The national study published by Deloitte Finance confirms that startups that have benefited from SATT support for their creation and development have a strong economic impact. Increasing in number, creating jobs, robust, sustainable, and benefiting from record fundraising, they include the technology leaders of tomorrow. Their exemplary results also reinforce the SATT model, a major contributor to the Deeptech Plan for the benefit of national research institutions and organizations, promoting growth through innovation and, more broadly, French entrepreneurial dynamism.
Startups with a strong economic impact
Since 2019, Deloitte Finance has been analyzing the financial value creation of startups that have benefited from the support of the 13 SATTs (Sociétés d'Accélération du Transfert de Technologies, or Technology Transfer Acceleration Companies) for their creation and development. The approach consists of measuring the difference between the initial value of each startup and its current value at the time of its last fundraising round with private investors. This difference represents the value created by these young companies that have benefited from the expertise, support, and, in some cases, industrial input of the SATTs.
A total of 766 startups supported by the SATT Network were analyzed as part of this 2023 study. Of these, 299 have recently raised funds and have generated a combined financial value of €2.6 billion. For the other 467 startups, Deloitte Finance estimates their valuation at between €14 million and €0.5 billion. This bringsthe financial value created by all the startups supported by SATT to between €2.6 billion and €3.1 billion, which is 66% more than the previous analysis carried out in 2021 and 187% more than the study at the end of 2019. This is a major economic impact for these startups, which have their origins in public research, and confirms the performance of the model created by SATT to support French deep tech entrepreneurship.
An ambitious model that creates value
Since their creation in 2012, the 13 SATTs now operating across France have amply demonstrated their effectiveness. With nearly 18,500 inventions identified in public research laboratories, more than 3,900 patents filed, and over 1,800 licensing agreements signed with companies, SATTs have a track record of strong economic and social growth. This impact is confirmed in terms of business creation, with790 deep tech startups created over the past ten years, representing more than6,000 jobs across the country. These exemplary results are notably the fruit of local support throughout the innovation process, from the detection of inventions in laboratories and innovation needs within companies, to technological and industrial transfer, through the creation of startups for 44% of projects, including financing and support for the technological, scientific, and economic maturation of innovative projects, intellectual property protection for technologies, their commercialization, and their incubation.
By enabling innovations that address current societal challenges to reach the market, supporting the future technological leaders of French industry, and more broadly promoting France's economic dynamism and growth through innovation, the SATT Network is now a key player in the French innovation ecosystem, creating a genuine professional technology transfer sector serving national research institutions and organizations. As such, it is at the heart of France's ambition under itsDeeptech Plan, which aims to create 500 deeptech startups each year and 100 unicorns by 2030. Today,48% of French deeptech startups originating from public research created in France are in fact the result of SATTs.
Future world-class leaders
In ten years, SATTs have contributed to the growth of remarkable companies, including robust startups that have emerged from French public research and hold intellectual property rights. According to a recent EPO-EUIPO* study, thesecompaniesareten times more likely to obtain financingto ensure their long-term viability. Five of these companies are now part of the 2023 cohort of theFrench Tech Next40/120program, launched in 2019 by the French government to support the 120 most successful French startups and future international leaders:ImCheck Therapeutics,Inotrem,Prophesee,SparingVision, andTreeFrog Therapeutics.
Some have benefited from record fundraising, such as the startupImCheck Therapeutics, which designs and develops a new generation of immunotherapy antibodies, announced in 2022 the completion of a €96 million financing round for the clinical validation of its antibody, bringing its total fundraising to €154 million since its creation.
This is also the case forTreeFrog Therapeutics, a specialist in stem cell therapies, which raised €64 million in 2021 in a Series B round, two years after an initial €6.5 million round of financing.