Welcome to our weekly French AI newsletter. Subscribe now to get full access to company launches, new products, exclusive interviews, research, and deals.

Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

Headlines

🗞️ LightOn became Europe's first public generative AI company, listing on the Euronext Growth market in Paris with its November 21st IPO. The company raised €11.9 million for a market cap of €62 million - above the initial €50 million target. Individual investors showed particularly strong enthusiasm, contributing €8.9 million of the total raised. Despite the relatively small size, it's a major milestone for co-CEOs Igor Carron and Laurent Daudet who had spent almost a decade building the company, starting as a hardware AI technology before pivoting to GenAI. The company's shares will begin trading on November 26th under the ticker ALTAI-FR. See our breakdown of the IPO filing here:

🗞️ Enigmatic GenAI startup H, which raised $220m earlier this year in early-stage funding (as one does), is starting to poke its head above ground. The company launched ‘Runner H,’ its first product. Runner H is an AI-driven tool designed for “agentic” applications, promising groundbreaking user autonomy. Runner H is tailored for businesses seeking intelligent automation, offering flexible and adaptive functionalities. Meanwhile, the company is reportedly on the hunt for more cash, CEO Charles Kantor said in an interview. | TechCrunch, Fortune, EuroNews

See our coverage of Kantor speaking earlier this month at ai-Pulse 2024:

🗞️ France's efforts to establish itself as Europe's premier AI hub got some mixed reviews. On one hand, Stanford HAI AI Index, released its Global AI Vibrancy Tool findings, which ranked France 6th out of 36 countries globally – and only behind the UK in Europe.

A separate ranking from research center StartupBlink placed France at 9th – behind the UK, Estonia, and Germany in Europe.

🗞️ Mistral AI unveiled Pixtral Large, a 124B parameter model integrated into its new Le Chat platform, offering capabilities like image processing, document understanding, real-time coding, artwork generation, web search, and automation. The release is free and open-source, showcasing advanced features such as PDF analysis, Black Forest Labs' FLUX1.1-powered image generation, and tools for repetitive task automation. However, some debate its frontier status, as benchmarks suggest smaller models like Alibaba Cloud's Qwen2-VL 72B may outperform Pixtral Large in efficiency and key metrics. Recent trends in AI research highlight that efficiency, rather than sheer model size, drives innovation, exemplified by compact models like HuggingFace's SmolM2. | The Neuron, Mistral AI

🗞️ RESILIENCE acquired GIMLI, a startup specializing in AI solutions for cancer treatment. This deal aims to enhance AI integration in healthcare, providing better diagnostic and therapeutic tools. With this acquisition, RESILIENCE plans to streamline cancer treatment workflows, offering more personalized patient care. | FrenchWeb

🗞️ Thales’ "Friendly Hackers" team unveiled new metamorphic security technology, a cutting-edge AI solution that adapts to cyber threats in real-time. The innovation combats deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation. | Thales

🗞️ Meta adds AI features in Europe to its AR Ray-Ban glasses, including voice interaction and real-time contextual assistance. The AI capabilities enable hands-free tasks such as answering questions, managing schedules, and navigating urban environments. | TechCrunch, Meta

🗞️ France is working hard to rally support for its AI Summit in February. AI Minister Clara Chappaz was in San Francisco last week for the inaugural meeting of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. Speaking at events and to local tech companies, Chappaz touted the conference as a critical gathering for the global community. On LinkedIn, she disclosed that she had met with Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Databricks, Anthropic, Plug and Play Tech Center, Perplexity, Adobe, and Sequoia Capital. Meanwhile, her boss, Emmanuel Macron, said he hopes that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be at the AI jamboree. “I invited China, the United States, and the big countries that are involved,” Macron said. | Axios, Le Parisien

🗞️ ChapsVision, the Silent French Tech Ninja, has struck again. The little-known company flexed its acquisition muscles, snapping up AI search firm Sinequa and raising €85 million to turbocharge its ambitions in artificial intelligence. ChapsVision has been quietly amassing an empire since its inception in 2019 by devouring niche B2B tech companies. Dubbed the "discreet ogre" of French Tech by Les Echos, this marks the 27 acquisition by the company. The €85 million funding boost came from Cathay Capital and Bpifrance.

Meet Our Sponsor

AI Funding News

📇 Company: Freqens
🔍 Description: Advanced intelligence platform that transforms B2B negotiations, empowering finance teams and buyers to lead confidently
💻 Website: https://www.freqens.com
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: SEED
💰 Amount: €2.73M
🏦 Investors: Kima Ventures; Financière Saint James; Motier Ventures; Better Angle; Purple; Seedcamp; Notion Capital; Roxanne VARZA; Alexandre Berriche; Mark Ransford; Alexandre Yazdi; Will Neale; Maxime Brousse; Jonathan Widawski.
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Maxime Liebens, Richard Gozlan and Alexandre Barreira
🗞️ News: https://www.maddyness.com/2024/11/21/b2b-freqens-leve-3-millions-deuros-pour-aider-les-entreprises-a-acheter-au-juste-prix/

📇 Company: Primaa
🔍 Description: Developing AI-based software for histological diagnoses, improving a vital step in the detection of cancer
💻 Website: https://www.primaalab.com
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: EARLY VC
💰 Amount raised: €5.0M
🏦 Investors: Cenitz; Leia Capital
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Stéphane Sockeel; Stephane Sockeel; Fanny SOCKEEL MASSART; Marie Sockeel
🗞️ News: https://www.frenchweb.fr/primaa-leve-5-millions-deuros-et-mise-sur-une-detection-ultra-ciblee-des-cancers/449926

