The new Next40 and French Tech 120 lists dropped last week, spotlighting the strength and maturity of the ecosystem. Nearly half of the selected startups are now profitable, up from 30% last year, and 11 new names joined the Next40.

Outside the rankings: Pasqal made its third acquisition to advance in quantum computing, Moments Lab raised $24 million to speed up AI-powered video production, and Atmen secured €5 million to automate green certification in industrial supply chains. Fabriq, Weglot, and Doctrine also stood out with fresh funding, international launches, and expansion moves.

Now all eyes turn to VivaTech. This week, the whole ecosystem comes together in Paris for the year’s biggest tech event. Expect product launches, major announcements, and plenty of Linkedin posts!

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Startup funding news 💸

Rounds of +€15M:

• Moments Lab raised $24 million in Series B funding to expand its AI-powered video analysis tool that helps media companies turn raw footage into rough cuts via text prompts. Clients like Hearst and Warner Bros. report up to 7× faster production and higher social media revenue. The tool uses Moments Lab’s MXT-2 tech to break videos into metadata (identifying scenes, speakers, and quotes) and assemble smart drafts. To support U.S. growth, the CEO is relocating to New York while the tech team remains in Paris.

• Fabriq raised €22 million in a growth equity round led by Expedition Capital alongside OSS Ventures to accelerate its expansion in Europe and North America, including plans to open an office in Boston and double its team from around 100 to 200 by 2027–2028. Currently deployed across over 600 industrial sites in 43 countries and profitable since 2024, Fabriq’s platform digitizes lean management on factory floors and is used by major clients like Airbus, Safran, Renault and LVMH, with a goal to reach €50 million in ARR by 2029

Rounds €5M to €15M:

• Aive has raised €12 million in a Series A funding round led by Invus to accelerate its ambition to become the global leader in AI-powered video post-production. The platform uses proprietary “MGT” (Multimodal Generative Technology) to generate tailored video variants (different lengths, formats, subtitles, localizations) within minutes, already adopted by 40+ major clients (including LVMH, Stellantis, Publicis) and delivering up to 2.5× more conversions with 30% lower acquisition costs.

• Califrais has raised €10 million from investors including STEF and Gilles Babinet to improve its AI-powered cold-chain logistics platform and expand internationally. Its system, already used at Rungis market, reduces delivery errors to under 1%, cuts costs by optimizing truck loads and routes, and aims to reduce food waste and emissions across wholesale markets.

• Enrise has raised €8 million to help multi-site property owners deploy solar systems on their buildings through a turnkey digital platform. The platform handles feasibility studies, admin steps, financing, installation, operation, and maintenance, rolling out installations in around seven months and cutting tenants’ electricity costs by up to 30%.

• Thunder Code has raised €7.8 million to automate software quality assurance using AI agents that can write tests in natural language, self-heal scripts, detect bugs, and integrate with CI/CD tools. Its platform is designed to save up to 90% of QA time and make testing accessible to teams without advanced coding skills.

• Atmen has raised €5 million to automate green certification for industrial supply chains by replacing manual audits with real-time data from production sites. Its platform tracks over 70,000 data points per year to ensure traceability and compliance with EU regulations. Already used in nine countries and linked to major certifiers, Atmen now targets sectors like steel, chemicals, and fertilizers.

Rounds €1M to €5M:

• Reekom has raised €4.5 million to open a 3,500 m² mechanized textile reconditioning center in La Courneuve, Seine‑Saint‑Denis. The new industrial hub will significantly scale its operations, aiming to triple processing capacity from 30,000 to 100,000 garments per month by 2028, and streamline tasks like cleaning, repair, and quality checks to boost the circular fashion economy.

• Sounduct has raised €3 million to launch a pilot production line for its Ossiclear bone-conduction hearing aids in Alsace. The funding will support CE certification, pilot-scale manufacturing starting early 2026, and a planned series A to expand operations and double staff to meet regulatory and production requirements.

• VirtualMetric has raised €2.25 million to tackle the growing issue of excessive telemetry data in cybersecurity. Its technology filters, routes, and optimizes data from SIEM systems, helping enterprises cut ingestion costs by up to 90% and reduce manual effort by around 60%. The funding will support further product development, hiring across Europe, and broader customer deployments

• Pletor has secured €2 million in a pre‑seed round to bring visual marketing into the AI agent era. The platform enables marketing and design teams to build their own branded AI assistants that generate on‑brand visuals, analyze campaign performance, explore creative directions and integrate seamlessly with tools like Figma and CRM systems.

