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Hexa CEO: Charting A Course Through AI's Storm
Matthieu Gombeaud: "We must completely rethink the way we are building companies."
Hexa CEO: Charting A Course Through AI's Storm
Matthieu Gombeaud: "We must completely rethink the way we are building companies."
#42: The Anthropic-Mistral Transatlantic AI Funding Tango
As Anthropic plants its flag in Europe with a trust-first strategy, Mistral secures €1.8B in the continent's boldest AI sovereignty play yet. Meanwhile, French founders wrestle with wealth taxes while Chinese researchers rewrite the efficiency playbook.
Anthropic's Guillaume Princen: 'The building blocks of the digital economy are now as simple as having a conversation.'
The former Stripe executive was hired earlier this year to be Anthropic's Head of EMEA. He spoke with us about sovereignty, vibe coding, and why the Model Context Protocol has catalyzed the agentic era.
#41: Mistral AI Goes Dutch With $14B Valuation
The French AI startup is reportedly on the cusp of raising a new round led by chip equipment maker ASML of the Netherlands. Plus: Hugging Face hires; Cycle gets pedaled down under; Luc Julia gets called out; and Alpic raises $6M for MCP infrastructure.
Hexa CEO: Charting A Course Through AI's Storm
Matthieu Gombeaud: "We must completely rethink the way we are building companies."
Wealth Tax Smackdown: Zucman vs. Aghion Sparks Fireworks at FDday
Founders and economists clashed at FDday’s grand finale as Gabriel Zucman defended his global wealth tax blueprint against Philippe Aghion’s warnings about stifling innovation and forcing AI champions abroad, igniting one of the event’s most heated debates yet.
French Start-ups Navigate Turbulence as Growth Slows Despite Resilient Job Creation
French start-ups navigate choppy waters as VC funding plummets 24% while employment surges 11.5%. The 2025 Barometer from France Digitale and EY reveals an ecosystem transitioning from growth-at-all-costs to sustainable profitability amid mounting political and economic headwinds.
Inside Kyron.bio’s Bold Bet to Rewrite the Rules of Antibody Drug Design
For all the buzz around antibody therapies, one overlooked culprit keeps holding them back: sugars. Paris-based Kyron.bio is tackling the hidden complexity of glycosylation — the way sugars attach to therapeutic proteins — with a platform that promises safer, longer-lasting drugs.
Spotlight Video Interview: Director Julie Huguet on La French Tech Mission
"What we want to do is help entrepreneurs have the best ecosystem to create, to scale, and to go abroad."
Spotlight Interview: ChangeNOW CEO Santiago Lefebvre Wants You To Believe Again
ChangeNOW 2025, the "world expo of solutions for the planet," is in full swing this week. Ahead of the Paris opening, I spoke with Lefebvre about how a bold idea born at COP21 became a global gathering, and why, in a divided world, hope and action still matter.
Spotlight Interview: Keles' Laurent Van Lerberghe On Digital Health Investing
"The region between the UK, France, and Benelux is becoming something like a new Palo Alto. Everything is reachable within two and a half hours, creating a concentrated ecosystem of talent, capital, and market opportunities."
Spotlight Interview: Fly Ventures' Marie Brayer
"What's really exciting is seeing the emergence of academic entrepreneurship in France."
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: What The 'Zucman' Is This Tax?
At FDday, a fiery Zucman vs. Aghion wealth tax showdown. Plus: Europe’s startup champions face a scale-up reality check, and the latest on Innovafeed, SeaBubbles, and Back Market.
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Sugar, Silicon, Serious Cash, and Slowdowns
This week: Mistral hits decacorn mode, Kyron.bio takes on glyco chaos to make safer biologics, French Tech faces headwinds, Scintil Photonics scores €50M to scale its laser chips, and Quadrille raises €500M to back bold tech bets.
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Rentrée Political Reckoning Means Debt and Doubts for Entrepreneurs
Government instability shadows France’s rentrée, threatening support for innovation programs. The Startup Nation returned from vacation to gloomy headlines about layoffs, online controversies, and economic uncertainty.
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Quantum Computing Finds Its Mainstream Moment
Quantum was in the spotlight at VivaTech 2025, with NVIDIA, Quandela, and cybersecurity leaders shaping the agenda. Also in this issue: Electra gets charged up; Swan flies; Aldebaran gets a Chinese lifeline; and MagREEsource attracts €23M for its magnet recycling tech.