7th Edition Finalists - Pierre-Louis Théron for Streamroot ; Camille Delebecque for Afineur ; Jonathan Cherki for Content Square ; Charlotte Ogeé for Your LoveBox 

8^th French-American Entrepreneurship Award Competition Opens

New York (December 3^rd, 2015) – The Club 600 today announced a call for entries for the eighth French-American Entrepreneurship Award (FAEA), an annual startup competition. The Award, established in 2008, recognizes young French entrepreneurs launching businesses in the United States.  This year, two exceptional startups will be selected to receive cash and in-kind prizes. Winners will be announced in May 2016.

“The French-American Entrepreneurship Award honors deserving young entrepreneurs who are breaking into the highly competitive American market,” said Anne Busquet, Executive Director of FAEA. “We believe there is strong potential for exciting young businesses to thrive, and we are delighted to have the opportunity once again to support their growth and development.”

The French-American Entrepreneurship Award is open to company founders who are 35 years of age or under and are fluent in both French and English. Geared to early stage projects (three years or fewer in business), eligible entries must offer a product or a service that is commercially viable with a demonstrated ability to generate revenues.

The first place and second place winners of the eighth annual French-American Entrepreneurship Award will receive cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Both winning teams will also receive: a six-month coaching package with entrepreneurs from Club 600, who will provide strategic, legal, accounting, and financial advice; fully furnished office space in New York City for six months provided by Corporate Suites; one round-trip airline ticket New York-Paris on La Compagnie; a one year membership to the French-American Chamber of Commerce and to French Founders; and high impact media appearance and media coverage opportunities.

To apply, entrepreneurs must first submit a one-page business overview for judging by a panel of French-American business leaders and entrepreneurs with expertise across a variety of professional disciplines and industries. Submission guidelines and more information about the awards are available on the FAEA website. Applications must be submitted by February 22, 2016.

Six competition semi-finalists will be announced on March 14, 2016.  These semi-finalists will be invited to submit a business pitch deck by April 8, 2016, which they will subsequently present in New York City to a jury of French-American business leaders, led by members of the Club 600.  The jury will select four businesses to compete in the final round of the FAEA competition. For this eighth edition, finalists will present their projects to an audience of French-American entrepreneurs and business people; two winners will be selected via live voting at an event to be held in May 2016.

The previous winners of The French-American Entrepreneurship Award were:

• 2015: Camille Delebecque and Sophie Deterre for Afineur (a company which uses designer fermentations to craft tastier, healthier, and more sustainable food. Its flagship product, Cultured Coffee, redefines the coffee experience by unlocking new aromas and flavor landscapes);
• 2015: Pierre-Louis Théron, Nikolay Rodionov, and Axel Delmas for Streamroot (a new streaming solution that allows online broadcasters to provide better quality streaming while drastically reducing bandwidth costs);
• 2014: Arthur Lenoir, Adrien Cognée, and Baptiste Poirier for Jellynote (a social media platform that allows users to create and share sheet music, tabs and covers);
• 2013: Melchior Scholler, Felix Winckler, and Etienne Adriaenssen for Poutsch (now known as VoicePolls - a social media platform to express, collect and analyze opinions);
• 2012: Thomas Ferré for Tomi-O-Tee (the first line of golf wear made sustainably and in a design unique to the golf lifestyle, now part of Loomstate);
• 2011: Céline Legros for Canelé by Céline (a food business specialized in the baking and selling of French mini pastries to introduce the concept of Café Gourmand to New Yorkers);
• 2010: Stéphane Chong and Klaus Speidel for Hypios (a global online market place connecting communities of problem solvers and innovators);
• 2009: Sébastien Payen and Thibaut Scholasch for Fruition Sciences (a California-based business which assists individual wineries in capturing and analyzing vineyard data to improve consistency, yield, and quality).

Since its founding in 2008, the Award has enabled outstanding startups to advance their U.S. business objectives. As 2015 winner Pierre-Louis Théron of Streamroot noted, “The French-American Entrepreneurship Award helped us move our company to New York, a step that has been crucial for achieving our expansion goals.”

Club 600

The Club 600 was established in 1985 by a group of French-speaking business executives in New York City. Their intention was to create a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences among Francophones living in New York and to contribute to the development of economic, commercial and financial relations between French and American business entities.  The Club continues the same mission and today is composed of senior managers and owners of US companies with more than 100 members in four chapters (New York, Miami, France and Mexico).  The FAEA was created to honor the memory of one of its members, the late Dominique Mercier, a successful entrepreneur. www.club600.com.

Sponsors

The French-American Entrepreneurship Award is supported by the generosity of the following sponsors:

Platinum: La Compagnie, The French-American Chamber of Commerce

Gold: Corporate Suites

Silver: JC Decaux, Deloitte, Deborah A. Nilson & Associates, PLLC, Sofitel

Bronze: Altour, French Founders

For more information about the French-American Entrepreneurship Award and how to apply, please visit http://www.faea-us.com/. Help us spread the word to potential candidates:

Twitter: @FAEAward

Facebook: French-American Entrepreneurship Award

LinkedIn: French-American Entrepreneurship Award

Press Contact: Fraîche PR +1-212-463-8930

Diana Tedesco (diana@fraichepr.com)

Elsa Degioanni (elsa@fraichepr.com)