France startup ecosystem
France has rapidly risen in the European startup rankings, driven by bold government initiatives like La French Tech and the world's largest startup campus, Station F. Paris is a powerhouse for deep tech, AI, and cleantech, supported by a strong scientific research base and increasing private VC investment. A growing pool of serial entrepreneurs is helping the ecosystem mature. The directory currently lists 269 organisations across 30 cities.
Showing 1–20 of 269 France
Cities in France
Types in France
France results
-
1Kubator
Founded in 2015 by Alexandre Fourtoy. 1Kubator is a private incubator network in 10+ cities that forms startups from scratch in a 10-month program, and provides pre-seed funding typically €15K-€35K (often around €25K for about 10% equity) via the 1KVEST fund managed by Phitrust Impact Investors. Supported 500+ entrepreneurs. Scope: National.
-
360 Capital
360 Capital is a French-Italian venture capital firm founded in 2006, with offices in Paris and Milan. The firm manages approximately EUR 700M and invests from seed through growth stage, focusing on deep tech, industrial automation, cybersecurity, and enterprise software. 360 Capital has backed unicorns including Exotec (warehouse robotics), as well as Sigfox, Believe, and Scality. Led by partners with deep operational backgrounds, the firm provides strategic support in scaling hardware-software businesses and navigating European industrial ecosystems.
-
42
42 is a tuition-free, project-based computer-science school founded by Xavier Niel in 2013, with its flagship campus in Paris and a global network of over 50 campuses across more than 30 countries. The school has no teachers, no classes, and no formal degrees — students progress through a peer-driven, gamified curriculum tackling C, systems programming, web, AI, and DevOps projects. With more than 25,000 active students worldwide and a selection bootcamp (the Piscine) that admits applicants without prior coding experience, 42 has become a major pipeline of engineering talent into the European startup ecosystem and a structural piece of France's tech-skills infrastructure.
-
50 Partners
Founded 2012 by 50 entrepreneurs. Accelerator offering hands-on mentorship and seed investment for tech, impact, and healthtech ventures; the mentor network includes founders behind BlaBlaCar, Le Bon Coin, and Showroomprivé. Support: equity investment, mentorship, Paris workspace. Scope: National.
-
Adrien Montfort
Co-founder and former CTO of Sorare, building the blockchain-based fantasy-sports platform he started with Nicolas Julia in 2018.
-
Adrien Nussenbaum
Co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl, leading the marketplace-software company's US and global expansion. He co-founded the company with Philippe Corrot after an earlier e-commerce venture.
-
Agoranov
Agoranov is a Paris-based public incubator founded in 2000 by a consortium of universities and research institutions. It supports science- and technology-intensive startups, often spun out of academic labs, and has backed 400+ startups that raised €1.5B+ and created 10,000+ jobs. Program: office space in central Paris, a 6-month renewable incubation program with tailored mentorship, research access, grant support, and investor introductions. As a public-interest incubator, Agoranov is equity-free and funded by French public institutions and the City of Paris. Unicorn alumni: - Doctolib - Alan - Criteo
-
AI Tech & Startup Night — Paris (February 2026)
Grassroots networking meetup in Paris for early-stage AI founders, angels, and local builders. Smaller format designed for candid conversations, quick pitches, and co-founder or talent discovery in the pre-seed ecosystem.
-
ai-PULSE 2026
A one-day technical AI conference organised by cloud provider Scaleway at Station F in Paris, dedicated to AI breakthroughs, research and product demonstrations for leaders and engineers. The event spotlights frontier models, infrastructure and applied AI for the European ecosystem.
-
Aircall
Aircall is a Paris-based fintech-adjacent software company founded in 2014 that provides a cloud-based business phone and call-centre platform, integrating voice calling with CRM and helpdesk tools and adding AI-powered conversation intelligence. It serves sales and support teams at thousands of companies and reached unicorn status in 2021.
-
Aktantis
Aktantis is a world-class European deeptech competitiveness cluster founded in 2005 and based in Sophia Antipolis, France, federating an innovation ecosystem focused on digital transition across microelectronics, IoT, cybersecurity, AI, and photonics. With over 300 member organizations, Aktantis supports companies through project financing, growth acceleration, international expansion, and cybersecurity protection, with member startups collectively raising over 500 million euros in funding and investing 1.5 billion euros in R&D. The cluster participates as a partner in SIDO Lyon as part of its European deeptech ecosystem development mission.
