The Paris-located incubator is funded by French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, whose 7-billion-dollar net worth was built on the back of a low-cost internet broadband service that proved revolutionary to the country’s internet standards. Once fully operational, the incubator aims to house 1,000 startups simultaneously. President Emmanuel Macron himself was present for the facility’s Thursday inauguration. It’s just the latest step in Paris’ move to be recognized as Europe’s tech capital. The city has already added 40 other incubators in recent years, but Station F is intentionally designed to highlight the focus Paris is putting on tech, as Niel himself explained: President Macron extended this concept to the entire nation, announcing the inception of a 11.3-billion-dollar innovation fund last month: This is far from the first major entrepreneur-friendly move Neil has made: He also sponsored the tech school École 42, which opened in 2013 with no teachers, books, or tuition.
