🤖 La Machine #23: Silicon Valley's Protectionist AI Pivot Embraces Europe's Playbook 🤖
Mistral says no no no IPO; Meta AI invades Europe; Frenchies take a stand against data centers.
Helen O'Reilly-Durand
Franco-British Communications expert who has worked extensively with founders and investors. She previously advised startups at a prominent European VC and SMEs at France’s Economy Ministry.
Website
France
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Spy Games Feature Honeypots And Unicorns
Rippling asks: What's the Deel?; Descartes explains its climate risk philosophy; and the battle to protect the startup ecosystem from budget cuts rages on.
Descartes Underwriting: Doubling Down On Climate Risk As Insurance Industry Retreats
Chief Science Officer Kévin Dedieu: "AI represents between 2-5% of our tech investments. Next year, we’re increasing that by 10%, with more resources dedicated to AI and using it for our core models. The cost of AI is relatively low, but its impact is huge.”
🤖 La Machine #22: French AI Shines Light on Microbes 🤖
Spore.bio wages germ-testing warfare; Wandercraft wins a prize for its AI exoskeleton; French publishers tell Meta where to stick its algorithms.
🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Venus Williams Helps WeWard Take A Big Step 🎾
WeWard CEO Yves Benchimol serves up some lessons; Edumapper founders hit the repeat button; Deep Tech's annual checkup gets mixed results.
Seed Of The Week: Edumapper
Edumapper raised €5M just days after launching its website. Having a core of repeat founders helped make the case.
🤖 La Machine #21: AI That Packs A Punch 🤖
Inside: Growl hopes its AI Boxing Bag will be a hit; the French army hops on the AI bandwagon; more AI events than you can shake a stick at.
French Tech Wire: Europe Needs AI Infrastructure, Women Need Funding, and Industrial Startups Need a Hug
👋 Welcome to our weekly recap of the big news + funding in the French tech ecosystem this week. In this week's French Tech Wire, 👀 Deep Dive: Why Europe Needs Its Own AI Infrastructure: Arnaud Muller, Founder & CEO of Cleyrop and vocal advocate for European technological independence, explores how
Europe Needs AI Infrastructure. Cleyrop Wants To Build It
Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented pace, reshaping industries, economies, and global power structures. But while AI models and applications are evolving rapidly, the infrastructure that powers them is struggling to keep up, especially in Europe. The reality is stark: Europe is falling behind in AI-ready infrastructure. Unlike the
🤖 La Machine #20: AI Making Videos Pixel Perfect 🤖
Inside: A look at the future of AI and Video with Aive; Paris gets a fancy new AI center.
French Tech Wire: Building the Mediverse and a Buggy Business Model
In this edition: VirtualiSurg is using VR to train surgeons; an Ÿnsect bankruptcy breakdown; plus all the fun headlines and funding news.
Seed of the Week: VirtualiSurg
If pilots train on simulators before flying real aircraft, why can’t the same technology be used to train surgeons? Founder & CEO Nicolas Mignan explains how the startup hopes to use VR and the metaverse to revolutionize medical education.
New French AI Company Radar: February 2025
Exclusively for Paid Subscribers: The latest filings for new AI-related companies in France, plus AI startups selected for incubators and accelerators.
🤖 La Machine #19: French Energy Grid Gets An AI Glow-Up 🤖
Inside: How Metroscope is optimizing power plants with AI; Mistral AI's Le Chat purrs; and funding news for AI startups Genial, Ochy, Spore, and 73 Strings.
AI Optimizing France’s Nuclear Future: Metroscope Prevents Energy Loss at Scale
CEO Aurélien Schwartz: “We’re at the beginning of a massive industrial transformation. AI is no longer optional—it’s the backbone of a smarter, more resilient energy grid.”
French Tech Wire: Two Insect Startups Get Swatted, While One Keeps Flying High 🐛
In this edition: A look at France's fading insect protein hopes, and whether Innovafeed can resuscitate them. Plus: One last push to avoid government cuts to French tech programs; startups go to school.