• Delpha has raised $2 million in seed funding to build an autonomous AI agent focused on improving commercial data quality. The AI integrates with platforms like Snowflake, Salesforce, and ServiceNow to automatically detect, correct, and prevent data errors—reducing manual work and ensuring businesses can rely on accurate customer data for smarter decision-making.

• Ordalie has raised €1.8 million to expand its sovereign legal AI platform, designed to automate contract management and support legal teams with GDPR-compliant, transparent tools. Already used by over 170 organizations, the startup positions itself as a European alternative to U.S. legal tech giants and plans to grow its team and accelerate expansion across Europe.

• Allaw has raised over €1.6 million to expand its CRM platform for legal professionals and accelerate product development. Now part of the French Tech Scale-Up Excellence program, the startup is preparing for international growth starting in 2026.

• Zenior has raised €1.5 million to help families navigate elderly care more easily by combining digital tools with human advisors. Already supporting over 1,000 families, the platform streamlines care placement and aims to expand across France by 2026.

• Kivala has raised €1 million after featuring on "Qui veut être mon associé ?" and showcased its intelligent building access solution. The funds will support its industrial and commercial growth across France and expansion into Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium, where its smart intercom app already serves around 4,000 users by offering temporary, secure access codes for visitors.

• Inside Therapeutics has raised €1 million to speed up the development and industrial deployment of its TAMARA nanoparticle synthesis platform. The technology enables scalable RNA-LNP production from research to clinical use, and the startup is expanding internationally through a new partnership in North America.

Others:

Castafiore, a digital platform founded in 2022 by two jewellery experts, is opening up its capital via a campaign on Sowefund to accelerate its international growth and establish itself as Europe's leading vintage jewellery marketplace. The startup, with over €200K in monthly sales (doubling year‑on‑year), a €2.5K average basket, and more than 10,000 authenticated pieces, aims to invest in marketing, senior hires, and enhanced user experience, with a US launch planned for early 2026.

Hocoia is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Sowefund to raise €1.5 million from the public, aiming to roll out its connected mobile medical clinics throughout France and internationally. With seven operational “Medico­bus” units already serving about 4,000 patients, the startup offers a variety of services—from general consultations to on-board ultrasounds and mammography—funded by local governments, healthcare agencies, employers, and hospitals

M&A transactions 🎊

Pasqal has completed its third acquisition, this time buying Canadian startup Aeponyx, known for its integrated photonic circuits that will improve precision and reduce errors in its quantum computers. By adding Aeponyx’s 27-member team to its existing workforce, Pasqal plans to greatly scale its neutral-atom systems toward a 10,000 qubit target by 2026 and begin production of its next-generation machines in 2027–2028.

Quadient has acquired Serensia, a certified French e-invoicing platform, to strengthen its position ahead of upcoming mandatory e-invoicing rules in France and Europe. The deal brings API-based, Peppol-compliant tech into Quadient’s portfolio and enhances support for its 150,000 clients.

Synov has acquired Arcom, a French supplier of smart solutions for buildings and urban infrastructure. Arcom brings about 60 employees, €9 million in annual revenue, and in-house electronics manufacturing capabilities. The deal adds modules for energy efficiency, smart lighting, automation, ventilation and control systems.

Doctrine has entered the German market by acquiring Dejure.org, a well-established legal search platform used by lawyers, judges, and law students. This marks its second international expansion after launching in Italy in 2024, as the company aims to build a European leader in AI-powered legal research. With Dejure’s 700,000 monthly users and strong brand recognition in Germany, Doctrine plans to integrate its AI capabilities while respecting the local platform’s identity and user base.

Visma has acquired Kanta, a French SaaS solution designed for accounting firms to automate anti-money laundering compliance. Kanta simplifies tasks like gathering client documents, risk assessment, and AML report generation, handling up to 80 % of the process and saving firms around 150 hours per year per client portfolio.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

Clint Capital has launched Cassidy, a multi-strategy fund of funds focused on artificial intelligence. The portfolio aims to cover the full AI value chain, including datacenters, fiber and 5G infrastructure, private equity, and public tech stocks, allocating roughly 25% to each asset class. The fund targets a net internal rate of return around 17 % and offers diversified exposure across global AI investments .

Les Échos reports that foreign investors made a strong comeback in French venture capital in 2024, representing 38 percent of total funding compared to 30 percent the year before. Total VC and growth investment reached €6.4 billion, marking a 34 percent year-over-year increase, driven largely by European players and a handful of major fundraising rounds. While the number of deals remained stable, more funds shifted toward scale-ups and later-stage startups, signaling renewed confidence in the French tech ecosystem.

