Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, finances and supports businesses at every stage of their development through loans, guarantees, innovation support, and equity investments. In doing so, Bpifrance supports public policies implemented by the French State and regional authorities.
French Touch Financing: innovation, banking solutions, investment
La French Touch, a movement supporting French creativity, aims to promote the visibility and growth of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). Supported by Bpifrance, La French Touch brings together ambitious entrepreneurs and creators under a common banner symbolized by an orange rooster, united around concrete achievements. The Cultural and Creative Industries are today a strategic priority for Bpifrance, which offers a complete continuum of financing, investment, and support solutions to help entrepreneurs and creators achieve their ambitions (from the earliest stages of their projects to more advanced growth phases). Since the launch of the plan in 2020, more than €10 billion in financing has been deployed in support of these sectors, and 20,000 creative companies have been supported through the following continuum.
Innovation
Today, innovation is no longer solely technological; it is multidimensional, open, agile, and above all, creative. Because innovation involves taking risks, Bpifrance stands alongside entrepreneurs to finance their innovative projects (from the earliest stages through more mature phases), with solutions such as:
- Creative Innovation Grant: a subsidy to validate the feasibility of your project;
- French Tech Grant: support for launching an innovative business;
- Innovation Development Aid: repayable advance or loan to support project execution;
- Seed Loan: an unsecured loan to relieve cash-flow pressures during a fundraising preparation phase;
- Seed Loan Investment: an unsecured loan provided alongside a fundraising round from qualified investors;
- R&D Innovation Loan: an unsecured loan to finance the industrial and commercial launch of an innovation;
- Call for projects “Digital Transformation of Culture and Adoption of AI,” part of the France 2030 plan;
- Etc.
Focus on Creative Innovation Support
Creative innovation is a new type of innovation that complements Bpifrance’s existing offering. Its purpose is to support the most ambitious creative projects, foster the emergence of young companies, and contribute to greater diversity in creative, artistic, and cultural output.
It is based on two criteria:
- The innovative project must rely on the talent and experience of creative entrepreneurs and their teams;
- It must deliver a distinctive value proposition that is both multifaceted (originality of the offering, communication/distribution strategy, etc.) and specific (aligned with trends and key success factors in the target sector).
All of Bpifrance’s innovation financing solutions support creative innovation, with the exception of repayable advances.
Bank Financing
Financing the development of French companies, notably those in the cultural and creative industries, is one of Bpifrance’s missions. To do so, the entrepreneurs’ bank has developed financing solutions tailored to each stage of a company’s lifecycle (creation, development, external growth, innovation, international expansion, business transfer, etc.), working in partnership with private banks, regional authorities, and other ecosystem partners.
What financing solutions does Bpifrance offer?
Medium- and long-term loans, leasing, thematic loans, etc. Bpifrance supports companies of all sizes by providing financing solutions alongside banks to meet diverse needs:
- Medium- or long-term loan to co-finance investments with banks;
- Short-term credit lines to mobilize receivables;
- Green Loan to support environmental and energy transition programs;
- Growth Loan to finance intangible investments or strengthen working capital requirements for SMEs and mid-caps;
- Etc.
Financing operations are carried out in complementarity and synergy with the IFCIC[DM1] .
Focus on the Touch Loan
To support the development of creative projects, Bpifrance launched the Touch Loan 3.
Ranging from €50,000 to €2 million, with durations from 2 to 10 years and a grace period of up to 24 months, this loan finances intangible expenses linked to the development and launch of CCI projects, increases in working capital requirements, low-collateral tangible investments, and external growth operations.
What guarantee solutions does Bpifrance offer?
To help the most high-risk projects come to life, Bpifrance guarantees loans granted to companies by French banks. Cash-flow reinforcement, creation guarantees, business-transfer guarantees… Several guarantee solutions tailored to key stages of business growth are available to facilitate access to credit for micro-enterprises and SMEs. For example:
- Creation Guarantee, to encourage banks to lend to new entrepreneurs;
- Transmission Guarantee, to facilitate business acquisition operations;
- SME and Micro-business Development Guarantee, to support tangible and intangible investment projects;
- International Guarantee, to support financing for international business development.
French Touch Capital
Bpifrance provides equity financing to creative companies through its ICC division, composed of expert, experienced, and passionate investors dedicated to La French Touch.
With its unique positioning in the market, Bpifrance conducts equity operations across the entire development trajectory of companies, as well as in fund-of-funds:
- Venture capital to support the emergence of new brands or creative and innovative projects, and to help scale Tech & Touch startups;
- Growth capital to strengthen and consolidate independent players in the cultural and creative industries, shaping tomorrow’s mid-caps;
- Buyout capital to support the acquisition of companies in the cultural and creative industries.
Bpifrance’s uniqueness lies in a distinctive “triple play”:
- Strong sector expertise: dedicated investors with sector-specific knowledge across all facets of La French Touch;
- Smart Money support: a broad Bpifrance service offering (training, consulting missions, networking through Excellence, Accelerators, etc.) to help companies execute their strategies;
- Deep engagement with the CCI ecosystem: regular interactions with all stakeholders of La French Touch: government bodies, federations, unions, labels, etc.
Bpifrance thus provides “sophisticated capital,” enriched by its many ecosystem relationships and strengthened by the full continuum of Bpifrance’s financing and support tools.
French Touch Capital acts as a minority, long-term investor, supporting French Touch companies with investments ranging from €300,000 to €10 million. Larger transactions may be carried out by other Bpifrance divisions (Large Venture and Mid & Large Cap).
The portfolio includes 14 video-game companies such as Focus, Nacon, Amplitude Studios, Kinetix, etc.