Jean-François Theodore, head of the ParisBourse, probably doesn't spend his eve-nings clubbing to the early hours in the Marais, the gay quarter of Paris. Perhaps he should. He would see at first-hand what is behind the revolution which has hit the Paris stock market like a TGV.

He might meet people like Frank, 27, by night a DJ in the hippest clubs in the Marais which, with Sentier, is the Paris equivalent of Clerkenwell in London for internet start-ups. Frank gave up his job in the ad industry and launched his own start-up. Alongside techno music, his passion is the stock market. He applies for most Nouveau Marché issues and has switched some of his portfolio out of the Neuer Markt to make more money in France. He started investing six months ago. His dad is waiting to see how many shares he gets in the LibertySurf IPO, which hits the markets this week.