Skip to main content

Facebook’s first startup incubator to open inside massive Station F in Paris

facebook startup garage station f
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Facebook is putting its stamp on the world’s biggest startup space. Station F in Paris — which was formerly a railway depot — will be home to the social network’s first business incubator, dubbed “Startup Garage.”

The company’s COO Sheryl Sandberg made the announcement at Station F. As part of its program, Facebook will offer its marketing, tech development, and UX and UI experience to 10-15 startups during six-month cycles. Facebook will be allocated 80 desks at the building’s entrance. “We’re thrilled to be a founding partner and start the Facebook Startup Garage here,” Sandberg said.

Sheryl Sandberg speaking at Station F in Paris Image used with permission by copyright holder

The brainchild of French billionaire Xavier Niel (owner of telco Free ISP), Station F is currently offering up space in its massive 366,000-square-foot location. Once complete, the startup campus will include more than 3,000 desks, 10 international startup programs, a restaurant, four kitchens, a café, bar, and eight event spaces. It also plans to add a co-living space for its budding entrepreneurs by 2018, which will encompass 100 shared apartments within three towers — not to mention its very own sports center.

In his Medium post, Niel revealed that Facebook has already chosen several startups for its program. Among the inductees are location mapping app Mapstr, Chekk (an online identity management tool), science-based health app The Fabulous, and carpooling tool Karos.

“While Facebook already is a huge supporter of entrepreneurship around the world (with initiatives like F8 of FBStart), this is the *first time* [it] is investing into a physical space,” Niel wrote in his blog post.

Startups from around the world can currently apply to join the programs at Station F. Its other launch partners include French business school HEC, open-access workshop company TechShop, and VC firms Daphni, Ventech and Kima Ventures. Facebook has set up its very own Startup Garage page on its social network, where you can find out more about how to apply to its incubator.

Editors' Recommendations

Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
X (formerly Twitter) returns after global outage
A white X on a black background, which could be Twitter's new logo.

X, formerly known as Twitter, went down for about 90 minutes for users worldwide early on Thursday ET.

Anyone opening the social media app across all platforms was met with a blank timeline. On desktop, users saw a message that simply read, "Welcome to X," while on mobile the app showed suggestions for accounts to follow.

Read more
How to create multiple profiles on a Facebook account
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Facebook (and, by extension, Meta) are particular in the way that they allow users to create accounts and interact with their platform. Being the opposite of the typical anonymous service, Facebook sticks to the rule of one account per one person. However, Facebook allows its users to create multiple profiles that are all linked to one main Facebook account.

In much the same way as Japanese philosophy tells us we have three faces — one to show the world, one to show family, and one to show no one but ourselves — these profiles allow us to put a different 'face' out to different aspects or hobbies. One profile can keep tabs on your friends, while another goes hardcore into networking and selling tech on Facebook Marketplace.

Read more
How to set your Facebook Feed to show most recent posts
A smartphone with the Facebook app icon on it all on a white marble background.

Facebook's Feed is designed to recommend content you'd most likely want to see, and it's based on your Facebook activity, your connections, and the level of engagement a given post receives.

But sometimes you just want to see the latest Facebook posts. If that's you, it's important to know that you're not just stuck with Facebook's Feed algorithm. Sorting your Facebook Feed to show the most recent posts is a simple process:

Read more