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Chef de Service Puits
culture technologique informationelle ambiante
Apr 28, 2018 17:33
6 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

levées

French to English Bus/Financial Investment / Securities
I'm translating a report on security in the digital sector and I'm struggling with how to translate the word "levées" in the following passage:

"L’investissement dans le secteur numérique a connu une nette embellie en France en 2017 avec 1,5 milliards € de levées. Des levées certes moins nombreuses (460 tout de même) mais plus importantes (3,5 millions € en moyenne), et une nette tendance à la verticalisation (comme dans le secteur de la santé), illustrant la dimension transverse du numérique."

I can see that there are already quite a few glossary and Kudoz entries for this term, but I'm still unsure of what exactly to use in this particular context (finance is certainly not my area of specialisation!) Any help much appreciated. TIA!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 new funds raised

Discussion

Mauriceh May 2, 2018:
S'embellir ou s'emballer? Pourquoi s'embellir ou voir même s'emballer quand on peut faire simple?

It's pretty straightforward yet a few responses seem to have added complexity, and additional meaning which is not there. While the document may refer to start-ups nothing in that text says so. The key clause is "l’investissement dans le secteur numérique a connu une nette embellie en France en 2017 avec 1,5 milliards € de levées. The subclause that follows merely adds a little colour to how that number is derived, ie 460 capital raises (for 1,5 bio) at an average raise of 3.5 mio). The term for fund raising and/or a raising of funds, in French is, une levée de fonds, ou levées des fonds.

To equivalent expression in English (therefore not a literal translation is) would be: Investment in the digital sector (possibly market) in France has seen a marked in increase with 1.5 billion in funds raised (or in raised capital, or capital invested).

Sarah Day (asker) Apr 28, 2018:
Thanks Phil - they do go on to talk extensively about startups, so what you suggest makes a lot of sense in the context. I do agree though that, as njweatherdon says, we can't be 100% sure that all the 460 are examples of startup investments. I think that's what makes this translation so tricky - the need to be accurate but not misleading given that it's a statistic...
nweatherdon Apr 28, 2018:
"Startup investment" sounds like a good term, but probably it does not apply to some number of cases among the 460 mentioned. For example it could be additional investments to provide additional capital to something that's already operating beyond a startup stage (e.g., a product with positive margins in the market), or perhaps in some cases even buying up competition.

If such situations apply for some of the 460 cases, then "startup investment" (or similar) could be misleading, regardless of whether the data was originally intended to address precisely such "startup investment", per se.
philgoddard Apr 28, 2018:
The key question is what they mean by "investissement", and if you Google this word together with "levées", all the hits relate to funds raised for startups. I'm sure there's a simple one-word translation, but I can't think of it. Or you could just say startup investment.
Sarah Day (asker) Apr 28, 2018:
Thanks, I agree, that's what I thought, but that's also what confused me - I wasn't sure what to use as a clear-cut solution in English. Glad it's not just me!
nweatherdon Apr 28, 2018:
It seems to refer to an instance of funds provided to an enterprise, as an investment, in the digital sector.

460 funds raised. 460 investments. But the question of whether 2 companies separately investing in some project would count as two instances. Also, whether a single project raising capital twice would count as 2 instances. Uncertainty about that could affect selection of the correct term.

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

new funds raised

"Levées" is short for "levées de fonds", defined as follows:

"L'acte par lequel une entreprise se finance auprès de personnes autres que des organismes de crédit."
http://www.chefdentreprise.com/Definitions-Glossaire/Levee-d...

So this would consist of things like venture capital and crowdfunding, and if you Google "levée de fonds," most of the hits relate to startups. A smaller number concern expansions.

One obvious translation is fundraising, but that has charitable connotations.

So here's my suggestion for the first part of your text:

"Investment in France's digital sector rose sharply in 2017, with €1.5 billion in new funds raised. While the number of companies involved was lower, at 460, the average total investment per company was €3.5 million."





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Note added at 1 hr (2018-04-28 18:48:00 GMT)
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Going on Shark Tank/Dragons' Den would be another example of a levée de fonds :-)

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Note added at 1 hr (2018-04-28 18:51:35 GMT)
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The numbers may not be quite right, since 1.5 billion divided by 460 is 3.3 million, not 3.5.
Note from asker:
Thanks Phil - great solution! I'll mention to my client that the maths doesn't add up too...
Peer comment(s):
agree nweatherdon : perhaps "instance of new funds raised", even if a little wordy compared to the original
12 mins
Yes, that might work for the 460, though not the 1.5 billion.
agree sam@fr-uk
1 day 13 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
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