Station F in Paris
Station F calls itself the world's biggest startup campus. It opened in 2017 in the Halle Freyssinet, a former rail freight hall in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, and lists more than 30 programs run by companies, schools and Station F itself. Xavier Niel bought the building in 2013 with the aim of bringing 1,000 startups under one roof.
For finance, the address that matters is the fintech and insurtech program of BNP Paribas, run with Plug and Play. If you work at a German bank or fintech and want to see how a large French bank works with startups, that program sits inside Station F.
The building and the campus
The Halle Freyssinet was built as a freight station and named after Eugène Freyssinet, the engineer who patented prestressed concrete. It became a listed historical monument in 2012. The architects Wilmotte & Associés remodeled it for the campus, which Wikipedia gives as about 34,000 square meters with around 3,000 desks. President Emmanuel Macron opened it formally in June 2017.
Station F gives its address as 5 Parvis Alan Turing, 75013 Paris, and counts more than 1,000 startups on campus at a time.
Programs at Station F
Startups join Station F through a program. Station F runs its own programs, among them Founders, Fighters, F/ai and Landing. Companies and schools run the others in their own space on the campus: the program list names HEC, ESSEC and INSEAD next to Microsoft, Meta and LVMH, among some 40 programs.
Most of these programs work on AI, health, climate or consumer products. One of them has a finance focus, the program of BNP Paribas.
BNP Paribas and Plug and Play: the fintech program
BNP Paribas brought its fintech and insurtech accelerator with Plug and Play to Station F when the campus opened. The first class started in April 2017, and Crowdfund Insider reported the second batch moving into Station F that year. BNP Paribas also became the reference bank for the startups on the campus.
The program still appears in Station F's list as the BNP Paribas and Plug and Play B ! Up program for early-stage and mature fintech and insurtech startups. Plug and Play says the program reached one of the highest proof-of-concept-to-production rates in the finance sector in its first five years. The model is a bank that scouts startups through an outside partner and tests them in pilots.
Paris as a fintech location
A fintech that starts at Station F is supervised by the ACPR for banking and payments and by the AMF for markets and crypto-asset services. France regulated crypto service providers before MiCA, and the Banque de France ran wholesale central bank digital currency experiments on distributed ledgers, as described at fintech in Paris. A French authorization under MiCA or PSD2 passports into Germany.
Paris also has the conferences. Paris Blockchain Week, now Signal Week, covers digital assets, and Finance Loop held an AI in Finance meetup in Paris on AI in wealth management and investment.
Upcoming fintech events in Europe
What is Station F?
Station F is a startup campus in Paris, opened in 2017 in the Halle Freyssinet and backed by Xavier Niel. It houses more than 30 programs run by Station F, companies and schools, with more than 1,000 startups on site. The programs decide who gets a desk.
Is there a fintech program at Station F?
Yes. BNP Paribas runs its fintech and insurtech program with Plug and Play at Station F, for early-stage and mature startups. Fintech founders also join the general programs, such as Founders and F/ai, which have no finance focus.
How do you apply to Station F?
You apply to a program, and each program sets its own criteria and dates. Founders and Fighters are Station F's own programs; the corporate and school programs select through their owners. Visits run through a separate request on the Station F website.
Station F and Finance Loop
Finance Loop has taken its AI in finance discussion to Paris and partners with conferences in Frankfurt, Paris and Barcelona. A French fintech that wants to meet German banks and asset managers can host an event with Finance Loop in Germany, present at a Finance Loop meetup or join as a partner. Finance Loop also organizes delegations to finance hubs across Europe.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.