Marseille-Provence 2013 Capital of Culture in March 2004 and later expanded their bid to include neighboring cities in Provence. A French jury selected Marseille as its choice in September 2008. In May 2009, the European Council officially announced that Marseille would be the European Capital of Culture in 2013 in parallel with the city of Košice in Slovakia. In 2006, the official Marseille-Provence 2013 association was created under French laws for non-profit organizations. It brought together members of both the public and private sectors and was first directed by Bernard Latarjet and then Jean-François Chougnet. The association administrative council was led by
Aster (venture capital company) European Investment Fund (EIF) contributed €20 million to the Aster fund. This investment gave Aster a total of €105 million. According to the business newspaper "Les Echos", this was the first investment by an institutional player in France's risk capital market . According to an assessment by the AFIC Cleantech Club fundraising barometer, Aster was the third largest French investment fund investing in cleantech companies in 2012. In January 2013, Aster invested in Building IQ, which specialises in energy efficiency software. In November 2013, after already being invested in EcoFactor's capital, Aster took part in a second round of fundraising