FrenchFounders and BNP Paribas to Host Fourth Edition of Startup Tour Virtually on November 19th

--Speakers include Dan Schulman of PayPal, Shane Grant of Danone--

NEW YORK & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FrenchFounders, the 1st Business Club for French companies, and BNP Paribas, a premier global bank, will host on November 19, 2020 from 8:30am-3:30pm EST the Transatlantic Leaders Forum. This year’s Forum will be online on FrenchFounders new event and networking platform, allowing all attendees to interact with speakers and network with one other.

Many leading figures and CEOs will be addressing the audience throughout the day, including Dan Schulman, President & CEO of PayPal, Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA, Shane Grant, EVP & CEO of Danone North America, Jeff Orlowski, Filmmaker of The Social Dilemma, tennis legend Stan Smith, and many others.

Among the important moments of this event, we will hear from six francophone founders of innovative & impactful startups who will pitch their project in front of an outstanding jury.

The six startups who made their way to the final among 190 applications include: Too Good to Go; PlayPlay; Connecting Food; Nova; KYKLO; and MIMs.

These startups will present in front of a jury composed of investors, decision-makers and experienced entrepreneurs, including:

• President of the Jury: Geraldine Lemeur, Entrepreneur, Investor, Board member
• Philippe Ricard, Chief Operating Officer, @BNP Paribas CIB Americas and BNP Paribas USA
• Philippe Chereau, Director @SKEMA Ventures
• Aymeric Le Page, VP Strategy, Data & Analytics, and Business Transformation @Nestlé Waters North America
• David Schwarz, CEO @Via ID
• Jean-Pierre Adéchi, Founder & CEO @Wheeli
• Rachel Delacour, Co-Founder @Sweep
• Armelle de Madre, Chief People Officer @Datadog

The winning startup will benefit from many prizes, including: 1 year of FrenchFounders’ membership for two founders; 1 desk at The Foundery, co-working space in New York for a period of 12 months (value $8,000); 1 year of accounting services and tax support (up to a limit of $19K) supported by Orbiss; presentation of the startup to the FrenchFounders’ investors club – composed of +200 business angels, including 1 pitch session to its board; mentoring opportunities including 2 one-to-one meetings (2 x 2 hours) with a key leader from its industry based in the USA (Retail, SAAS, Luxury, Media etc.) supported by FrenchFounders’ network; visibility on FrenchFounders’ platform and social medias including a special interview; an Advertising campaign on French Morning & FrenchMorning Business Show (value $15 000).

Benoit Buridant, Co-founder and CEO of FrenchFounders, said: “The year 2020 feels like a wake-up call to the world... How and who will wake up and lead the change? More than ever, in times like these with strong transformation of our societies, we need to strengthen our business relationships, trust and count on our network, maintain a social link (even virtually) to remove boundaries and open-up new opportunities. For the 4th year in the row, our great and engaging collaboration with BNP Paribas, has positioned The Transatlantic Leaders Forum as a unique “rendez-vous” for an audience of entrepreneurs and C-Level decision makers. The great collaboration between both our teams lead to delivering our promise: an exclusive moment to network, interact & to be inspired by incredible game-changing ideas, with speakers from all over the world, so everyone can leave with concrete takeaways and a contagious positive attitude!”

Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA, added: “BNP Paribas believes in the benefits of innovation and inclusion, and promotes and embraces these ideals on a global scale. We are once again delighted to be involved with FrenchFounders and its many partners to help inspire innovation with this year’s impressive group of startups. We look forward to hosting the 2020 Forum and Startup tour and I encourage everyone involved in innovation to join as well.”

About FrenchFounders

FrenchFounders is an international community of French-speaking leaders bringing together more than 4,000 CEOs, high-level executives, entrepreneurs and Francophone investors from around the world. Its mission is to facilitate business connections between its members through its online platform, private events featuring renowned speakers (over 400 events per year) and co-working spaces. FrenchFounders believes in creating strong, in-person bonds with its community of members, with its presence in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, Paris, London, Madrid, Shanghai, Singapore, and Hong Kong. For more information, visit https://www.frenchfounders.com.

About the Startup Tour

The Startup Tour competition fosters business connections between startups, corporations, and investors. This is a unique competition where pitching is just the beginning of an impactful journey for entrepreneurs.

Curated by FrenchFounders and co-organized by BNP Paribas, the 2020 Startup Tour is a gathering of some of the brightest minds in business and beyond.

As part of this 4^th edition, FrenchFounders welcomes high-level keynote speakers and executives for this year’s exclusive semi-final format, which now includes a conference and networking opportunities.

About BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 71 countries, with approximately 199,000 employees, of which more than 151,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors. The Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realize their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance.

In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the European leader in consumer lending.

BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model in Mediterranean countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific.