Starting-up, what an adventure! Every year, more than 2,000 entrepreneurs set up their businesses in one of Clermont Auvergne Métropole’s 21 municipalities. This dynamism is facilitated by the attentive support of some thirty players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Clermont Auvergne Métropole is one of them, offering start-up assistance as well as structures to help your project mature, then welcome it under the right conditions. We’ll tell you all about it!
Support
There are plenty of entrepreneurial support schemes and pathways in the region to help you get your foot in the door:
- the Puy-de-Dôme CCI‘s business start-up program
- the Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat craftsmen’s program
- the complete range of services offered by the BGE AURA business start-up support network
- the salaried entrepreneur status offered by Appuy Créateurs to “incubate” your project
- free appointments with the accounting profession to draw up your business plan
- the support offered by France Travail…
Getting lost? Clermont Auvergne Métropole is here to direct you to the structure best suited to your profile, and help you identify the right contact.
Financing
- Initiative Clermont Métropole‘szero-interest honor loan, unsecured financing of up to €25,000, to boost your personal contribution and make it easier to obtain a professional bank loan.
- Coup de pouce, the metropolitan scheme to support local trade and craft activities. The scheme provides grants of up to €10,000 for small businesses setting up in Clermont-Ferrand’s town centers and priority neighborhoods.
- The Fonds Métropolitain pour l’Entrepreneuriat de Production (Metropolitan Fund for Production Entrepreneurship), a grant of up to €25,000 created by the Metropole via Initiative Clermont Métropole to support projects that contribute to reindustrialization.
- The Fonds métropolitain pour l’innovation (metropolitan innovation fund), designed for project initiators integrated into a metropolitan incubator. Up to €20,000 in assistance to cover initial costs and devote yourself to your project without being tied down by cash flow.
- The Metropole also contributes to the AT2I+ fund, a 0% loan with a ceiling of €50,000 for innovative companies.
Most of these grants are, of course, subject to conditions.
Being incubated
- Is science at the heart of your future business model? Join Busi, the innovative start-up incubator of Clermont Auvergne Innovation (the technology transfer subsidiary of the University of Clermont Auvergne).
- Do you have an entrepreneurial project in the cultural and creative industries? Look no further than Hub-IC, the Le Damier cluster incubator, to help you get off the ground.
- Is your niche in the social economy? Clermont Auvergne Métropole offers two incubators specialized in social and collective entrepreneurship: Cocoshaker and Alter’Incub.
- Students, PhD students: to get your project off the ground without giving up your studies, there’s Clermont Auvergne Pépites, a program run by the Université Clermont Auvergne.
- And for all local projects, whether student-led or not, Métropole supports Squarelab, the ESC business school incubator.
What’s on the agenda? Practical tools and coaching at every stage, from pre-creation to hosting, and the power of networking!
How do I apply for or join an incubator? How long does incubation last? Do I fit the profile? In addition to its interactive mapping, Clermont Auvergne Métropole can direct you directly and efficiently to the solution that’s right for you.
A place to stay
- The Pascalis incubator
offers 31 offices for digital start-ups under 3 years old. - The Pascalis business center
just across the street from the incubator of the same name, houses 36 offices for digital companies under 6 years old.
- The Claret incubator
provides 18 offices for service-sector start-ups under 3 years old. - Le Brézet business center
accommodates industrial and craft companies less than 6 years old in 9 units ranging from 90 to 290 m2, including offices and technical facilities.
The benefits?
- a stimulating ecosystem and networking with entrepreneurs, economic partners, events, workshops, etc.
- progressive rents that are lower than market prices
- a flexible, progressive lease that adapts to the development of the start-up company: a 12 to 36-month lease with one month’s notice of termination, or a lease that includes the possibility of adding office space in the event of growth
- common areas: meeting rooms equipped with wifi and video projectors
- shared services: reception, postage, photocopier, etc.
- tax exemptions
To join our facilities? All you need to do is send us a presentation of the project owner(s), your business plan and your motivation for joining an incubator or hotel.