📇 Company: ChapsVision
🔍 Description: Building software solutions that empower businesses and organizations by putting their data at the heart of customer engagement
💻 Website: https://www.chapsvision.com/
📍 HQ City: Suresnes
🧗 Round: LATE VC
💰 Amount raised: €85.0M
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance; Tikehau Capital; Jolt Capital; Qualium Investissement; GENEO Capital Entrepreneur
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Olivier Dellenbach
🗞️ News: https://sifted.eu/articles/chapsvision-85m-fundraise-interview

📇 Company: Linkup
🔍 Description: Connects AIs to the internet
💻 Website: http://linkup.so
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: EARLY VC
💰 Amount raised: €3.0M
🏦 Investors: Kima Ventures; Seedcamp; Y Combinator; Axeleo Capital; Financière Saint James; Motier Ventures
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Boris Toledano; Philippe Mizrahi; Denis Charrier
🗞️ News: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/motierventures_b2b-procurement-ai-activity-7265278325814702080-U2xO/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

📇 Company: Eden AI
🔍 Description: Develops an aggregator of artificial intelligence solutions for developers.
💻 Website: htpts://www.edenai.co
📍 HQ City: Lyon
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount raised: €3 million
🏦 Investors: Galion.exe, business angels including Olivier Pomel (Datadog), Sébastien Pahl (Docker), and Alix de Sagazan.
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Taha Zemmour

📇 Company: Pruna AI
🔍 Description: AI model optimization with a powerful engine for enhanced performance and efficiency.
💻 Website: http://pruna.ai/
📍 HQ City: Munich and Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount raised: €6.2M
🏦 Investors: EQT, Daphni, Motier Ventures, Kima Ventures, business angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Bertrand Charpentier (French founder); Stephan Günnemann; Rayan Nait Mazi (Paris based); John Rachwan
🗞️ News: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/motierventures_ai-machinelearning-optimization-activity-7264236995546157056-fzrx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

📇 Company: AIA Sports
🔍 Description: The first solution for analyzing data by athletes for athletes, AIA Sports produces and disseminates accurate and understandable statistics.
💻 Website: https://www.aiasports.fr/
📍 HQ City: Bidart
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount raised: €1.5M
🏦 Investors: Business Angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Thomas Lièvremont

📇 Company: Haiku
🔍 Description: AI and data for lawyers
💻 Website: https://haiku.fr/
📍 HQ City: Bordeaux
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount raised: €900,000
🏦 Investors: Newfund, business angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Jean Marcel Touzet; GUILLAUME PELLION
🗞️ News: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7264928407895916544/

📇 Company: Upfund
🔍 Description: Optimizes real estate decisions with ultra-precise geospatial insights using data and AI.
💻 Website: https://www.upfundpro.com
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount raised: €1.3M
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance, Maroc Numeric Fund,
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Mehdi Bakkali; Bereme Lardjane; Mohamed Ali Ag Ibrahim
🗞️ News: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7265369504392654849/

Events

📆 AWS GenAI Day France | November 25 | A free event that brings together the French GenAI community to connect, collaborate, and be at the forefront of the latest innovations around generative AI. The event is aimed at technology specialists from all sectors and skill levels who want to discover how generative AI can help them innovate quickly and deliver flexible and reliable solutions at scale. During the afternoon, AWS will offer you thematic tracks (Business/Industries, Technology, Startups) as well as a closing cocktail. Throughout the day, you will be able to discover AWS demos, innovative GenAI startup stands, "Ask an Expert" sessions, and partner stands. The event will be broadcast online for remote participants. | Information

📆 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing | November 25 | The International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers, and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Development in Science and Technology. | Tickets

📆 Senate Law Commission AI Hearing | November 26 at 4 p.m. |Clara Chappaz, AI Minister of France, will address the French Senate committee and respond to questions. | Watch Live

📆 AI Hack Night | November 26, 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM | Join Weaviate, Koyeb, Weights & Biases, Inngest, and Neon for the first Hack Night at Station F! Work on a series of technical challenges, win prizes, and meet other AI developers and builders! | RSVP

📆 Data Centre World Paris | November 27 & 28 | The event brings together a community of data center professionals, including decision-makers, technical experts, and innovative solution providers. | Register

📆 Big Data & AI World | November 27 & 28 | Register

📆 SOPHI.A Summit | November 27 to 29, 2024 | At the heart of the European cradle of innovation, SOPHI.A Antipolis, international experts and leading companies will bring their thoughts and research on AI-related themes such as health, images, ethics, management, and GenAI. | Information

📆 GenAI Days Paris édition #2 | November 28 | A conference focusing on feedback on the applications of Generative AI. | Tickets

📆 apidays Paris 2024 | December 3 to 5 | Apidays Paris 2024 is also home of our other sister conferences GENERATIONAI focusing on AI-related topics and GREENIO, addressing IT sustainability. | Tickets

📆 AI and Art: Towards a New Era of Creativity | December 10 | Nice | AI is no longer content to be a creative tool: it is becoming a cultural actor capable of generating, transforming, and inspiring new forms of expression while questioning the role of the artist, the creative process and even the definition of art. This conference offers an essential reflection on these mutations, in a quest for dialogue between technological innovation and human authenticity. | EuropIA Institute

📆 RAISE Summit 2025 | July 8-9, 2025 | RAISE Summit is the premier event for professionals seeking to disrupt, build, and connect in the AI landscape. This summit is the ultimate destination to validate AI strategies through real-world use cases, define a winning AI playbook, and find the right partners to deliver cutting-edge solutions. | Register

👋🏻 If you’re enjoying The French Tech Journal, support the project by forwarding it to friends and sharing it on your social networks. You can also comment on this post. And if you have ideas for stories, tips, or just want to harass us, shoot us an email: chris@frenchtechjournal.com / helen@frenchtechjournal.com 👋🏻‌