Stéphane Paillard
Covering European fundraising, first-time fund managers, and the founders behind the rounds. Previously built event and community products across the French tech ecosystem; now runs Sesamers and hosts the Sesame Summit.
Latest from Stéphane
312 articles
INLEAP Photonics raises €20M seed to scale laser drone defence
Europe's anti-drone market is compounding at 27.5% a year, and a Laser Zentrum Hannover spinout just raised one of Germany's biggest deep tech seeds…
A Japanese Giant Just Led €108 Million Into a Spanish Rocket Company
PLD Space's €108 million Series C extension, led by Mitsubishi Electric, takes the round to €288 million - and turns Spain's launch company into…
A London Startup Just Raised $220 Million to Fix American Imaging
Scan.com's $220 million raise - a $90M Series C led by Noteus Partners plus $130M in debt - is the story of a London…
What is a scaleup? When a startup stops being a startup
A scaleup is a company whose search is over: the model works, and the job becomes deploying capital into it fast. The markers, the…
European unicorns: where the billion-euro companies are
Where Europe's unicorns actually are, country by country - and why a paper valuation is a milestone, not a scoreboard.
The term sheet guide: every clause that matters, and what’s standard in Europe
A term sheet is where the deal is actually negotiated. The clauses that move outcomes, the European market standards, and the imported terms to…
Where to incorporate a startup in Europe: SAS, GmbH, Ltd, OÜ and BV compared
The legal wrapper determines how you raise, grant options and exit. The seven structures European founders actually use, compared honestly.
Employee equity in European startups: ESOPs, EMI, BSPCE and what’s normal
European option pools sit around 10% and stay flat while US pools climb to 20-25%. What options are, what's normal, and how to read…
AI events in Europe: the conferences that matter
Research conferences, industry expos and festival AI stages do different jobs - how to pick European AI events by job, density and verified dates.
Startup events in Paris: the scene, the seasons and the rooms that matter
How the Paris event year really works: VivaTech in June, the rentrée season, Station F and the smaller rooms where the ecosystem actually meets.