expand to other European countries. In turn, the cosmopolitan nature of Atlanta and surrounding areas astonishes Lafourcade, who moved here from Switzerland.

“I’m a bit amazed at the number of people here who weren’t born here. People have come for work or other reasons, and everybody is thriving. I think that is due in part to local people, southern hospitality and warmth. There’s a welcome for everybody. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. The attitude is, ‘the doors are open. We’ll help you on your journey,’” she surmised.

Curiosity Lab PR and Strategy Representative Kelsey Neely confirms that the innovation center was an excellent option for the FACC headquarters, especially partnered with La French Tech and OVHcloud US, their alternative cloud provider.

“We have such a great international presence. The Curiosity Lab can act as a launch pad for these startups expanding in the United States, and potentially beyond,” Neely said.

She recollected the first French startup to join Curiosity Lab through the FACC and the La French Tech program, Urban Canopee. “They make structures that are placed in urban environments to help bring greenery back to the space, keep the air cleaner and fight climate change,” Neely explained. “We actually have one deployed in the city of Peachtree Corners Town Center.”

You may have seen the ‘corolle’ there; it’s a modular, vegetation-covered installment intended to cool down concrete city expanses by “greening them up.”

At the first ever Crystal Pitch Competition this past October, part of the France-Atlanta event series that has been running for 13 years, Neely witnessed some startups present their exciting entrepreneurial undertakings. She shared a look of intense satisfaction.

“You can see through [this] event, Atlanta is growing as a technology hub,” Neely said. “It’s being recognized across the country now as having a healthy startup ecosystem. We’re really happy to be a part of that.”

The Crystal Pitch StartUp competition

The October 24th France-Atlanta Evening in Tech was held at Georgia Tech and sponsored by Morgan Stanley, Peachtree Corners, OVHcloud US, Orbiss Inc. and Georgia Tech. Valuable startup pointers and insights were shared by seasoned entrepreneurs and keynote speakers Christine de Wendel, CEO of sunday; Bruno Jactel, CEO of Pertinent Health, who later pivoted and also pitched his startup Hypercell; Pascal Jaillon, SVP of Product and Digital Accounts at OVHcloud US; and Stanislas Normand, Exotec VP of Operations.

The Shark Tank-type competition ensued, highlighting Atlanta’s growing La French Tech community aimed at expanding local and France-based startups in Atlanta, the Southeast and in Europe. The atmosphere was exhilarating; it was “on” between five startup companies.

Entrepreneurs had a limited time to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges in the hopes of winning prizes like $120,000 in OVHcloud US credits, a year of desk space at Curiosity Lab, tax and accounting support from Orbiss Inc., two tickets to the France-Atlanta Gala (the signature business event of the FACC) and mentoring by La French Tech and French Trade advisors.

The competing startups

Covering their inventive solutions, future plans and the global impact their businesses will have, the startups presented in the following order:

• Strapt Vending — Recognizing a change in consumer purchasing, Founder and CEO Carly Simenauer developed dispensers as vehicles for consumers to sample products in a controlled way using a QR code. The premise is that users are more engaged after they’ve been able to try a product for free.A rapid authentication process to obtain the free samples allows companies to follow-up with and funnel consumers via email afterwards. Intended for feminine hygiene and personal products, Strapt helps companies bring new products to market.

• Rebillia Platform — Co-Founder and CEO Snir Avidan presented flexible subscription management software that puts today’s consumer in control. Apparently, allowing customers to create their own subscription plans was a real hit.There are four million end users of this system, it forms the backbone of several famous brands and it has all been through word of mouth. They’re proud to have spent $0 on marketing.

• Videtics —Videtics offers intelligent video analytics software, AI for the sake of mankind – think a surveillance revolution, of sorts — for security, to track shopping habits in a mall or to address congestion and mobility shifts in cities. Deep Learning Engineers Alan Farbach, co-counder and CEO, and Pierre-Alexis Le Borgne, co-founder and head of research, pitched their simple business model.A license per camera costs 500 € annually and the software can be integrated so clients may keep what they’ve already installed. They hope to experiment in Peachtree Corners, testing the accuracy of their algorithms.

• Hypercell Technologies — Bruno Jactel, CEO and co-founder, delivered the winning pitch of the night with a solution to help prevent future pandemics by implementing rapid diagnostic monitoring and control of viruses in the food chain, specifically in animal reservoirs. Due to recent events, the appeal of mitigating the spread of infectious diseases to reduce cost and shield the human population is easy to appreciate.

• ADAXIS —Based in Bayonne, France, this company aims to streamline the additive manufacturing industry by reducing human intervention. They’ve created a software platform capable of transforming any robot into a flexible 3D printer and have shown promising traction with over 30 customers in Europe, America and Asia.

Vive la réussite!

When I inquired about the criteria for participation in the Crystal Pitch competition, Sébastien Lafon, President of La French Tech Atlanta replied, “It was really for U.S. startups with the ambition to launch their businesses in Europe, using France as a platform. For French startups, it was to see how they are thinking about their business plan to expand into the United States. No series A, B, C or D. We just want to create those relationships between French and American startups!”

Lafon views Peachtree Corners as an invigorating place for the opening of La French Tech Atlanta. “You can see how Curiosity Lab continues to generate interest. We had several companies today that are interested in partnering with Curiosity Lab for the Smart City concept. We are incredibly fortunate and thankful to partner with Curiosity Lab,” he said.

On the heels of their first anniversary at Curiosity Lab, Lafon declared, “We are happy we had an event like this. Twenty-two startups applied for the competition. This event generated so much interest, we’ll see about maybe having it twice a year.”

More La French Tech social events that foster French-American startup relationships can be expected.

As for the FACC, all signs point to Lafourcade having every reason to be confident in her snowball-effect vision of the future: increasing members and interest, creating additional connections and helping even more businesses. It’s a plan that seems destined to materialize, in large part, because they are now headquartered in Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners.  As if our fair city wasn’t alluring enough, the French connection gives Peachtree Corners an additional dose of je ne sais quoi, wouldn’t you agree?