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🎉 VivaTech 2025 🎉

Last week, Paris hosted VivaTech 2025 at the sprawling and well-air-conditioned Porte de Versailles. With 180,000 visitors, 14,000 startups, and representatives from 171 countries, this year's edition boasted a crowded exhibition floor, some big-name guests on stage, and just a whole lotta lotta.

It also meant being asked the same question by every living soul who entered your orbit: "So, what did you think of VivaTech?"

Here was my canned answer: I have no idea. Across three days, I moderated 6 panels, hosted a roundtable in the evening at Qonto, and recorded three podcast interviews. Meanwhile, Helen emceed one of the executive stages for a marathon afternoon. We'll be writing about some of those sessions in the days to come.

But what was clear is that the 2025 edition was dominated by three main themes: AI (duh), robotics, and quantum computing.

AI was everywhere, quite literally. With over 40% of exhibitors showcasing AI-powered solutions, including the AI Avenue, sponsored by Salesforce. In this Special Edition, we'll look at two of the splashier names that made headlines at VivaTech 2025: NVIDIA and Mistral AI.

As for robots, well, there have always been novelty robots roaming VivaTech booths since the first year. But this year, there were 36 robotics companies exhibiting. Tomorrow, we'll send out a 2nd Special Edition covering robotics themes.

Finally, quantum computing is now actually a thing and not just a hope lying somewhere over the horizon. On Thursday, we'll send out a 3rd edition that gives an overview of quantum news, plus highlights on Quandela and a panel I moderated on quantum security.

And be on the lookout for our special podcast episodes, and highlights from panels on product-market fit (Superhuman), AI + Nuclear, Upway, and N26.

Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

👋 In this week's French Tech Wire Special Edition:

👀 NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang set the tone for VivaTech 2025 with his keynote that focused on quantum computing, robotics, AI, and major French partnerships.

👀 Mistral AI got high-fives from the Prez and partnerships with NVIDIA. It's good to be the VivaTech king. CEO Arthur Mensch said the latest moves will help the company fulfill its global ambitions: “The race is not over. Europe is not late. We just needed the right tools—and now we have them.”

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🚀 Tech Talk 🚀

🚨🧳 H Company announced that co-founder Charles Kantor is out as CEO and will be replaced by Gautier Cloix, the former head of Palantir France. The company cites the need for a seasoned operator to steer the next phase of scale and commercialization. Cloix, who brings decades of experience in software deployment and sensitive government contracts, is expected to bring discipline and focus to H’s expanding enterprise ambitions. The transition comes one year after the company raised a €220M Seed round, several months after 3 co-founders left amid creative differences, and about 1 week after the company publicly launched its first product suite. | PR, Sifted, Maddyness

⚽📉 Sorare, once the darling of French Tech with a record $680M raise and superstar backers like Mbappé and Messi, is now grappling with a harsh market reality. The NFT-powered fantasy football platform saw its net revenue plunge nearly 70% in just two years, from €143M in 2022 to a projected €42M in 2025, according to an exclusive story in L'Informé. Despite flashy deals with the Premier League and NBA, the startup is bleeding cash, burning €10M a month, and posting a €100M loss last year. Sorare is slashing costs, renegotiating licenses, and cutting staff, with hopes of halving losses by next year. Sorare's valuation has reportedly plummeted to just €200M. | L'Informé

🐛🧑‍🌾 French agritech startup Ÿnsect announced another round of deep layoffs, cutting nearly 70% of its staff as it battles financial headwinds. The company is also halting construction of its massive vertical insect farm in Amiens — once touted as the world’s largest — to preserve cash. After raising over €450 million in funding and riding the wave of sustainable protein hype, Ÿnsect is now scrambling to restructure and refocus as it attempts to avoid total liquidation. It plans to prioritize higher-margin markets like pet food and specialty animal nutrition while scaling back its original ambitions. | Sifted, Les Echos

🔒🔑 France's cybersecurity startup scene continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace, according to the 2025 Cybersecurity Startup Radar by Bpifrance and Wavestone. The report identifies 179 startups and 46 scale-ups, with 43 new entrants this year, highlighting a trend towards innovation and international expansion. Notably, 53% of these startups have integrated AI into their offerings, and 15 are developing solutions to secure AI applications. Investment in the sector has increased to €289 million, spread across 19 funding rounds, indicating a concentration of capital in fewer companies. Additionally, the ecosystem is seeing early signs of consolidation, with eight startups acquired over the past year, suggesting a maturing market poised for further growth. | Bpifrance

