Cover Kat Borlongan, a pioneering Filipina tech leader and innovator (Photo: Michele Yong)
Kat Borlongan, a pioneering Filipina tech leader and innovator (Photo: Michele Yong)
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Kat Borlongan is a pioneering Filipina innovator who is shaping the future of European technology, and this is why France has awarded her knighthood
Titles and positions have never quite captured it for Kat Borlongan. “Work tends to be defined by the jobs you’re holding,” she says, “but I’ve always seen mine more holistically.” Over two decades in France, that framing has allowed her to move between startups, government and policy without treating each as a separate chapter.
That instinct—to operate across systems rather than within them—emerged early. Born in Manila and shaped in part by her early years in Japan, Borlongan left the Philippines at 20 to study in France. Admirably, she learned the language from scratch before entering Sciences Po Bordeaux.
An early chapter in Montreal followed, during which she, at 23, became the youngest bureau chief in the history of Reporters Without Borders. From her initial role as executive assistant, she rose to executive director of the non-profit’s Canadian office. The promotion followed a defining moment: stepping in, alongside the organisation’s president, to handle the case of a journalist detained in Iran. It was an early demonstration of the qualities that would define her career.
Borlongan would later return to France, shaping the conditions under which Europe might emerge as a credible technological power. That ambition has since grown. Europe’s startup ecosystem is now valued at roughly US$4 trillion, with more than 40,000 active startups and over 600 unicorns across the continent, according to Beresol, an independent EU public affairs consultancy. Yet the imbalance with the United States remains pronounced—venture capital investment in the EU is still more than four times lower, and large-scale exits continue to lag. As Borlongan frames it, the question is not only whether Europe can compete but whether it can define its own model of technological development.
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Above Kat Borlongan awarded the French National Order of Merit, 2026 (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
Kat Borlongan awarded the French National Order of Merit, 2026 (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
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“I really believe that the kind of world a European technological superpower will build is one that’s more centred on humanity,” she says. In contrast to more extractive models of growth, she points to a future shaped by responsible AI, sustainable industry and biotech designed for the public good. Her work, spanning both the public and private sectors, has focused on aligning these ambitions with operational reality.
Before entering government, Borlongan was already a leading figure in France’s open data movement. She served on the first steering committee of Etalab, the Prime Minister’s open data task force, and organised more than 50 hackathons worldwide, convening developers, policymakers and civil society. This was an early expression of what she would later define as “Tech for Good”: using technology to mobilise people and address real-world challenges. That approach was tested during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, when she coordinated more than 500 volunteer technologists worldwide to support search, rescue and reconstruction in the Philippines.
Over the past decade, she has moved across the startup ecosystem: co-founding the open innovation studio Five by Five, which was later acquired by Capgemini; leading the Paris office of the Open Data Institute; and, most prominently, directing the French Tech Mission under President Emmanuel Macron. Her tenure helped establish France as a leading European startup hub, scaling French Tech Communities to more than 120 cities and launching flagship programmes such as the French Tech Visa, Next40/FT120 and French Tech Tremplin, while advancing diversity and inclusion across the ecosystem.
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Above Kat Borlongan in an interview for BFM Business (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
Kat Borlongan in an interview for BFM Business (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
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By her own account, she has been “almost everything” in the startup ecosystem: founder, investor, operator and policymaker. She has invested as an angel with Atomico and served two terms on the European Innovation Council’s board. Yet she resists the language of reinvention. “I don’t think they’ve been pivots,” she says. “They’ve been pretty consistent. I operate like a bridge.”
Her tenure at French Tech coincided with a period of accelerated growth. Europe has continued to produce billion-dollar companies at a steady pace, with at least 12 new unicorns emerging in the first half of 2025 alone, particularly in AI, biotech and defence technology. Although the pace is more measured than in the peak years of 2020-2021, the shift reflects a maturing ecosystem increasingly focused on sustainable scale rather than speculative growth.
Among Borlongan’s most significant contributions is the creation of the French Tech Visa, widely regarded as one of the most open talent-mobility programmes worldwide. Designed to enable startups to recruit internationally with minimal administrative burden, it offers multi-year residency and expedited processing. “We designed it as a visa to hunt, not to filter,” she says. More than a policy instrument, it was intended as a signal, “a love letter that France sent to the world.”
As chief impact officer at Contentsquare, one of Europe’s leading unicorns, she built and led the company’s ESG strategy from Series E through to Series F, focusing on digital accessibility, reducing websites’ carbon footprints and advancing ethical data practices.
Borlongan moved to France at 19, not for a clearly defined ambition but because she refused to accept the limits she perceived at home. “I didn’t have a dream,” she says. “I just wanted to get out.”
She is careful, however, about how that story is received. The recognition she has recently received in France has prompted as much reflection as it has pride. “It brings me a tremendous amount of honour,” she says, “but it also worries me... about what Filipinos think they can and cannot do.” For Borlongan, the reaction speaks to identity and possibility.
Above Kat Borlongan, a pioneering Filipina tech leader and innovator (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
Kat Borlongan, a pioneering Filipina tech leader and innovator (Photo: courtesy of Kat Borlongan)
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On her reading of the Philippine startup scene, she identifies both structural vulnerabilities and latent strengths: a service-oriented tech sector exposed to automation, and a young, highly adaptable population. “The barrier to entry for technology has gone so low,” she says. “It should inspire people to do more.”
Today, she continues to work across systems: advising the European Commission, serving as an ambassador for the European Innovation Council, and contributing to the French Red Cross’s strategic foresight on technology and humanitarian response. Motherhood, she notes, has been her most significant recalibration. “What is worth giving that up?” she asks.
If her career serves as a model, it exemplifies not linear growth but sustained alignment. Across sectors, institutions and regions, Borlongan has prioritised infrastructure over visibility. Europe’s technological future remains uncertain, shaped by funding constraints and complex regulations. Yet within this uncertainty, Borlongan has found her niche: not in the spotlight, but at the crossroads of forces that, when coordinated, can propel an entire ecosystem forward.
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Syrah is Tatler Philippines’ Power & Purpose editor, where she spotlights extraordinary journeys shaping the Philippines and Asia. She covers business, innovation, impact, and culture—chasing the people, ideas and forces shaping how we live and think today.
