Digital: Nantes, the perfect location for tech business success stories

The Atlantic France region is a hotspot for digital entrepreneurship. Over recent months, 7 promising companies from Paris, Lyon and other European countries have set up businesses in Nantes. This is further proof of its attractiveness for digital companies, which are drawn to the dynamic and welcoming ecosystem, the talent available for recruitment, the many business opportunities and a strong support from public bodies.

Lydia: the French fintech which achieved unicorn status

Lydia is a “super-app” for managing money. The company, which was created in 2011,  raised $100 million in December and became a unicorn (a company that reaches a value of $1 billion without being listed on the stock market). 

The fintech company offers financial services in France, but also in Spain and Portugal, and plans to reach 10 million users by 2025. Lydia has chosen Nantes as the location to set up its first office outside Paris and is planning to recruit more than 50 customer service professionals. 

Nantes is the city that best meets the criteria we have set for ourselves: quality of life for future employees of the Nantes office, depth of the talent pool for the profiles we are looking for, a strong local economic network (including a very dynamic digital ecosystem), and geographic proximity to Paris. In addition, we were convinced by the strong spirit of support and mutual aid that exists in the local startup community. This allowed us to plan for the long term.

Arbia Khelifi, Nantes Customer Service Manager, on Nantes Saint-Nazaire development agency website

OpenClassrooms: the leader in online education

OpenClassrooms is an online education platform which offers free and paid courses. Registered with the French Ministry of National Education, it can deliver bachelor-level and master-level diplomas. The company was founded in 2013 and employs more than 500 people in Paris, London and New York. 

After the evolution of the company’s teleworking policies, more than 40 employees have come to work remotely in Nantes over the last months. OpenClassrooms therefore chose Atlantic France as the place to install its first office outside Paris. The team is based at the coworking place, Le Palace.

Decathlon Technology: developing a digital platform for athletes

Decathlon Technology is dedicated to the digital innovation projects of the global distributor of sports equipment, Decathlon. The branch currently employs 3,000 people around the world and chose the cities of Paris, Lyon and Nantes as locations to base a “distributed team”.

More than 20 people, mainly developers, will be recruited for the Nantes office in the next months. They will work on the “athlete’s digital platform”, a major R&D project led by Decathlon, which aims to cover all sports needs, offering a full range of services: rental of sporting goods, online coaching sessions, reservation of activities or accommodation, etc. 

We want to facilitate the recruitment of our teams by joining promising job pools, meeting digital solution partners via dynamic local ecosystems, experimenting with networking, but also getting closer to some of our flagship brands, such as Tribord in La Rochelle […] Nantes is particularly rich in startups, publishers and consulting companies, and it is a dynamic and very open network.

Baptiste Turquet, Office Manager Decathlon Digital Nantes, on Nantes Saint-Nazaire development agency website

Sully Group: 40 years of experience in B2B digital services

Sully Group is an IT company which was created in Lyon 40 years ago. The group, which belongs to 35 of its own associates, has developed a network of agencies in France and Morocco. Nantes was chosen to host the 8th office, and the company plans to recruit more than 15 people by the end of the year. The company already works for clients in Atlantic France, such as the Oryx group.

It was logical to choose Nantes, one of the most dynamic French cities in the digital field. Its ecosystem is particularly rich.

Frédéric Pinson, Office Manager Sully Group Nantes, on Nantes Saint-Nazaire development agency website

Convious: the Dutch attraction management platform

Convious was created in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The startup develops an innovative digital platform for visitor attractions which helps to increase the conversion rate. The solution can be used to manage all sales transactions and uses AI to adjust prices in real time according to any kind of data: special offers, weather, season, day of the week, etc. The Convious platform is used by more than 125 companies in 16 countries and the office in Nantes will help accelerate business development in France. 

Shodo: a liberated company of digital engineering

Shodo is a tech company with an innovative model that puts consultants first, with attractive salaries, extra days off, transparency in the distribution of profits, health insurance 100% covered, etc. The objective is to offer the advantages of freelancing (higher incomes, liberty, autonomy) with the security of a permanent contract. Two years after its creation in Paris, the startup set up an office in Nantes. The team should reach 15 people by the end of the year and 30 people by the end of 2023.

It is an exceptionally welcoming territory and opportunities for tech companies, a clever mix between a good living environment and the possibility of evolving in a very dynamic and ever-developing digital ecosystem.

Adrien Cruchon, co-founder of Shodo Nantes, on Nantes Saint-Nazaire development agency website

Heraw: a collaborative solution for creative content

Heraw is a software solution developed by the startup Henovation, which was created in Paris in 2018. This all-in-one collaborative platform is designed to manage creative content projects. It has seduced over 200,000 users in 180 countries and major French media brands such as TF1, CANAL+, France Télévisions and the Festival de Cannes. The company chose to open an office in Nantes for the cultural dynamism of the city and the close ties of the region with Montreal, Canada.