🧮 Data Point: Mind The Gap

France keeps talking about closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. And, slowly, very slowly, it’s happening. Women now account for 39% of business creations, and their startups survive just as well as men’s, with 7 in 10 still alive after five years. This is according to la 3ème édition du Baromètre sur l’entrepreneuriat des femmes en France published by the Direction générale des Entreprises (DGE) with Bpifrance based on a survey of 5,000 entrepreneurs by Ifop.

Female micro-entrepreneurs actually outlast their male peers (45% vs. 36%). But the pipeline still leaks: only 23% of women report strong exposure to entrepreneurship, compared with 34% of men, which helps explain why fewer consider launching a company in the first place. Access to money and support also lags, with just 32% of female founders receiving external funding, compared with 40% of men. Some good news: women are inching into tech leadership too, now making up 20% of CEOs or co-founders in the French Tech Next40/120.

💸 Weekly Funding Recap: March 13

📇 Company: Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI)
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning
🔍 Description: AMI is a frontier AI company developing “world models” — AI systems capable of understanding real-world environments, maintaining persistent memory, reasoning about cause and effect, and planning actions over time. Its technology aims to move AI beyond generative outputs toward reliable intelligent systems that can operate safely in complex real-world contexts.
💻 Website: AMI
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €890M
🏦 Investors: Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, Jeff Bezos Expeditions, Toyota Ventures, Temasek, SBVA, NVIDIA, Mark Cuban, Association Familiale Mulliez, Groupe industriel Marcel Dassault, Sea, Alpha Intelligence Capital, Eric Schmidt, Aglaé Lab, ZEBOX Ventures, Artémis, Xavier Niel, Publicis Groupe, Samsung, Bpifrance, Jim Breyer, Tim Berners-Lee, Mark Leslie
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Alexandre LeBrun, Yann LeCun, Saining Xie, Pascale Fung
🗞️ News: Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI) has raised $1.03B in funding at a $3.5B pre-money valuation to develop next-generation AI systems based on “world models.” The company aims to build AI capable of understanding environments, reasoning about cause and effect, maintaining long-term memory, and planning actions reliably in real-world contexts. The global company operates across Paris, New York, Montreal, and Singapore and brings together leading AI researchers and experienced entrepreneurs. Chaired by Turing Award laureate Yann LeCun and led by CEO Alexandre LeBrun, AMI will use the funding to support long-term research, expand global hiring, and develop reliable AI systems designed to operate safely beyond purely digital environments. | The French Tech Journal

📇 Company: Alan
🏷️ Sectors: FinTech, InsurTech, AI & Machine Learning
🔍 Description: Alan is a French digital health insurance provider offering a fully digital platform for corporate health coverage. The company provides health insurance, employee benefits, and healthcare services through a user-friendly app designed for companies and public organizations. By integrating insurance management, telemedicine, and health services, Alan aims to modernize employer-provided healthcare and simplify access to care for employees.
💻 Website: Alan
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €100M
🏦 Investors: Index Ventures, Belfius, Greenoaks, Kaaf Investments, SH Capital, Business Angels, Antoine Griezmann
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Charles Gorintin
🗞️ News: Alan has raised €100M in a new funding round that values the company at €5B. The round follows a €173M financing completed about 18 months earlier and was described as opportunistic due to strong investor demand. The InsurTech also announced that it reached profitability in France in 2025 while continuing to invest in international expansion. Alan now serves more than 1 million members and 37,000 companies and public organizations, including clients such as Kiabi, Veepee, the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Cour des comptes, and the French Civil Aviation Authority. The company reported €785M in ARR in 2025, up 53% year-over-year, and aims to surpass €1B in recurring revenue. With recent expansion into Canada and plans to enter another market by 2027, Alan intends to use the new funding to pursue acquisitions and accelerate its global growth. | Maddyness, FrenchWeb

📇 Company: Calogena
🏷️ Sectors: Energy, DeepTech
🔍 Description: Calogena develops small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) specifically designed to produce low-carbon heat for district heating networks. Its compact nuclear “boiler” aims to decarbonize urban heating systems by replacing fossil-fuel-based heat generation with a reliable and scalable nuclear solution.
💻 Website: Calogena
📍 HQ City: Aix-en-Provence
🧗 Round: Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €52M
🏦 Investors: Groupe Gorgé, SNEF, Banque des Territoires, France 2030
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Julien Dereux, Raphaël Gorgé
🗞️ News: Calogena has secured nearly €100M in financing to accelerate the development and industrialization of its nuclear SMR technology designed for district heating networks. The funding combines €48M in public support from the France 2030 program—following earlier grants—and a capital increase backed by Groupe Gorgé, SNEF, Banque des Territoires, and other investors. Founded in 2021 as a subsidiary of Groupe Gorgé, the company focuses on deploying compact nuclear reactors to deliver low-carbon heat at scale. The financing will support completion of the reactor’s detailed design phase and preparation of regulatory approvals, with the goal of launching the first projects in France and Europe and enabling deployment from around 2030. | PR

