Enjoy this weekly recap of the big news + funding in the French tech ecosystem this week.

In this edition:

🚀 Deep Dive: triPica CEO Mathieu Horn discusses how transformation in the energy and telecom markets is creating a massive opportunity for the company.

🎙️ Spotlight Interview: ValueCo CEO Mariem Mhadhbi explains how the company wants to bridge the divide between investors and ESG.

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Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

Tech Talk

💩 The grim reaper continues his pursuit of French startups. The latest victim includes the gender equity-focused startup 50inTech, known for its tools to attract and retain female talent in tech. The company filed for bankruptcy this month. Belgian firm Q7 Leader is proposing to scoop it up for €15,000 – a deal that wouldn't include any of 50inTech's debt (the amount of debt was undisclosed. Founded in 2019, 50inTech developed 3 products: GenderScore, a tool evaluating workplace gender equality; GenderHire, and Unbiased Management Score. 50inTech had previously raised €1.5 million in 2023 from investors such as Inco Investissements, Evolem, and business angels including Florian Douetteau (Dataiku) and Alexandre Fretti (Malt). Approximately 250 women participated in the crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, contributing collectively. Q7 says it plans to keep offering GenderScore, will fold Unbiased into one of its products, and is considering possibly selling GenderHire to someone else. At the moment, the company says it only plans to retain one employee: researcher Julie Mellul, whose research as a social psychologist was instrumental in the development of the products.

🪦 Also trying to avoid the gallows is cutting-edge sensor developer Prophesee which filed for bankruptcy in October to restructure its finances. In an interview with Les Echos, CEO Luca Verre cited a tough funding environment but remained optimistic, with a funding round expected to close by year-end. Prophesee’s groundbreaking vision sensors, inspired by the human eye, have attracted investments from Xiaomi, Intel Capital, and even In-Q-Tel (the CIA’s venture fund). With new products targeting virtual reality and defense markets, Prophesee hopes to scale production for broader commercial success in 2025. Prophesee has raised over €100 million in funding since its 2014 inception, including a €50 million round in September 2022, making it one of the best-financed fabless semiconductor startups in the EU. Key milestones include partnerships with Sony (2021) for high-speed vision sensors and agreements with Qualcomm and AMD (2023) to integrate its cutting-edge sensors into smartphones and simplify AI-driven vision applications. Last summer, the company received €15 million from the French government's France 2030 initiative, to develop next-gen neuromorphic AI sensors for mobile phones, aiming to revolutionize image quality, energy efficiency, and data privacy.

😰 More grim French tech tidings: France Digitale continues to sound the alarm over proposed cuts in the government's budget to programs that support startups. Sounds Budget Alarm. Despite parliamentary backing for measures like the Innovative Young Company status and R&D tax credits, the Senate's amendments suggest reductions that could stifle innovation, warned FD's Marianne Tordeux Bitker: "These cuts send a negative signal to both the companies concerned and their investors, and will have a direct impact on the cost of labor, startup employment and the purchasing power of employees."

🥁💰 Ok, now for some more optimistic news: SISTAFUND announced that the European Investment Fund (EIF) has injected €30 million into its first €100 million fund. The investment followed almost 2 years of discussions and comes on top of the initial €30 million the fund raised in 2022.

🎂 🥳 Finally, some birthday news: OVHcloud celebrated its 25th anniversary at its annual Summit in Paris, where founder Octave Klaba introduced Benjamin Revcolevschi as the company's new CEO, replacing Michel Paulin. The French cloud provider, which has grown to serve 1.6 million clients across 140 countries with nearly €1 billion in revenue, emphasized its commitment to sovereignty and competition with American tech giants. During the event, OVHcloud discussed its AI strategy, highlighting partnerships with Hugging Face and questioning the sustainability of massive GPU investments in the AI race. The company also announced plans to launch a "quantum cloud" service in 2025 in partnership with Pasqal, starting with a 100-qubit quantum computer and aiming to expand to six quantum computers by 2027...

