Hi everyone,

One fund closing stood out in the French VC ecosystem this week. Daphni Blue reached a €260m close in under nine months, exceeding its initial target to back science-based startups spinning out of European labs. At the same time, UI Investissement’s Pertinence Invest 3 crossed the €60m mark on its way to a €100m target, with a clear focus on early-stage industrial deeptech.

On the startup side, activity was fairly selective. Excluding one standout transaction, roughly €95m was raised across around 20 deals, mainly in AI, healthcare, impact and biotech. The exception: Naboo, which closed a €60m round and clearly dominated the week.

Let’s get into it.

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Startup funding news 💸

Rounds of +€10M:

• Naboo has raised €60 million in a Series B to reposition itself from an event-focused platform into an AI-driven control center for so-called “class C” indirect spending, such as travel, seminars, and fragmented supplier purchases that typically escape traditional financial tools. Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, the funding will accelerate AI-powered sourcing, contracting, and automation while fueling rapid expansion in the United States, now Naboo’s main growth engine.

• Aviwell has raised €11 million in a Series A led by Blue Revolution Fund, with participation from Blast.Club, SWEN Capital Partners, Elaia, and the EIC Fund, to scale its AI-powered microbiome platform for animal nutrition. The Toulouse-based deeptech combines decades of microbiome research with its proprietary Aneto™ platform, which designs native bacterial ecologies to improve animal health, growth, and resilience.

• Bobine has raised €13 million from Axeleo, UI Investissement, Angelor, CA Création, and CACF Capital Innovation to develop its industrial process electrification technology for chemical plastics recycling, enabling virgin-grade polymers to be produced from non-recyclable plastic waste.

• Apmonia Therapeutics has raised €10 million from Capital Grand Est, Angels Santé, Fondation Fournier-Majoie, and Finovam Gestion to advance its next-generation peptide-based cancer therapies targeting the tumor microenvironment.

• MyC has raised €10 million in a Series A from Hi Inov, Elaia, OSS Ventures, and iXO Private Equity to deploy its enterprise health operations platform that automates medical workflows, compliance, and workforce health monitoring at scale for large organizations.

Rounds €5M to €10M:

• Twin has raised $10m million in seed funding from LocalGlobe, Kima Ventures, betaworks, Irregular Expressions, and others to scale its AI platform that enables non-technical users to build fully autonomous agents capable of running entire businesses end-to-end. During its beta, users deployed over 100,000 autonomous agents, including fully automated trading systems, service businesses, and wholesale operations.

• Linkup has raised €8.5 million in a round led by Gradient Ventures (Google’s AI fund), with participation from Elaia, Leblon Capital, Weekend Fund, Axeleo Capital, Motier Ventures, and business angels, to develop its search engine for generative AI applications that promises more reliable and explainable results for enterprise use cases.

• Ubees has raised €8 million from Starquest, Capagro, and Newtree Impact to deploy its connected sensors and AI enabling remote monitoring of hive health and analysis of surrounding environmental quality, addressing critical challenges in beekeeping and biodiversity tracking.

• Geolinks Services has raised €6 million from Calderion, Bpifrance, BRGM Invest, and InnoEnergy to scale its advanced underground geophysical monitoring technologies for critical infrastructure and resource management.

• Dionymer has raised €5.5 million from UI Investissement, BNP Paribas Développement, Bpifrance, and Naco to industrialize its biotechnology process that transforms industrial organic waste into biodegradable PHA polymers using microorganisms—offering a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics.

• Atlas V Group has raised €5 million from strategic investor HTC to diversify beyond premium VR content into free-to-play immersive gaming and location-based VR experiences. The Paris-based studio is known for acclaimed narrative VR works like Wallace & Gromit: The Grand Getaway (with Aardman and Meta) and Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom (with Bandai Namco).

• Recupere Metals has raised €5 million in seed funding from SistaFund, Endgame Capital, Ring Capital, Triple Impact Ventures, and business angels to transition from R&D to industrial copper wire production using a patented mechanical recycling process that bypasses energy-intensive melting.

Rounds €1M to €5M:

• AYAQ has raised €3.2 million in equity to accelerate international expansion of its high-performance outdoor apparel brand. Founded by Olympic gold medalist Vincent Defrasne and backed by explorer Mike Horn, AYAQ has already established presence in Switzerland, Austria, and Japan and is preparing to enter the UK market.

