Busy past weeks for the French tech ecosystem, with record rounds across cybersecurity, biotech, and health. Filigran hit $58M, the largest French cyber round to date, while Lattice Medical, Step Pharma, and Phagos kept the health momentum going. Ipsen made headlines with its €1B acquisition of ImCheck, and Lemlist snapped up Claap to strengthen its product suite. On the investor side, Lauxera closed over €400M for its new growth fund, and Polytechnique Ventures launched a second deeptech vehicle. Let’s dive in!

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Startup funding news 💸

Rounds of +€15M:

• Filigran, the French cyber intelligence startup, has raised a record $58 million Series C—the largest ever in French cybersecurity—bringing its total funding to nearly $100 million since 2022. Backed by Eurazeo, Accel, Insight Partners, and Deutsche Telekom T.Capital, the round will fuel global expansion, AI integration, and product innovation, cementing Filigran’s ambition to become a global leader in proactive, open-source cybersecurity solutions.

• Lattice Medical, a French MedTech innovator in regenerative soft-tissue reconstruction, has secured €43 million in Series B funding. The funding, led by Bpifrance SPI and others, will advance clinical trials of its 3D-printed implant solutions, scale manufacturing, and support international market entry.

• Step Pharma, the French biotech developing targeted cancer therapies, has raised €38 million in a Series C round led by V-Bio Ventures, with continued support from Kurma Partners, Bpifrance, and others. The funding will advance its clinical programs, particularly those targeting CTPS1, a protein essential to DNA synthesis in cancer cells, with the aim of delivering treatments that destroy tumors without harming healthy cells.

• Phagos, the French biotech combining microbiology and AI to fight antibiotic-resistant infections, has raised €25 million in a Series A round led by CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn, and Demeter. The funding will accelerate the rollout of its phage-based veterinary therapies and support its expansion into human health, with the goal of making phage therapy a global alternative to antibiotics.

• Upciti has raised $20 million in Series A funding to expand its urban operating platform, which helps over 150 cities manage operations like traffic and safety more efficiently and securely. With a privacy-first approach and integrated hardware-software system, the company aims to scale globally, particularly in the U.S., addressing growing city demands for efficient, non-invasive tech solutions.

• Healthtech startup Hublo has raised €20 million from Bpifrance to expand its workforce management platform used by over 5,600 healthcare institutions and 1.2 million professionals across Europe. With a total of €55 million raised to date, Hublo aims to tackle staffing challenges in healthcare through digital scheduling and job-matching tools, while continuing its European growth following two acquisitions in 2025.

Rounds €5M to €15M:

• Probabl, the open-source AI startup led by Yann Lechelle, has raised €13 million in seed funding from Serena, CFM, Mozilla Ventures, and Bpifrance, bringing its total funding to €18.5 million. As the official operator of Scikit-learn, the world’s most-used machine learning library, Probabl aims to become a European leader in transparent, responsible AI deployment and help businesses industrialize AI through sovereign, open-source tools.

• Diffusely (formerly Meero) has raised €11 million to accelerate its pivot from a global photography marketplace to an AI-powered visual content platform for fashion and automotive industries. The funding supports its focus on proprietary tools like CarCutter and AutoRetouch, aiming to cut production costs by 80% and speed up content creation by 90%.

• Lisaqua has raised €9 million to industrialize its sustainable, land-based shrimp farming, offering an antibiotic-free alternative that protects ecosystems and recycles resources. The funding will support building a 100-ton annual facility near Paris and expanding across Europe, driven by a patented system blending biofiltration and circular economy principles.

• Playse, the startup founded by football champion Blaise Matuidi, has raised €5 million, including €2 million via crowdfunding, to fuel its international growth. The AI-powered platform offers personalized training and performance tracking for amateur footballers, and already supports 8,000 players and 150 coaches across several countries.

• Volta, the Franco-Italian startup modernizing B2B commerce, has raised €5 million in a new round led by RTP Global, with participation from existing investors Emblem, Robin Capital, and Founders Future. The AI-powered platform, which automates up to 90% of sales workflows, aims to expand across Europe starting with Spain, and has already generated over €1m in revenue just 18 months after launch

Rounds €1M to €5M:

• Kenko has raised €4 million to accelerate the rollout of its innovative health and insurance solutions for SMEs and mid-sized companies. The funding will support the launch of its no-upfront-cost health card, expansion of digital services, and development of its wellness-focused Club Kenko—advancing its mission to make healthcare more accessible, personalized, and human-centric.

• Kotcha, the French sportstech startup co-founded by marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge, has raised €3.5 million to scale its AI-powered running coach app across Europe and beyond. The app delivers real-time, personalised training experiences through four AI personas, offering elite-level support to runners for just €14.99/month.

• Kikleo has raised €3.5 million to scale its AI-powered food waste reduction platform for restaurants across France, Europe, and the U.S. The startup’s system, which tracks waste via cameras and analytics, has already prevented 240 tons of waste—turning raw data into operational savings, environmental impact reduction, and strategic insights for the food service industry.

• Popsink has raised €3 million in seed funding to expand its real-time data infrastructure platform that unlocks critical information from legacy enterprise systems. Using Change Data Capture (CDC) technology, Popsink enables seamless, secure integration with modern cloud and AI tools—positioning itself as a vital bridge between core operations and data-driven innovation in Europe and North America.

