Legislative elections: how French start-ups are preparing for the end of the Macron era

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At the dawn of the legislative elections, one sector is particularly concerned about the outcome of the elections. Favored by an advantageous policy for several years, French Tech must now prepare for a post-Macron era.

« A start-up nation is a nation where everyone can say that they can create a start-up. I want France to be one ,” wrote the President of the Republic on X.com in April 2017, a month before his ascension to power. Since then, numerous initiatives have been deployed to promote an ecosystem of French innovation.

The France 2030 plan, for example, provides 50 billion euros to develop industrial competitiveness and future technologies within France. The Tibi initiative aims to encourage institutional investors to finance the most innovative technological companies. These programs are already bearing fruit, with France home to some of the most predominant start-ups in Europe. It even dominates the coveted sector of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the Old Continent, notably thanks to its young flagship Mistral AI.

The sector is now plunged into worry, the latest polls linked to the legislative elections leaving Renaissance far in the race behind the National Rally and the New Popular Front.

The fear of withdrawing into oneself after the legislative elections

« To win, the best asset of France is innovation and the priority is European integration, the diversity of talents and the attractiveness of international financing. Not the return of nationalism nor the temptation of extremes or withdrawal into oneself ”, asserts in an article published in Les Échos Maya Noël, general director of France Digitale, the largest collective of start-ups and investors in Europe.

Beyond the fear of a less favorable economic policy, French Tech is also worried about nationalism and the rejection of a European ideal at the end of the elections. Because many talents playing in the country come from foreign countries. « Without engineers and developers from India, Morocco, Algeria, Ukraine, Syria, Uzbekistan, Philippines or the United States, our companies would deprive themselves of wealth, a source of innovation and diversity, essential to our competitiveness&nbsp ;”, continues Maya Noël.

Despite everything, some actors do not hide their preference, and a trend emerges among some. They believe that the coming to power of the New Popular Front would be more harmful for their activity. « We are more worried about the arrival of the far left in power than that of the far right, because the RN is pro-industry ,” explains a lobbyist in the semiconductors in the lines of Context.

Whatever the outcome of the legislative elections, the start-ups know that their future has darkened, and are now waiting to see how their operations will be affected.

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