📇 Company: Jimmy Energy
🏷️ Sectors: Energy, DeepTech
🔍 Description: Jimmy Energy is a French deeptech startup developing nuclear micro-reactors designed to produce decarbonized industrial heat. Its thermal nuclear generators aim to replace gas-powered boilers at industrial sites, addressing a major yet often overlooked source of energy consumption in industry.
💻 Website: Jimmy Energy
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €40M
🏦 Investors: Crédit Mutuel Impact, Ademe Investissement, Serena, France 2030
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Antoine Guyot, Mathilde Grivet
🗞️ News: Jimmy Energy has secured €80M to accelerate the development of its nuclear micro-reactors for industrial heat production. The financing includes a €40M equity round led by Crédit Mutuel Impact with participation from Ademe Investissement and existing investor Serena, alongside €40M in public funding through France 2030. Founded to decarbonize industrial heat—which is still largely produced using gas—the startup focuses on deploying compact nuclear heat generators rather than electricity-producing SMRs, using proven nuclear technologies to improve economic viability. The funds will support detailed reactor design and preparation for its first deployment at the Cristanol industrial site in Bazancourt, with construction targeted for the end of the decade and commissioning expected in the early 2030s. | Maddyness

📇 Company: Waiv
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning, BioTech
🔍 Description: Waiv is a Paris-based healthtech startup developing AI-powered diagnostic tests in oncology. Its algorithms analyze digital pathology images of tumors to identify biomarkers and better characterize cancers, enabling more precise patient stratification and treatment selection. The company emerged as a spin-out from Owkin’s diagnostics unit.
💻 Website: Waiv
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €28.9M
🏦 Investors: OTB Ventures, Alpha Intelligence Capital, Serena, Karista, Sista Fund
👨💼👩💼 Founder: Meriem Sefta
🗞️ News: Waiv has raised $33M to accelerate the development and deployment of AI-driven diagnostic tests in oncology. Led by OTB Ventures and Alpha Intelligence Capital, the round also includes Serena Data Ventures, Karista, and Sista Fund. Waiv originated as Owkin DX within the AI biotech Owkin before becoming an independent spin-out, with Owkin retaining a minority stake. The company develops algorithms that analyze microscopic tumor images to detect biomarkers and improve cancer patient stratification. Waiv already collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and AstraZeneca, and plans to expand the adoption of its diagnostic products while strengthening partnerships with pharma to support biomarker discovery and clinical trials. The startup is targeting global markets, particularly the U.S. and Europe. | Maddyness

📇 Company: Qevlar AI
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning, Cybersecurity
🔍 Description: Qevlar AI is a French cybertech startup developing a platform of autonomous AI agents designed to support Security Operations Centers (SOCs). Its technology automates the investigation of cybersecurity alerts—enriching data, identifying patterns, and generating reports—to help security teams move from reactive incident response to proactive threat detection and prevention. By reducing investigation time per alert and surfacing deeper patterns in security data, Qevlar aims to act as an AI “copilot” for cybersecurity teams.
💻 Website: Qevlar AI
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Series B
💰 Amount Raised: €26.2M
🏦 Investors: Partech, Forgepoint Capital International, EQT Ventures
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Ahmed Achchak, Hamza Sayah
🗞️ News: Qevlar AI has raised $30M just one year after its previous $14M round (April 2025), reinforcing strong investor interest at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. The company’s platform of autonomous AI agents is designed to help SOC teams manage overwhelming alert volumes—often exceeding 4,000 alerts per day—by automating the full investigation workflow. Already used by enterprises such as Mercedes-Benz and Sodexo, as well as MSSPs including Atos and Orange Cyberdefense, Qevlar claims its technology reduces investigation time to roughly three minutes per alert, up to 10× faster than traditional workflows. The new funding will support further development of the platform and expansion of its AI-driven cyber “copilot” capabilities to help organizations strengthen their security posture. | EU Startups, Maddyness

📇 Company: Santexpat
🏷️ Sectors: InsurTech
🔍 Description: Santexpat is a digital insurance broker specializing in international health coverage for expatriates. Its platform aggregates hundreds of insurance offers from multiple providers, allowing expatriates and globally mobile professionals to compare and subscribe to health insurance policies adapted to their country of residence.
💻 Website: Santexpat
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Series B
💰 Amount €26M
🏦 Investors: Malakoff Humanis
👨💼👩💼 Founder: Jean-Christophe Pandolfi
🗞️ News: Santexpat has secured a new capital increase finalized in February 2026 from a major French family office alongside renewed investment from historical partner Malakoff Humanis. The funding supports the acquisition of Crystal Mobility, a specialist in international social protection with a strong presence among French expatriates and strategic operations in the Middle East, as well as a majority stake in U.S.-based health insurance broker AgoraExpat. Founded in 2019, Santexpat provides a fully digital platform offering more than 300 insurance products from 32 partners to expatriates across nearly 200 countries. The transaction aims to strengthen the company’s international footprint—particularly in the United States and the Middle East—and accelerate consolidation in the fragmented global expatriate health insurance market. | Fusacq

