7th edition of the Panorama Top 250 of French software publishers
With sales up 12% between 2015 and 2016 and more than 8,500 jobs created in France over two years, the software innovation sector is once again demonstrating its dynamism. Yet the sector still faces the same challenges of recruitment difficulties and access to financing, essential levers for pursuing their development in France and internationally.
Software publishers, key drivers of the digital revolution
Software publishing, a sector showing sustained, long-term growth: steadily rising since 2010, the sector’s sales jumped by 30% between 2014 and 2016, and by 12% last year alone. In 2016, the 358 French publishers on our panel recorded total revenues of 13.5 billion euros. All publishers are participating in this trend, whatever their size.
Software as a Service, a business model increasingly favored by French software publishers: the proportion of sales generated by SaaS/Internet services reached 32% of total sales for the publishers on the panel in 2016, 7 points higher than in 2015. French publishers are choosing to focus on this activity, and this trend is particularly marked for publishers who have recently started their business. Nearly one in two publishers who have been in business for less than 8 years now prefer the SaaS/Internet Services model.
Internationalization on the horizon: software publishers with sales in excess of 100 million euros generate the majority of their sales from exports (62% in 2016, versus 64% in 2015). This is far from being the case for the average SME. However, the growing proportion of sales generated outside France can also be explained by the emergence of champions with an international outlook from the outset, such as Criteo, which generated 93% of its sales abroad in 2016. The winner of the Prix de l’International, Allegorithmic, is an excellent illustration: this Clermont-Ferrand-based company, founded in 2003, now generates almost 88% of its sales outside France.
Talent, as critical a resource as ever for software publishers’ development: recruitment difficulties seem to have increased in 2016; 78% of publishers reported difficulties in recruiting in 2016, and 83% stressed the scarcity of profiles in demand. While the profiles sought are diverse, developers remain the talent most in demand by software publishers (71% are actively looking for them).
Jean-Christophe Pernet, EY partner in charge of the study, comments: “The year 2016 confirms the excellent performance of French software publishers seen in recent years. With growth of 12%, the industry has once again demonstrated its dynamism. For the first time, our panorama demonstrates the sustainable nature of this growth, which is based in particular on a profitable business model.”
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Marc Genevois, President of Syntec Numérique’s Collège Editeurs.
“In this exciting period of digital revolution, the French economy can count on software innovation to support its transformation. With double-digit growth in 2016 and even 30% over two years, the dynamism of French software publishers is undeniable.
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What’s more, the sector is creating jobs (more than 8,500 over two years for pure-play publishers alone) and investing massively in R&D. Nevertheless, publishers are still facing difficulties with recruitment and access to financing. These are two challenges to which we need to find solutions if we are to make this growth sustainable”, declares Marc Genevois, President of the Publishers College, Syntec Numérique.
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2017 trophy winners
Hosted by Anicet Mbida, the ceremony rewarded four publishers:
- 2017 International Trophy, awarded to the company Allegorithmicthe company behind the Substance solution, a graphics suite that has established itself in the niche of textures for 3D models, particularly used by video game production studios worldwide.
- 2017 Innovation Trophy, awarded to the company ArkamysArkamys specializes in digital audio signal processing to improve the sound quality of electronic equipment using a spatialization process.
- 2017 Video Games Trophy, awarded to the company Dontnod Entertainmenta French video game development studio based in Paris and enjoying great international success
- 2017 Jury Prize, awarded to the company AB Tastya publisher specializing in customer journey testing and optimization solutions for marketing teams on e-commerce sites.