31 December: It's time for a tech yearbook moment. In 2025, French tech saw big AI ambitions collide with funding reality, sovereignty and cybersecurity concerns, and a year that felt a little less euphoric, and a lot more grown-up.
As 2025 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back in articles at what has been an epic but turbulent year for French tech.
As 2025 closes, BetterTech founder James Martin warns that the race to deploy AI is stripping away vital safeguards. Also: Yann LeCun finds a CEO, French retail investors are using more AI, and Hugging Face ships more robots.
James Martin, founder of BetterTech and the FrugalAI training course on the impact of AI argues that in the rush to win the AI race, too many guardrails are being dismantled. As the Year of AI winds down, Martin surveys the growing risks.
Between Dec 15 and Dec 19, French Tech startups raising money included SkillCorner, NanoXplore, Ankar, Club Employés, Arcads.ai, Helios, Lucis, Agreenculture, Edailabs, Miura Simulation, Ublo, Cube, and Drama Studios.
Mistral AI raising a bajillion euros? Unicorns rising and falling? Whatever. Nobody in French techland had a bigger year than the small but mighty Sandfall Interactive studio, whose indie game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 became a global smash. Also: Verkor powers up its gigafactory dreams.
The Montpellier-based studio stunned the industry when Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept The Game Awards with a record nine wins. It is French tech's biggest global success of the year, proving that a small French studio can outperform the industry's biggest players.
UMA believes Europe—not Silicon Valley—is the best place to build the robots of tomorrow. LightOn's revenue prospects grow dim. France's defense and security are all about sovereignty when it comes to AI. Except when they are not. And an un-AI commercial goes viral for being, well, not AI.
A new French startup believes Europe—not Silicon Valley—is the best place to build the robots of tomorrow.
Between Dec 8 and Dec 12, French Tech startups raising money included Evertrust, Slash Intérim, GetMint, Corma, Monomeris Chemicals, Hocoia, Keria, and Onsen.
The insect protein company was finally marked for liquidation $625 million later. Hexa gets a house in SF. Clara Chappaz scores a digital government trifecta. Slash Intérim CEO Emma Capton reveals her strategy to reinvent temp work.
Emma Capron, Founder & CEO of Slash Intérim, felt the temp-work sector had been stuck in a time capsule. She decided to jailbreak it. Revenues doubled last year, and the company just raised €6M.
Special aiPulse edition: Gradium emerges from stealth with a €60M seed to make real-time voice the global AI interface. Yann LeCun exits Meta to chase world models, warning that Silicon Valley’s ChatGPT obsession is blinding it to the next revolution, and Paris may lead it.
The legendary AI scientist left Meta to build world models. He says Silicon Valley is too hypnotized by ChatGPT to see what's coming next.
The Paris startup, spun out of research lab Kyutai, just emerged from stealth with a $60M seed round to become the global foundation layer for real-time voice interactions.
Between Dec 1 and Dec 5, French Tech startups raising money included Gradium, Axoltis Pharma, Spark Cleantech, Bitstack, Innerskin, Ray studios, 2501.ai, ECAIR, Veragrow, Basalt, ReSoil, Kimialys, Minitap, ROB’OCC, Arrago, Annette, Néosylva, BiPER Therapeutics, and Vulgaroo.
