UNIQORN Incubator-Accelerator Delegation Joins World Business Angels Investment Forum 2020
The French delegation traveling to Istanbul will include UNIQORN co-founders Dom Einhorn and Jean Vignon, as well as VP of Growth Paul Bumb and director of health tech, Dr. Mia Nguyen.
SARLAT-LA-CANÉDA, France, Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A strong delegation of France's largest rural incubation-acceleration project, UNIQORN, will be traveling to Istanbul, Turkey to attend the World Business Angels Investment Forum, 2020 edition. This year's Forum will be held at the Swissotel The Bosphorus on Monday and Tuesday, February 17-18.
Business angel investing is expected to represent $250 billion in global investment volume within five years. Over 1500 representative angel investors, business angels, VCs, policymakers, entrepreneurs, startups, as well as executives of stock exchanges, chambers of commerce and industries, private equity funds, wealth management institutions, technoparks and banks are expected to attend while global startups will be featured on the Global Fundraising Stage on February 18, 2020.
Among the attendees, a strong delegation from France's up-and-coming incubator-accelerator, UNIQORN. Located in the southwest of France, at an equal distance between Bordeaux and Toulouse, the incubator will eventually occupy - over the course of 2020 - four historical buildings in downtown Sarlat-la-Canéda, and fill over 3000m2 of space with post proof-of-concept startups from around the world.
While a small town of less than 10,000 people, Sarlat-la-Canéda lies at the heart of the pristine, medieval Dordogne region of France, known for its 1001 castles. The town attracts north of 3 million tourists every year, which makes it the 7th most-visited town in France. It is also the 3rd most-filmed location in France. At the time of this writing, Hollywood celebrities Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Shriver and "Blade Runner" director, Ridley Scott, are wandering the streets of Sarlat, prepping for the filming of "The Last Duel", a medieval epic depicting the last officially recognized judicial duel fought in France. The feature film tells the story of the December 29, 1386 trial by combat between Norman knight Jean de Carrouges and the squire Jacques Le Gris. Not to be outdone, in June of 2020, Netflix will start filming a TV series ("jusqu'à l'aube") featuring the region's haunted castles.
"We strive to become a prime rural incubation and acceleration hub where baby unicorns are born and raised," states Dom Einhorn, the venture's founder. "And we intend to provide our startups with the very best ecosystem in which to thrive while offering them a pristine location in which to work from - away from noise, pollution, traffic and undue stress." UNIQORN co-founder and CFO, Jean Vignon, to add: "Our calculations show that, given an equal level of funding, a UNIQORN-incubated startup has a 70% higher chance of surviving than a comparable startup incubated in a large city. Rents in Sarlat, for example, are 5-20 times lower on average than in big cities while the quality of life is vastly improved. An average employee commute to the office from home takes a mere five minutes – on foot."
It is specifically the high quality of life that attracted Dr. Mia Nguyen to Sarlat. A native of Vietnam, Dr. Nguyen grew up and studied in heavily-congested Los Angeles. She made the move to Sarlat in 2018, joined the UNIQORN ecosystem as director of health technologies and never looked back. "This region has everything I've been looking for: amazing history, great infrastructure, clean air and direct connections to major cities and airports. And what better place to practice what love most, health and wellness coaching than here?"
While attending the World Business Angels Investment Forum, Team UNIQORN looks forward to meeting like-minded investors, investment funds as well as startups, incubators and accelerators to discuss possible synergies and strategic relationships.
About UNIQORN
UNIQORN is the largest rural incubator-accelerator of its kind in the world. Located in southwestern France, its mission is to give entrepreneurs and their families their lives back while helping them build game-changing technology startups. Startups are provided a complete ecosystem for success, with direct access to proven funding sources, top-notch legal and accounting representation, access to the world's most generous business incentives and - most importantly - a dedicated sales and marketing accelerator that will put a startup's product or service on the fast track to success.
CONTACT
UNIQORN SAS
Sophie Edme
Phone: +33 6 73 78 90 71
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE UNIQORN
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