-
Alan
Alan is a Paris-based health insurance and digital health platform founded in 2016 by Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve (CEO) and Charles Gorintin (CTO) — the only new independent health insurer licensed in France since 1986. It combines group and individual health insurance with a mobile super-app offering reimbursements, telemedicine, mental-health support (Alan Clinic) and Mo, an AI health assistant delivering doctor-reviewed answers. By early 2026 Alan served over one million members across France, Belgium, Spain and Canada, with €785M ARR in 2025 (up 53%) and operational profitability in France. Alan has raised roughly €754M across eight rounds. It reached unicorn status in 2021 with a €185M Series D led by Coatue, and in March 2026 a €100M Series G led by Index Ventures — a backer since its Series A — valued the company at €5bn. Other investors include Temasek, Teachers' Venture Growth, Coatue, Lakestar, Partech, Belfius and DST Global.
-
ALBUPAD
Developed a proprietary biomaterial made from albumin — fully biocompatible and biodegradable — engineered for next-generation drug delivery and tissue engineering, with natural tumour tropism and built-in imaging visibility. Founded 2023.
-
Alex Kaluzny
Alex Kaluzny serves as Chief Technology Officer at Doctolib, one of Europe's foremost digital health unicorns, where he leads engineering and technical architecture for a platform used by over 80 million patients across France, Germany, and Italy. In this role he drives the company's technology strategy including its expansion into AI-assisted clinical tools and cross-border healthcare services. He is a prominent figure in the European health technology ecosystem and a recognised speaker on digital health innovation and enterprise technology at European policy forums.
-
Alexandre Lebrun
Co-founder and CEO of Nabla, the clinical-AI assistant for clinicians. A repeat AI founder, he previously built VirtuOz and Wit.ai (acquired by Facebook) and led conversational-AI research at Meta.
-
Alexandre Prot
Co-founder and CEO of Qonto, the business-banking platform for SMEs and freelancers he co-founded in 2016. He scaled it into one of Europe's most valuable fintechs, backed by Tiger, TCV and Alven.
-
Alven
Alven is an independent Paris-based venture capital firm founded in 2000 by Guillaume Aubin and Charles Letourneur, making it one of the oldest and most established VC institutions in France. The firm manages €2 billion in assets under management across six successive funds, with its latest fund closing at €350 million in 2022. Alven focuses on seed through Series B investments across B2B software, fintech, marketplaces, developer tools, and consumer technology, predominantly backing French and European startups. Notable unicorn investments include Qonto, Dataiku, and Algolia, alongside a broader portfolio of 164 companies that includes Ankorstore, OpenClassrooms, Happn, and Meero.
-
Ankorstore
Ankorstore is a Paris-based B2B wholesale marketplace founded in 2019 that connects independent brands and makers with independent retailers across Europe, handling discovery, ordering, payment terms and logistics. It aims to help local shops compete with large chains and reached unicorn status in 2022.
-
Aqemia
Aqemia is a Paris-based pharmatech company building an AI-driven drug discovery platform that combines quantum-inspired physics and machine learning to generate and prioritise novel drug candidates at scale. Founded in 2019 by quantum physics researcher Maximilien Levesque and former BCG consultant Emmanuelle Martiano, the company aims to design new molecules faster and cheaper than traditional methods. It raised a 60M euro Series A and later a $38M round led by Cathay Innovation in December 2024, bringing total funding past $100 million as it moves toward clinical trials and global expansion, including a London office.
-
Arcads
Arcads is an AI-powered platform for creating video advertisements, primarily UGC-style ads featuring AI actors and avatars. Users provide a script, choose or customise an avatar, and the platform generates polished video ads with localisation across 30+ languages. It targets performance marketers, direct-to-consumer brands, and marketing agencies. Founded in 2024 by Dylan Fournier and Romain Torres, the company raised a $16 million seed round in December 2025 led by Eurazeo and said it was already profitable, with more than half of its users based in the United States.
