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👋 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: Nantes-based Fairmat just raised €51.5M in new financing for its method of recycling carbon fiber composites. Founder and CEO Ben Saada explains the company's blueprint for scaling its industrial recycling solution.

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Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

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🚀 Tech Talk 🚀

🇫🇷 Despite budget constraints and economic uncertainty, the French government confirmed it will invest the remaining €15 billion from its France 2030 innovation plan. Launched in 2021 with €54 billion, the plan aims to boost French industrial competitiveness, especially in deeptech sectors like AI, quantum, space, nuclear, and dual-use (civil/military) technologies. So far, €38 billion has been deployed, supporting 7,500 projects, creating 150,000 jobs, and generating 6,000 patents. The government plans to accelerate investments over the next three years, with a particular focus on hydrogen, despite challenges in its adoption. New calls for projects and funding for 250 additional winners will be launched soon, reinforcing France’s ambition to remain a key player in strategic tech sectors. | Les Echos, Maddyness

🐛 Insect protein startup Ÿnsect, once a flagship of European agtech, has received a temporary lease on life just as it appeared it might be liquidated. After burning through $600M in funding, the company entered insolvency proceedings in February 2025. The company was unable to raise the €130M needed to finish its massive Ÿnfarm facility or find a buyer. This week, the company announced that restructuring expert Emmanuel Pinto has replaced CEO Shankar Krishnamoorthy, and historic investors have provided a €10M bridge round to buy a few months of runway. Asset sales are underway, including its pilot plant in Dole, but no buyer has emerged yet for Ÿnfarm. | Les Echos

🔎 Meanwhile, co-founder Antoine Hubert is already plotting his comeback with a new stealth startup, X&A, focused on foodtech and alternative proteins. Early clues suggest the project will target faster go-to-market models, with less industrial risk and greater emphasis on IP and technology platforms. Hubert has already assembled a small team of former Ÿnsect talent and is quietly raising funding for this next act. | Maddyness

📉 Speaking of down and out...a new report by Altares provides some grip data about the ongoing struggles of French startups. According to the report, 17,845 businesses failed in Q1 2025 (+4.4% YoY), a historically high level. While very small companies (<3 employees) drive most failures (72%), it's larger SMEs and ETIs (>100 employees) that are suffering the most — with failures among them up +28% in a year.

Tech-related sectors — especially IT services (+24%) and business services (consulting, security, cleaning) — saw some of the steepest increases in failure rates. B2B models across industries are showing weakness, especially those reliant on service contracts and recurring revenue from businesses under strain. Altares highlights cash management as the key challenge for founders right now.

Startups younger than 3 years account for a growing share of liquidations, with 80% of their failures ending directly in liquidation, suggesting immature business models or undercapitalization. | Altares

👨‍💻👩‍💻 A new 25-year study by Serena VC Partner Matthieu Lavergne shows that Commercial Open Source Software (COSS) companies consistently outperform proprietary software companies in fundraising, valuation, and exits. The report, based on data from over 800 VC-backed Open Source companies, reveals that COSS has become a mainstream VC category, attracting $9 billion annually across ~250 deals, with growing momentum in both the US and Europe. Open Source companies raise capital faster (20-34%), at higher valuations (up to 1.45x), and achieve stronger graduation rates between funding rounds (+88-91%) compared to proprietary peers. Contrary to common belief, COSS companies face no liquidity penalty and deliver superior exit valuations — 7x higher at IPO and 14x higher in M&A deals. The report highlights that GitHub star counts have little impact on fundraising success, except in select verticals like DevOps. In 2024 alone, COSS companies raised a record-breaking $26.4 billion, driven by megadeals from Databricks, xAI, and Mistral AI. As Open Source increasingly shapes infrastructure, AI, and digital sovereignty, the question is no longer whether Open Source wins — but where it will win next. | Serena

🚀 Candice du Fretay, ex-Accel investor, has launched Outlier Grove, a $20M solo GP fund focused on backing European B2B tech startups at the angel and seed stage. The fund invests $200k to $500k per deal and aims to help founders engage with the US market from day one — a strategy inspired by du Fretay’s decade-long experience in the US and her investment track record in companies like Sorare and H Company. Outlier Grove is backed by institutional investors, family offices, and operators from leading US tech companies like OpenAI, Stripe, and Datadog. The fund will target around 25 startups over four years and positions itself as an operational partner to founders, helping them land early US customers and scale globally. Du Fretay’s approach reflects a growing belief that for European B2B startups, early US expansion is key to building enduring global category leaders. "I spent a decade in the US and then returned to Europe as an early-stage investor," she wrote on LinkedIn. "I saw first-hand that Europe’s leading B2B companies achieved global success through early engagement with the US market, and wanted to draw on my experience and network to help more European outliers shine on the global stage." | Sifted, Les Echos, LinkedIn

