E-commerce bill gets watered down, Brussels rolls out startup reforms, Alan shakes up public health coverage, crypto kidnappings surge, OVNI raises €60M for weird startups, layoffs hit OpenClassrooms, and Bpifrance celebrates 10 years of big bets.
As France prepares for a Senate vote on June 10, concerns mount over a weakened “fast fashion” bill. Once hailed as a bold step toward sustainable textiles, recent amendments risk undermining its impact and allowing ultra-fast fashion giants to continue unchecked.
Didask thinks so. Plus: France bags €17B in new foreign AI investments led by NVIDIA, Cisco, and Brookfield. PhotoRoom makes its first acquisition, Qubit & Sorbonne unveil a game-changing chemistry AI, and new funding floods into startups, including Veesion and Didask.
Other startups that raised a round between May 19 and May 23 include: SeqOne, Memority, Tilt Energy, TETMET, TamTam, Ensweet, PyxiScience, Feedgy, and Kumulus.
Didask just raised €10M to revamp the world of corporate training and make e-learning actually work. With AI that thinks like a teacher (not a robot) and lessons that stick, the French startup is out to prove that real learning beats pretty slides every time.
DiamFab bets big on diamond semiconductors to power EVs and clean energy, Paris overtakes London as Europe’s top startup hub, 300 orgs push for digital sovereignty, Maya Noël honored for tech advocacy, and Veesion leads funding with a €38M AI theft detection raise.
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.
Exclusively for Paid Subscribers: The latest filings for new AI-related companies in France, plus AI startups selected for incubators and accelerators.
Dailymotion buys Mojo, a French AI-powered video creation app. Greenbids joins Perion Network for sustainable advertising. AI tracks surge on Deezer, while Atos unveils a €500M AI plan. Jean Zay supercomputer gets a power boost, and Le Monde partners with Perplexity AI.
Backed by €40 million in funding, CEO Khaled Maalej believes the company is set to disrupt the AI hardware market with its Jotunn8 chip, leveraging a fabless model and advanced chiplet architecture to slash the cost of deploying large language models and generative AI at scale.
Other startups that raised a round between May 12 and May 16 include: Plakar, Alta Ares, and Legapass.
Devialet faces severe financial losses, while Alice & Bob plans a $50M quantum lab. Younited acquires eco-friendly neobank Helios, and BlaBlaCar expands into train ticket sales.
Dero is reshaping secondhand shopping in France by aggregating 65+ trusted marketplaces into one interface. With 150,000 users and a new mobile app, Dero wants to make buying used simple, secure, better for your wallet -- and the planet.
Also: Meet Gigi, an AI matchmaker that scrapes your digital footprint to recommend connections for business, networking, and dating -- whether you asked it to or not. The Black Mirror-esque platform, already backed by Sequoia, OpenAI, and Monashees.
Despite government initiatives and the Paris Summit, France's AI startup ecosystem is struggling to secure funding in 2025, raising just $372 million so far compared to $2.8 billion in 2024. With fewer big rounds and declining deal volume, France lags behind the UK and Germany in AI investment.
Only 4 startups raised from May 5 to May 9 amid the slow French holiday season.