• DermaScan has raised €2.5 million from Techmind, Ring Capital, Kima Ventures, 199 Ventures, Hexa, and business angels to scale its proprietary dermatology teleconsultation technology platform, enabling remote diagnosis and treatment for skin conditions.

• Entent has raised €2.4 million in seed funding from Team for the Planet, CAAP Création, and Sowefund to industrialize its Pulse technology that converts low-temperature industrial waste heat (60–150°C) into electricity using an innovative thermo-acoustic cycle.

• GoCanopy has raised €2.1 million in seed funding from ISAI, BNP Paribas Développement, Yellow, and notable angels to build the AI operating system for institutional real estate investors.

• Radiant has raised €2 million from Tiresias Angels, Hexa, and business angels to industrialize its high-temperature solar thermal solutions designed to decarbonize industrial heat.

• Dowgo has raised €2 million from Bpifrance, 50 Partners, Cube Accelerator, and strategic angels to finalize deployment of its blockchain-based investment infrastructure for financing impact-driven private assets.

• Notom has raised €2 million from Kima Ventures, SistaFund, Olympe Capital, and business angels for its no-code automation platform that enables manufacturers to digitize and optimize operational workflows without technical expertise.

• Evolutive Agronomy has raised €1.8 million from 50 Partners and business angels to accelerate field deployment of ByeNematode®, a biological crop protection solution based on predatory mites targeting root-knot nematodes.

• Presage has raised €1.2 million from Kima Ventures, Welovefounders, and Boost10x to deploy its AI model capable of anticipating the effects of automated decisions on cloud infrastructure, helping companies proactively manage and optimize their cloud environments.

M&A transactions 🎉

Deepki, the European ESG and sustainability software platform for real estate, has acquired Sobre Energie, a leading French energy management and efficiency consulting firm. Founded in 2016 with backing from Caisse des Dépôts and La Poste Immobilier, Sobre Energie manages over 16,000 buildings and employs 35 specialists, including 15 energy management experts.

Cenareo, France’s most active digital signage consolidator, has acquired Dedicast (and its parent company Neotess), strengthening its leadership in the CMS platform market for digital signage and content broadcasting across retail, corporate, and public venues.

Fleet, the bootstrapped French IT asset management and security SaaS platform, announced a financial deal that values the company at €100 million. The deal includes participation from ISAI Expansion, marking a significant liquidity event for co-founders Sevan Marian and Alexandre Berriche.

My Tower, which provides a collaborative digital platform for international supply chain management, has been acquired by Verto Growth in a buyout consolidating logistics software capabilities.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

Daphni has closed its Blue fund at €260 million, exceeding its initial target and completing the round in under nine months. The Paris-based VC is betting on science-driven deeptech emerging from Europe’s public research system—targeting startups based on breakthroughs in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and life sciences. The fund will invest €500k to €10 million per company (with follow-ons up to €20 million) in 40–50 startups over its lifecycle, partnering with institutions like INRIA, INSERM, Institut Langevin, and Institut Curie.

UI Investissement confirmed strong momentum in industrial deeptech, with the first closing of Pertinence Invest 3 at over €60 million (targeting €100 million), backed by a network of corporates and academic partners to support early-stage industrial innovation.

Phitrust has completed a final closing at €60 million for Phitrust Partenaires Inclusion, exceeding its initial €50 million target and confirming a pan-European strategy focused on social impact, human capital, and access to essential services, with strong backing from European institutional investors including the European Investment Fund. The fund plans to invest €500,000 to €2 million per company in around 30 mature social enterprises—60% in France and 40% across Southern and Western Europe.

Startup & ecosystem news 💡

Back Market, the French refurbished electronics marketplace and unicorn, reached global profitability in 2025, twelve years after founding—validating patient capital and long-term value creation. The milestone reinforces investor confidence in sustainable business models and European tech’s ability to scale profitably.

A vast AI-focused hub called Cortex House is set to open near Montmartre, transforming the former Grands Magasins Dufayel into an 11,000-sqm “Maison de l’IA” designed to bring together entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and creatives through workspaces, events, training, and early-stage incubation.

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Sources: Avolta News, Multeam, Maddyness, FrenchWeb, Sifted, Les Échos, CFNews, Dealroom, company press releases.

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