👋 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: A pioneering startup is harnessing synthetic diamonds to revolutionize power electronics. With unmatched thermal and voltage properties, DiamFab aims to outperform silicon carbide, accelerating EVs, renewables, and the global energy transition. Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Ivan Llaurado explains the science behind this Grenoble-based startup.
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Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang hits the Dome Stage at VivaTech for his GTC Paris keynote on June 11. Expect insights, surprises, and major AI reveals from NVIDIA & one of tech’s most visionary leaders.
🚀 Tech Talk 🚀
☝️🇪🇺 Digital sovereignty or bust? This week, 300 French organizations - including startups, public bodies (French Tech, Hexatrust...), corporates (Airbus, Orange...) and tech heavyweights (OVH Cloud, Mistral AI..) dropped a “manifesto” for European tech independence. The goal? Break free from the grip of U.S. and Chinese tech superpowers and reclaim control over French data, infrastructure, and destiny.
The paper, entitled "For French and European Digital Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy" and spearheaded by the Innovation Makers Alliance (IMA), includes 33 practical recommendations to boost EU digital sovereignty, think: a European small business act, sovereign AI infrastructure, a unified cloud, and better startup-corporate matchmaking platforms.
“There are obvious threats and signs of a tech cold war,” warned IMA’s CSO Christophe Grosbost, pointing fingers at U.S. export controls on GPUs and Meta’s rollback on moderation tools in Europe. The takeaway: Europe needs to stop waiting for all 27 members to agree on a digital strategy and start building autonomy now. | Les Echos, L’Usine Digitale
☝️📊 Paris leapfrogs London as Europe’s startup capital. According to Dealroom's newly published Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2025, Paris just overtook London as the #1 startup hub in Europe — and is now fourth globally behind Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. While London still brings in more cash ($11B in 2024 vs. Paris’s $5.9B), the City of Light is growing faster in unicorns, AI talent, and enterprise value. It helps that Paris is crushing it in AI: companies like Mistral and Poolside raised mega-rounds in the last year, and schools like Polytechnique are pumping out top-tier AI grads. Plus, Macron’s decade-long push to turn France into a “startup nation” is paying off - Vive Pareee! | Sifted
☝️🛰️ From would-be astronaut to tech crusader. Maya Noël, the outspoken advocate for startups and General Delegate of France Digitale, just received one of France’s highest honors: she’s now officially a Chevalière de l’Ordre National du Mérite. A tireless voice for a more sovereign, inclusive, and human-centric tech ecosystem, Maya’s not afraid of debate. From taking selfies at her own award ceremony to wrestling policy in Brussels, she proves you can drive change and have fun doing it. Félicitations to Maya. | LinkedIn
👎🚗 No more spark: Lormauto shuts down. Lormauto, the Normandy startup known for electrifying vintage Renault Twingos, has officially been unplugged. A Caen court placed the company into liquidation this week. Despite a charming retro-futurist pitch -recycling old gas guzzlers into eco-friendly EVs - the startup ran out of runway. Sad trombone for French clean mobility. | La Tribune
Deep Dive: How DiamFab
Plans to Revolutionize Electric Vehicles and Clean Energy
Plans to Revolutionize Electric Vehicles and Clean Energy
In a modest clean room in Grenoble, France, a team of engineers is working on technology that could fundamentally transform how we manage electricity, from the power grids that light our cities to the electronics in electric vehicles.
Their secret weapon? Synthetic diamonds.
DiamFab, a spin-off from France's prestigious CNRS research institute, is betting that synthetic diamond will become the next breakthrough semiconductor material, potentially outperforming silicon carbide by a factor of 50 in key applications. With €8.7 million in funding and a pilot production line under construction, the company is racing to prove that after decades of laboratory promise, diamond semiconductors are finally ready for prime time.
As the world pours $1.8 trillion annually into the energy transition, more efficient power electronics could accelerate everything from renewable energy adoption to electric vehicle performance. Diamond's exceptional properties include the highest known thermal conductivity and an ultra-wide bandgap. That combination makes it theoretically ideal for handling high voltages and extreme temperatures that would destroy conventional semiconductors.
"The market already exists," said Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Ivan Llaurado. "We are making a technology with a new material that basically makes the same functionality, but much better."
💸 Top Funding Deals 💸
📇 Company: Veesion
🔍 Description: Detects all thefts automatically in real-time using AI-powered video analysis.
💻 Website: https://veesion.io
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Series B
💰 Amount Raised: €38 million
🏦 Investors: White Star Capital, Bpifrance, Odyssée Venture, Red River West, Founders Future, Verve Ventures
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Thibault David, Damien Menigaux, Benoit Koenig
🗞️ News: The funding will support Veesion's international expansion and further product development. | EU Startups
📇 Company: Didask
🔍 Description: Platform that allows users to create digital learning modules focused on transmitting essential knowledge.
💻 Website: https://www.didask.com
📍 HQ City: Bagnolet
🧗 Round: Late VC
💰 Amount Raised: €10 million
🏦 Investors: Atlantic Vantage Point, Takara Capital, Citizen Capital, MAIF Impact
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Arnaud Riegert, Son Ly, Philip Moore
🗞️ News: The company will expand its educational content offering and grow its customer base across the education sector. | FrenchWeb
📇 Company: TETMET
🔍 Description: Manufacturing technology for ultra-light structures using drastically less material and energy.
💻 Website: https://tetmet.net
📍 HQ City: Puteaux, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €4.5 million
🏦 Investors: Not disclosed
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Tom Vroemen
🗞️ News: The funds will be used to scale production and commercialize TETMET’s sustainable manufacturing process.
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