• Ficha, the AI-powered startup tackling recycling errors, has raised €2 million to scale its smart waste-sorting solutions across France and prepare for European expansion. With products like Camia and Cocon, which use image recognition and real-time feedback to detect and reduce sorting mistakes, Ficha has already multiplied its revenue fivefold and aims to triple it again in 2025.

• BiznessMatch, the phygital networking startup reinventing B2B matchmaking, has raised €1.8m to boost its AI capabilities and expand internationally. Combining a smart matching app with a growing network of physical business clubs, the platform offers an alternative to traditional tools like LinkedIn by focusing on need-based, geo-targeted connections and real-world relationship building.

• MNGRS.AI, an AI-powered artist management startup, has raised $1M from investors including footballers Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé, and Mike Maignan. Founded by former Universal Music and MIDEM execs, the platform helps artists with career strategy, release planning, and content creation.

M&A transactions 🎊

French pharma group Ipsen has acquired ImCheck Therapeutics, a Marseille-based biotech specializing in next-gen immunotherapy antibodies, in a deal worth up to €1 billion, including an upfront payment of €350 million. The acquisition, expected to close by Q1 2026, strengthens Ipsen’s oncology pipeline and marks a major exit for investors like Bpifrance, Kurma Partners, and Wellington Partners.

Lemlist, the bootstrapped French startup specializing in personalized sales outreach, has acquired Claap, a generative AI startup for sales teams, in an eight-figure deal to strengthen its product offering. With €35 million in annual recurring revenue and 20,000 global clients, Lemlist plans to launch “Smartbound”—a new AI-powered prospecting solution—to challenge U.S. giants and redefine B2B sales through targeted, signal-driven engagement.

The Bradery, the premium flash sales platform, is being reacquired by its original founders, Édouard Caraco and Timothée Linyer, in a €23 million deal just three years after its majority sale to Showroomprivé. Despite strong revenue growth, Showroomprivé is offloading its 52.75% stake to streamline operations amid losses, while The Bradery regains independence with a valuation more than doubled since 2022.

Jamespot has acquired French startup Safebrain to bolster the security and data sovereignty of its GenAI collaboration platform. This strategic move enhances end-to-end encryption capabilities and ensures compliance with EU data protection standards—addressing rising enterprise demands for secure, sovereign AI tools.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

Lauxera Capital Partners has raised over €400 million for its second healthtech fund, Lauxera Growth II, aimed at supporting Europe’s most promising scale-ups in medical devices, health data, software, and precision medicine, with investment tickets ranging from €20 to €50 million. With this Tibi-labeled fund, Lauxera seeks to bridge Europe and the U.S. healthtech ecosystems, having already invested in German neurovascular innovator Acandis and Swedish AI-driven imaging company Antaros Medical.

Polytechnique Ventures has announced a second early-stage fund with a first closing of €21 million, aiming for a final target between €30 and €40 million. The fund will back 15 to 20 deeptech startups founded by alumni of École Polytechnique, focusing on areas like AI, health, robotics, and decarbonized energy, with investment tickets ranging from €250K to €2M.

Startup news 💡

LinkedIn has unveiled its Top Startups 2025 France list, with Mistral AI maintaining the top spot. Notable entries include MakiPeople (6th), an HRtech startup using AI to transform recruitment, and Resilience (10th), which continues to scale its digital support platform for cancer patients—highlighting the momentum of impact-driven innovation in the French tech landscape.

Quitoque has acquired struggling anti-food-waste startup Bene Bono, saving 40 out of 74 jobs and aiming to integrate its bio surplus grocery delivery service into its meal kit offering, while keeping the Bene Bono brand alive. Despite a 75% revenue increase in 2024, Bene Bono’s €10M loss led to judicial recovery, and Quitoque now plans a €1M investment to bring the company back to profitability by late 2026 amid a challenging foodtech market.

Y-Brush, the Lyon-based startup behind the sonic Y-shaped toothbrush, has been acquired by Biotech Dental following its judicial recovery earlier this year. The deal saves Y-Brush’s innovative technology, which will now fuel a new consumer-focused division at Biotech Dental, with co-founder Benjamin Cohen leading development of future connected oral care products.

At its Ledger Op3n event, French unicorn Ledger unveiled the Nano Gen5, a next-generation device designed to secure not only crypto transactions but also digital identities, marking a strategic shift from “wallet” to “signer.” Priced at €179 and styled with input from Apple design veterans, the new Nano targets mass adoption with enhanced security features, integration of fiat-to-stablecoin conversion, and a renewed focus on becoming the go-to guardian of the digital self.

Octave Klaba has returned as CEO of OVHcloud, just a year after stepping back from day-to-day operations, replacing Benjamin Revcolevschi whose mandate was abruptly ended by the board. The leadership shake-up comes as OVHcloud surpasses €1 billion in annual revenue for the first time, but faces mounting pressure in the cloud market—reflected by a sharp 18% drop in its share price following the announcement.

VoltAero, the startup developing hybrid-electric aircraft, has been placed in judicial recovery after declaring insolvency in late September. Despite promising developments—including a planned international assembly line and support from Kawasaki—financial setbacks linked to a failed partnership with ACI have left the company seeking urgent alternatives to continue its five-seat Cassio 330 aircraft project.

Qonto, the French fintech valued at €4.4 billion, is preparing a secondary share sale to offer liquidity to early investors and employees, with no IPO planned in the near term. Now profitable, the company joins a growing trend among European scale-ups opting for secondary markets amid a sluggish IPO climate.

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