...and speaking of Silver Jubilees, VC firm Ventech celebrated its 25th birthday at a festive gathering in the former HQ of The Family (and now the HQ for portfolio company Singulart). Founded in France, the firm has since expanded across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. on its way to raising €1bn in assets, backing 320 companies, and achieving 180 exits.

Deep Dive: How triPica
Turns Electric Cars
Into Mobile Power Plants

Founded in 2016, triPica has built a flexible software-as-a-service platform that can handle complex billing and customer management for both energy and telecom providers. The company has unveiled a new "vehicle-to-grid" (V2G) partnership with Renault and The Mobility House that allows EV owners to sell power back into the grid to offset their charging costs.

CEO Mathieu Horn said the partnership represents a prime example of how energy and mobility markets are being disrupted by new technologies and business models, creating a massive opportunity for triPica as these sectors undergo rapid transformation.

"The energy sector was a very stable place for a very long time. And now there are all these innovations starting," Horn said. "It's a bit like telecom with 20 years apart. The innovation is starting now, and they are facing issues with their IT stack because it has been built like 10-15 years ago for the big players."

Spotlight Interview:
ValueCo CEO Mariem Mhadhbi On Making ESG Count In Capital Markets

Founded in 2022 by Mariem Mhadhbi and Mathieu Joubrel, ValueCo intends to bridge the gap between financial performance and sustainability by helping investors and companies align ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors with market expectations. With a recent €1.5 million fundraise from La Banque Postale’s innovation fund and 115K, ValueCo’s co-founders believe they can revolutionize how ESG is measured and valued in the market.

We caught up with Mariem to discuss her journey and the vision for ValueCo.

Funding

📇 Company: Devialet
🔍 Description: An acoustic engineering technology company.
💻 Website: https://www.devialet.com/fr-fr/
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: LATE VC
💰 Amount Raised: €30.0M
🏦 Investors: Korelya Capital
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Quentin Sannié
🗞️ News: https://www.frenchweb.fr/fleur-pellerin-vient-au-secours-de-devialet-qui-leve-30-millions-deuros/450069

📇 Company: Lactips
🔍 Description: Lactips makes recyclable food packaging, with casein-based thermoplastics (milk protein), the only biodegradable and water-soluble substance
💻 Website: http://lactips.com
📍 HQ City: Saint-Paul-en-Jarez
🧗 Round: SERIES C
💰 Amount Raised: €16.0M
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance; GO Capital; SWEN Capital Partners; BNP Paribas Développement
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Fabrice Plasson; Frédéric Prochazka; Marie-Hélène Gramatikoff
🗞️ News: https://www.sustainableplastics.com/news/french-bioplastics-start-raises-eu16m-expand-americas-japan

📇 Company: Raidium
🔍 Description: Raidium develops the world's first foundation model for precision radiology, offering a multimodal AI-native PACS viewer with advanced imaging capabilities designed for clinical and research use.
💻 Website: www.raidium.eu
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €16M
🏦 Investors: Newfund; Kurma Partners; Founders Future; Galion.exe; Techmind; Debiopharm Corporate Ventures; European EIC Fund
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Dr. Paul Hérent (CEO); Pierre Manceron (CSO)
🗞️ News: https://www.lesechos.fr/start-up/deals/french-tech-raidium-la-start-up-qui-cree-le-gpt-de-la-radiologie-2134399

📇 Company: Biolevate
🔍 Description: Biolevate is a VC-backed B2B startup harnessing synthetic biology to develop sustainable food alternatives
💻 Website: https://www.biolevate.com/
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: SEED
💰 Amount Raised: €6.0M
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance; EQT Ventures; Mehdi Ghissassi
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Joel Belafa; Anas Laaroussi; Antoine De Torcy
🗞️ News: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/11/paris-based-biolevate-raises-e6-million-for-their-ai-assisted-medical-writing-platform/

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