Weglot has launched Go Global, a free, intensive three‑month international expansion program for French startups and SMEs starting September, with up to €100,000 in benefits (including a year’s Weglot subscription, communication budget, expert mentorship in areas like SEO, growth, UX, legal, and visibility support). A jury chaired by world‑champion footballer and investor Blaise Matuidi will select a limited cohort of founders, focusing on strategic ambition and commitment from applicants looking to structure, test, and validate their export strategies.

Startup news 💡

The Next 40 and French Tech 120 programs have announced their latest cohort, welcoming 11 new companies into the Next 40 and a total of 120 high‑potential startups. For inclusion, firms needed to either reach at least €100 million in revenue with 15% annual growth over three years or accumulate significant fundraising between 2022 and 2025.

This year’s group represents €10 billion in combined revenue and 42,000 employees (29,000 in France), with nearly half of the 120 now profitable (up from 30% in 2024). Deeptech and AI remain prominent—29 companies—alongside strong showings in greentech (29), fintech/insurtech (22), and e‑commerce (16), and a growing international footprint (93% of these startups have significant global activity vs. 88% last year.

H Company, known for one of Europe's largest AI fundraises, has remained relatively secretive but is now shifting gears to target the general public. It just unveiled three AI agents: Runner H for handling personal tasks like booking travel or managing online shopping, Surfer H for private and secure web browsing, and Tester H for automating software testing in businesses. At the same time, it’s open-sourcing its Holo-1 action model, claiming high performance and significantly lower costs on navigation tasks.

Maddyness has teamed up with Perplexity to enhance its site’s search experience using generative AI. Since April, Perplexity has indexed Maddyness content to provide direct, source‑cited answers. Now, Maddyness is integrating Perplexity’s Sonar API into its own search bar so visitors can ask questions and get AI-powered responses based only on its editorial content. They’ll also soon add personalized article recommendations and related content at the end of each post, while sharing ad revenue from AI interactions.

Aldebaran, the company behind Pepper and Nao robots, has been placed into liquidation by the Paris commercial court. All 106 remaining employees will be laid off after the company failed to secure continued investment from United Robotics Group, following earlier rescue attempts including safeguard and judicial reorganization since January 2025.

Evaneos is launching a dedicated SaaS subsidiary to sell a comprehensive toolkit to local travel agencies. The new platform combines its internal travel marketplace technolog, enhanced by the acquisition of Odys Travel Software, and its in-house payment solution, PayTravel. The full rollout will start in 2026 after initial technical upgrades this year. This pivot allows Evaneos to diversify revenues beyond marketplace commissions and compete with niche SaaS players like Lemax or Travefy.

Inclusive Brains, a Marseille-based neurotech startup, has announced a strategic partnership with IBM to co-develop non-invasive brain–machine interfaces using AI and quantum machine learning. Their goal is to build adaptive multimodal systems that interpret brain waves, eye movements, and facial signals to enable control of devices without speech or physical movement

Big company & policy news 💡

Renault Group has secured a strategic minority investment in Wandercraft and entered a partnership to co-develop a new family of “Calvin” robots, leveraging Wandercraft’s expertise in AI-powered exoskeletons to reduce physically demanding tasks in Renault’s factories, improve ergonomics, and boost productivity. The alliance also allows Renault to industrialize and scale Wandercraft’s technology, helping both firms lower costs, accelerate production, and unlock new markets extending beyond industrial use.

CIC is taking 18 French startups to Paris’s VivaTech from June 11 to 14, showcasing the winners of its fifth CIC Startup Innovation Business Award on its stand. The initiative highlights the bank’s strategy of supporting innovation, via dedicated innovation officers, regional contests, and focus on R&D and environmental impact, to help startups scale through both financing and banking services.

FranceTV Publicité and Carbone 4 have launched a carbon scoring system for ads that evaluates both emissions and product alignment with climate goals. Already applied to 200 mobility campaigns, the tool will expand to food and energy sectors to guide more responsible advertising.

Interesting reads 💡

Les Échos comes back on the wave of startups launched by former Teads alumni, many of whom have become key figures in the French Tech landscape. After helping scale Teads into a global adtech leader, several former team members have gone on to found or join high-growth startups in AI, cybersecurity, legaltech, and SaaS. The article highlights how this tight-knit group continues to drive innovation and investment momentum across the ecosystem, with Aive (mentioned above) as just one example among many.

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