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Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F: Station F became a launchpad for Europe’s top startups
Description
Station F has become one of the defining institutions in French tech, housing 1,000 early-stage startups in Paris and launching F/ai, a new AI programme bringing together major labs, top funds and a sharper focus on commercial acceleration.
Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F, shares how Station F grew alongside the rise of the French ecosystem and why the focus is now shifting toward helping strong AI teams move faster on the commercial side by connecting them with the right partners, investors and buyers.
The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:
https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk
Sponsors:
SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - Why Roxanne moved to France
1:38 - What Station F is today
2:24 - Station F’s impact on French tech
6:02 - What FAI is and why it launched
7:48 - How founders were selected
10:12 - Why Deal Day matters
16:05 - Why Paris is producing more major AI companies
20:27 - Sovereignty and buying European tech
23:13 - France’s growing defence tech ecosystem