Last summer, the Station F startup campus was christened in a splashy ceremony attended by then newly elected president Emmanuel Macron. Today, the gargantuan startup space is holding a party to celebrate the progress it has made in its first 12 months.
The brainchild of French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, the startup campus claims to be the largest in the world. Niel spent hundreds of millions of his own euros to transform a former railway station into an entrepreneurial hotspot.
Here are 10 facts about Station F to mark the occasion:
- It currently hosts 31 startup programs spanning a wide range of technologies.
- It received 11,271 startup applications during the first year for its desk spaces, of which 9 percent were accepted.
- There were 1,034 startups during the first year, for a total of 4,882 residents.
- At least 232 startups raised funding, including 113 that raised more than €500,000.
- Outside of France, the U.S. was the leading source of applications with 34 percent, followed by the U.K. at 17 percent and China at 15 percent.
- At least 8 startups that participated in Station F have been acquired.
- 1.7 percent of participating startups have shut down.
- B2B SaaS is the leading type of technology being developed by startups at Station F, followed by AI, B2C consumer apps, and ecommerce.
- The average age of a Station F resident: 30.9 years old. The youngest resident is 14, and the oldest is 65.
- Station F has hosted 346 workshops for its residents.