🤙 Lucie Basch, founder of Too Good To Go, has launched a new startup called Poppins, focused on enabling the sharing of everyday objects between neighbors and local businesses. Joined by two former Too Good To Go executives, the Poppins team wants to move from individual ownership to a model of "collective prosperity" through an easy-to-use lending and renting app. Already live in beta with 1,000 users and 30 business partners, the app is launching with 20,000 available items across France. Poppins takes a commission on paid transactions and sees sharing as a way to generate organic growth within the circular economy. The startup has raised initial funding from prominent business angels, including BlaBlaCar founders, and is housed within Basch's Climate House initiative. | Maddyness, Les Echos, LinkedIn

🏦 Bpifrance and JPMorgan have announced a first closing of €33M for their joint fund, Bpifrance Spark, aimed at promoting gender diversity in venture capital. The fund plans to reach €150M and will invest in VC and growth funds where women hold at least 33% of the capital, with early investments already made in Revaia Growth II and Alter Equity III. This initiative is backed by BNP Paribas Cardif, FDJ UNITED, LVMH, Ardian, and Xavier Niel, and reflects a growing focus on diversity and inclusion within European private equity. | Maddyness

💸 Capgemini and ISAI have launched a new €80 million fund, ISAI Cap Venture II, to invest in promising B2B tech startups globally. This second fund follows the success of their first collaboration in 2019, which backed 15 startups like Alation, Zelros, and Copado. The new vehicle will target SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS companies at Series A and growth stages, with tickets ranging from €1M to €5M. The goal is to help these startups scale by leveraging Capgemini’s global commercial network, while maintaining their agility. This move reflects the growing trend of corporate venture capital (CVC) in France, bridging startups and large corporates. | Maddyness

🟢 The 2025 edition of the French Impact Startup Mapping, led by France Digitale, Bpifrance Le Hub, and Mouvement Impact France, highlights the strong growth and increasing maturity of the ecosystem. In less than two years, the number of impact startups in France grew by 10% to 1,261 companies, creating 34,200 jobs (+7%) and raising €10.8 billion in total funding (+8%). The most represented sectors are circular economy, energy, agriculture, mobility, and industry, with a growing number of startups scaling internationally (18%) and moving into standardized production (54%). Notably, 57% of these startups are based outside of Paris, reinforcing regional dynamism across the country. Despite a tougher funding environment, French impact startups continue to expand, driven by both their market traction and their role in addressing key sustainability challenges. | Mapping

Fairmat Wants To
Redefine Composite
Recycling And
Conquer The U.S.

In the heart of Nantes, a young French startup is rewriting the rules of materials recycling — and making a global play in the process.

Fairmat, founded in 2020 by Benjamin Saada, is tackling one of the thorniest industrial challenges of our time: How to recycle carbon fiber composites at scale, affordably, and without destroying their performance.

Since its start, Fairmat has raised more than €90 million, filed five patents, opened factories in France and the U.S., and landed early customers in sports, mobility, and electronics. Now it’s eyeing expansion into energy and aerospace.

As the company bids to become one of Europe’s most promising industrial deeptech startups, a big question looms: How far can European green innovation scale beyond Europe?

💸 Top Funding Deals 💸

📇 Company: Pennylane
🔍 Description: Accounting and financial management platform for businesses.
💻 Website: https://www.pennylane.tech/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Late VC
💰 Amount Raised: €75 million
🏦 Investors: Sequoia, DST Global, Meritech Capital, CapitalG
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Felix Blossier, Tancrède Besnard, Thierry Deo, Quentin de Metz, Edouard Mascré, Alexandre Roquoplo, Arthur Waller
🗞️ News: Sifted, Maddyness, FrenchWeb, EU Startups

📇 Company: Sekoia.io
🔍 Description: SaaS cybersecurity platform that uses AI for real-time detection and response to cyber threats.
💻 Website: https://sekoia.io
📍 HQ City: Rennes, France
🧗 Round: Series B
💰 Amount Raised: €26 million
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance, Omnes Capital, Unexo, Bright Pixel Capital, Revaia
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Freddy Milesi
🗞️ News: FrenchWeb, L'Usine Digitale, EU Startups, Revaia

📇 Company: Roof
🔍 Description: Shared living spaces and apartment services for students.
💻 Website: http://weareroof.com
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Early VC
💰 Amount Raised: €20 million
🏦 Investors: Mata Capital
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Oussama Bourhaleb, Tarik Fatihi, Nicolas Leroy
🗞️ News: Maddyness

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