🇫🇷🛍️ The French government doubled down on its “Je choisis la French Tech” initiative, announcing over €1 billion in purchases from startups by major French corporates, a symbolic boost for a sector grappling with dried-up funding. The message was clear: to build tech sovereignty, big players like EDF, Orange, and Capgemini must become anchor customers for homegrown innovation. Prime Minister François Bayrou said the strategy is already showing results, with 12,000 startup-corporate connections made, and flagship deals like Mistral AI’s €100M logistics partnership with CMA CGM or Sweep’s ESG work with Orange. Public institutions are joining in too, with 10,000 civil servants soon to be equipped with Mistral’s AI assistant, Le Chat. | FrenchWeb

🤖🗳️ With the Socialist primary for Paris mayor looming on June 30, Emmanuel Grégoire is making waves by betting big on AI to position himself as the tech-forward candidate for Paris. His flagship proposal: A “Station AI” in Porte de la Chapelle. The massive innovation hub would be modeled after Station F, designed to support AI startups and democratize tech through public training, events, and ethical governance. Grégoire also wants to name a Chief AI Officer, roll out a municipal “Small Business Act” to favor startups in public procurement, and equip 60,000 city workers with AI skills to slash bureaucracy and boost productivity. His vision for Paris blends civic tech with social justice, aiming to make the capital a counter-model to Silicon Valley by anchoring innovation in the public interest. | Maddyness

🗞️ Exploration vs. Exploitation: Knowing When You're Ready to Scale | James Saulsky of French Tech Updates has a good write-up from VivaTech on a panel featuring Gabriel Hubert from Dust and Jaime Castello from Shakers, who discussed the strategies and tactics they’ve used to grow their companies, and the mistakes made along the way. | French Tech Updates

VivaTech 2025: NVIDIA's Jensen Huang
On Robots, Quantum Computing, And The AI Revolution

In a highly anticipated keynote that featured everything from a dancing robot to quantum computing, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang painted a sweeping vision of an AI-driven industrial revolution during his first-ever GTC presentation in Paris at VivaTech last week.

The leather-jacket-clad tech executive used the French stage to announce significant developments across three key areas: quantum computing acceleration, next-generation robotics, and a major commitment to France's AI competitiveness through new partnerships and infrastructure investments.

Following the keynote, Huang joined President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch for a conversation. Huang praised France's ambition as a model for other nations to follow.

"You cannot afford to outsource your intelligence," Huang told Macron during their on-stage conversation. "The intelligence of your country encodes and embeds your people's knowledge, history, culture, common sense, and values. That is the definition of intelligence, and that intelligence cannot be outsourced. I believe I should develop my own intelligence. I believe that I can't rely on somebody else to develop my intelligence. This is something I have to do myself. It is the same for the country."

VivaTech 2025: Mistral AI Gets Cozy With NVIDIA

To the surprise of almost no one, France's great AI hopeful Mistral AI was the belle of the VivaTech 2025 ball, making a flurry of high-stakes announcements that it hopes will solidify its position as an ambitious global contender.

From launching a powerful reasoning model to forging a landmark partnership with NVIDIA to build sovereign AI infrastructure, Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch found himself on stage on Day 1 where he was showered with praise by the likes of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and treated to hossanahs by President Emmanuel Macron who dubbed the partnership between the two companies "historic."

For his part, Mensch seemed ready to accept the role as Europe's AI standard bearer.

“We are building not just models, but the infrastructure for sovereign, open, high-performance AI in Europe,” Mensch told the VivaTech audience. “This is about ensuring our values, our autonomy, and our capacity to innovate.”

💸 Top Funding Deals 💸

📇 Company: Knave
🔍 Description: Simply integrate a differentiating and profitable electric vehicle rental service into your business
💻 Website: http://knave.eu
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Late VC
💰 Amount Raised: €100m
🏦 Investor: XIFU Capita
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Jerome Beillevaire
🗞️ News: Les Echos

📇 Company: Wandercraft
🔍 Description: Developer of robotic wheelchairs for people with disabilities
💻 Website: wandercraft.eu
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Late VC
💰 Amount Raised: €65.6m
🏦 Investor: Renault Group
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Nicolas Simon, Alexander Boulanger, Jean Louis Constanza, Alexandre Boulanger
🗞️ News: Medical Device Network

📇 Company: Look Up Space
🔍 Description: Space safety platform using persistent sensing and advanced data processing
💻 Website: lookupspace.com
📍 HQ City: Toulouse
🧗 Round: Series A
💰 Amount Raised: €50m (including €11.0m debt and €15.0m subsidies)
🏦 Investors: MIG Capital, ETF Partners, Karista, EIC Fund, Expansion Ventures, Leadwind
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Juan Carlos Dolado Pérez, Michel Friedling (Gen. R.)
🗞️ News: Copernical

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