There are three big french IT companies that "made it" in the last decade : dailymotion, criteo and blablacar ( with dailymotion now close to death). Criteo is making tons of money thanks to the huge ad business. But let me tell you a story about blablacar :

I was on a train to nantes last year, and heard two local politicians ( from green parties) talking together about environmental issues. As time passed on, i started talking to them, and we ended up talking about new transport systems. Well, one of them started mentionning blablacar, a site he used sometimes, and how it became a marketplace rather than a service company, and became philosophical about it, only to end to the conclusion that : the state should start regulating their activity.

I was dumbfounded. I had to tell him that users would go elsewhere if prices would start to go up too much, and basically explain to him the benefit of a free market.

This is not anecdotical. This is a cultural issue. Politicians are clueless about the basis of a sane economy.