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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 — France’s much-anticipated “fast fashion” bill heads to the Senate on June 10, but the mood is shifting. Once celebrated as a bold move toward sustainable textiles, the law now faces criticism for being watered down. Will it rein in ultra-fast online fashion giants like Shein and Temu - or simply let them off the hook?
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Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand
🚀 Tech Talk 🚀
☝️🇪🇺 Choose Europe…to finally scale your startup? Brussels just dropped its boldest startup strategy yet: the “EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy,” part of the wider Choose Europe initiative. The aim? Make Europe the world’s best place to launch, grow, and actually scale a business - without drowning in red tape or hopping between 27 different tax codes.
The plan hits five big themes: friendlier regulation, better access to finance (hello, Scaleup Europe Fund), faster market entry, easier talent recruitment (Blue Carpet visa anyone?), and smoother access to infra and networks. They’re even rolling out a “European Business Wallet” to give startups a digital ID for dealing with bureaucracy. Très sexy. 💅
A proposed “28th regime” would harmonise rules around insolvency, labor, and taxation, finally offering a pan-EU legal framework that doesn’t require founders to triple as legal scholars. There’s also a new push to turn university research into spinouts via the “Lab to Unicorn” program. It’s ambitious, it’s overdue, and it’s loaded with acronyms. Now all that’s left is for the Commission to actually do it! | Tech.eu | Les Echos | EU Startups
☝️💼 Alan storms Bercy and ruffles some feathers. Healthtech unicorn Alan just won a major public contract to handle health coverage for 130,000 active agents at the Ministry of Finance, booting out legacy mutual MGEFI (Matmut group) in the process. It’s a big win for the digital-first startup, already covering the Élysée and several ministries. But not everyone’s clapping: unions are grumbling over the loss of the old-school mutualist model (think local outreach and prevention programs) in favor of a sleek app and no-nonsense UX. Matmut, not thrilled, is eyeing legal options. Bureaucracy just got a tech upgrade - and a side of controversy. | Maddyness
☝️🕵️♂️ Crypto kidnappings get (even more) real. French police foiled another crypto-linked kidnapping in Nantes and arrested over 20 suspects tied to a string of violent abductions. Victims include the daughter of Paymium’s CEO and the father of a poker player, both targeted for ransom by a shadowy network using pseudonymous masterminds and teenage foot soldiers. The crypto community is sounding the alarm. Ledger’s Eric Larchevêque met with the Interior Ministry, which now promises boosted protection and a dedicated emergency line. A new law to better protect founders (and their home addresses) is also on the way. | Maddyness
☝️🛸 OVNI lands €60M to fund the strange and scalable. French VC firm OVNI Capital (OVNI: objet volant non identifé, or UFO) just raised a €60M fund with backing from Bpifrance, PwC, and over 200 angels (yes, including DJ/producer Martin Solveig, because why not?). Their pitch? Backing startups that are slightly weird and wildly ambitious. They’re already in on Axeptio (GDPR made sexy?), Spaictra (biotech), and Epyr (thermal energy). Bonus: investor and startup whisperer Marie Outtier is joining as General Partner. Beam us up! | Sifted
👎💻 OpenClassrooms hits Ctrl+Layoff. The edtech darling is saying goodbye to around 50 employees this week. After a rough patch in 2024, the pivot toward profitability is real and ruthless. No word yet if the departing staff got a goodbye course titled “Surviving Startups 101.” | Usine Digitale
🎂💛 Bpifrance turns 10—and flexes hard. France’s state investment bank just celebrated a decade of backing the bold with a cool €10 billion invested in startups since its inception. From deeptech to green energy to the AI boom, Bpifrance has been quietly (and sometimes not-so-quietly) fuelling the nation’s innovation machine. Love them or grumble about them, they’re the wallet behind a whole lot of French Tech ambition. Joyeux anniversaire Bpifrance!! 🎉🎂
E-commerce Fast Fashion: Is France's New
Law Potentially Ineffective?
As France gears up for a crucial Senate vote on June 10th, hopes around the much-anticipated “fast fashion” law — unanimously passed by the National Assembly in March 2024 — are starting to fade somewhat.
According to Impact France, the bill aimed at curbing the environmental devastation caused by the textile industry and, in particular, online ultra-fast fashion brands, has been significantly weakened in a parliamentary committee.
Key provisions, such as a ban on fast fashion advertising and strict environmental penalties, may be diluted or dropped altogether. Critics fear the law could morph into a symbolic gesture: targeting a few high-profile players like Shein and Temu while sparing European brands with similar mass-production models.
Supporters of the original bill argue that a robust, enforceable framework is essential not just for the environment, but to protect French industry from a race to the bottom. With the textile sector already on the brink, this vote may well decide whether France leads the sustainable fashion charge or gets swept away in the tide.
💸 Top Funding Deals 💸
📇 Company: Solveo Energie
🔍 Description: Renewable energy, specifically wind energy
💻 Website: http://solveo-energie.com
📍 HQ City: Fenouillet
🧗 Round: Late VC
💰 Amount Raised: €98M
🏦 Investors: Mirova
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Jean-Marc Mateos
🗞️ News: ESG Today
📇 Company: Amplitude Studios
🔍 Description: PC games and development
💻 Website: https://www.amplitude-studios.com
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Series A
💰 Amount Raised: €12M
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance, Griffin Gaming Partners
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Romain de Waubert de Genlis
🗞️ News: GamesBeat
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