👋 In this week's French Tech Wire:
👀 French startups raised $3.5 billion in the first six months. That's on par with the last six months of 2024. But it's down sharply from $4.4 billion raised in the first half of 2024. We break down the numbers.
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Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand
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🚀 Tech Talk 🚀
💰🌱 Funds raising funds: Deeptech VC Omnes has just closed the first €112M of its second dedicated fund, with backing from Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel, and several family offices. The target? €150M to fuel a new generation of French startups tackling hard science, health, energy, and space. Meanwhile, over at Otium Studio, the startup factory is also scaling up: after launching 15 startups since 2022, it now plans to double its production pace, going from 5 to 10+ new ventures per year, with €180M earmarked by 2030. More than money in motion it’s infrastructure for France’s next startup wave. | Maddyness
👉 🐜 Crawling back from the edge? Once a poster child of French agtech, insect-farming startup Ÿnsect has been given court approval to keep operating until September as it races to restructure and attract a buyer. The company, which once raised over €400 million to revolutionize sustainable protein, has been squirming under the weight of its burn rate and unfinished factory ambitions. With just a few months left on the clock, all eyes are on whether Ÿnsect can wriggle its way into a second life — or if the crunch will prove fatal. | Maddyness, Sifted
🦄 🏦 From neo‑banking to real banking? French unicorn Qonto, serving over 600,000 SMBs and freelancers across 8 countries, has officially applied to France’s regulator (ACPR) for a full banking license. The move would unlock lending, savings, and investment products—all currently off-limits under its payment institution license. With profitability achieved in 2023 and no new funding required, Qonto seems ready to meet regulatory capital demands. The next few years will show if it succeeds, and whether it can hit its 2 million customer target by 2030 using full banking powers. | Sifted
🚀 🪐 Latitude’s shooting for the stars… from Reims. The French space startup just parked €50M on a former AstraZeneca plant south of Reims to build a 25,000 m² “space launcher factory.” The goal: churn out up to 50 Zephyr rockets a year by 2030, using repurposed buildings to hit liftoff mode 12–18 months faster (and environmentally cooler) than starting from scratch. Think of it as eco‑industrial Tetris—perfect for rapid scale-up and European space sovereignty. | AeroMorning
🥵👶 Back Market goes full “startup + crèche”: As Paris melted under the June heatwave, refurbished-electronics unicorn Back Market turned its office into a mini summer camp for employees’ kids. On the program? Clim, babysitters, crafts, and cartoons — all to help working parents survive the canicule with sanity (and laptops) intact. “Clim baby club” is just one of several perks meant to make hybrid work actually, well, work. Tech bros, take note: the future of employer branding may involve Play-Doh. | Les Échos
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France And Europe Caught In H1 2025 Global VC Slump
The French tech ecosystem is still feeling the funding squeeze, but it's hardly alone as the global venture capital numbers continued to slump in 2025.
According to Dealroom, French startups raised $3.5 billion in the first six months. That's on par with the last six months of 2024. But it's down sharply from $4.4 billion raised in the first half of 2024.
So far in 2024, only three French companies surpassed the symbolic €100 million threshold in H1: Loft Orbital (€170M) in newspace, Powesco (€150M) in energy, and Alice & Bob (€100M) in quantum computing.
💸 Top Funding Deals 💸
📇 Company: ATAWEY
🔍 Description: Designs and manufactures turnkey autonomous energy solutions for isolated sites
💻 Website: atawey.com
📍 HQ City: Le Bourget-du-Lac
🧗 Round: Growth Equity VC
💰 Amount Raised: €22M
🏦 Investors: Starquest Capital, ARMOR GROUP, France 2030
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Pierre-Jean Bonnefond, Jean-Michel Amare
🗞️ News: H2 Way
📇 Company: Skynopy
🔍 Description: End-to-end connectivity solutions for satellite operators in Low Earth Orbit
💻 Website: skynopy.com
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €15M
🏦 Investors: Alven, Omnes Capital, SpaceFounders
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Pierre Bertrand, Antonin Hirsch
🗞️ News: Maddyness
📇 Company: Bonx
🔍 Description: Next-generation ERP designed to drive the growth of industrial SMBs
💻 Website: bonx.tech
📍 HQ City: Toulouse
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €7.82M
🏦 Investors: Kima Ventures, Purple, Dynamo VC, OSS Ventures, 9900 Capital
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Charles-Henry Rouaud, Rémi Bèges, Alexandre Barroux
🗞️ News: EU Startups
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