📇 Company: Escape
🏷️ Sectors: Cybersecurity, AI & Machine Learning
🔍 Description: Escape is a cybersecurity startup developing an AI-native offensive security engineering platform that automates vulnerability discovery, testing, and remediation. Its AI agents simulate attacker behavior in live production environments to identify exploitable vulnerabilities in applications, APIs, and infrastructure.
💻 Website: Escape
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Series A
💰 Amount Raised: €15.4M
🏦 Investors: Balderton Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, IRIS, Y Combinator
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Tristan Kalos, Antoine Carossio
🗞️ News: Escape has raised €15.4M in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its AI-driven offensive security engineering platform. Led by Balderton Capital with participation from Uncorrelated Ventures and existing investors IRIS and Y Combinator, the round will support the expansion of its AI agents that automate the full security lifecycle—from attack surface discovery to vulnerability remediation. Founded in 2020, Escape enables security teams to continuously test live systems by simulating sophisticated attacker behavior, helping organizations detect logic flaws, misconfigurations, and data leaks that traditional scanners often miss. The company already serves more than 2,000 security teams globally and conducts over 300,000 automated security assessments each month. | Frenchweb, EU Startups

📇 Company: May Health
🏷️ Sectors: MedTech, HealthTech
🔍 Description: May Health is a medical device company developing innovative treatments for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)-related infertility. Its flagship technology, the Anavi™ System, enables a one-time, minimally invasive procedure designed to restore ovulation in women who do not respond to first-line fertility treatments.
💻 Website: May Health
📍 HQ City: Menlo Park, Paris
🧗 Round: Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €10M
🏦 Investors: Nexpring Health, Sofinnova Partners, Trill Impact, Bpifrance
👨💼👩💼 Leadership: Colby Holtshouse
🗞️ News: May Health has raised €10M ($11.7M) to advance clinical development and commercialization of its Anavi™ System, a novel treatment for infertility caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The round includes participation from existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Trill Impact, and Bpifrance, as well as new investor Nexpring Health. The funding will support completion of the company’s pivotal U.S. REBALANCE clinical trial evaluating the device’s ability to restore ovulation, and will also prepare for the European commercial launch of the system following its CE Mark approval in October 2025. The technology aims to provide a new therapeutic option for millions of women affected by PCOS, one of the leading causes of female infertility worldwide. | PR

📇 Company: Living Models
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning, BioTech
🔍 Description: Living Models develops foundation models trained on biological sequences—DNA, RNA, and multi-omics data—to decode the “language of life.” Its AI systems aim to accelerate biological discovery and crop innovation by predicting genetic variants and traits directly from genomic data.
💻 Website: Living Models
📍 HQ City: Paris, Berkeley
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: $7M
🏦 Investors: UC Berkeley, Asterion Ventures, Artesian, Galion.exe, Juniper, Pascual, Kima Ventures, Station F
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Cyril Véran, Léonard Strouk, Bertrand Gakière
🗞️ News: Living Models has raised $7M in seed funding to develop foundation models for biology trained on genomic and multi-omics datasets rather than text or code. The Paris–Berkeley startup recently emerged from stealth with BOTANIC, a transformer-based model trained on genomic sequences from 43 plant species. The technology aims to accelerate plant breeding by identifying promising genetic variants computationally, reducing marker discovery timelines from several years to a few weeks. Following the round, the company secured a compute cluster of 120 NVIDIA B200 GPUs to train its next-generation models, positioning itself to build AI infrastructure for biological discovery with initial applications in agriculture, climate resilience, and food security. | Living Models

📇 Company: Lemrock
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning, E-commerce & Retail, DeepTech
🔍 Description: Lemrock is a Paris-based deeptech startup building infrastructure for agentic commerce, enabling brands to sell directly within conversational AI environments such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Its middleware platform connects product catalogues, pricing, availability, and transaction systems to AI agents through a single integration point, allowing retailers to manage their presence, data, and transactions across conversational platforms.
💻 Website: Lemrock
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €6M
🏦 Investors: Galion.exe, Michaël Benabou, Gary Anssens, Frédéric Halley, Emmanuelle Brizay, Antoine Lizée
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Roxane Laigle, Sasha Collin, Clément Nguyen
🗞️ News: Lemrock has raised €6M to accelerate the deployment of its agentic commerce infrastructure, enabling brands to sell directly through conversational AI platforms. The round was led by Galion.exe, with Criteo founder Jean-Baptiste Rudelle joining the board. Founded in 2025, the startup provides a middleware layer connecting product catalogues, AI agents, and transaction systems, allowing retailers to expose real-time pricing, availability, and purchase options within AI-driven conversations. Lemrock already partners with more than 60 brands across Europe and the U.S.—including Maisons du Monde, Cdiscount, Darty, DIM, Engie, and Lebara—and processes over 100 million interactions monthly. The company aims to address the emerging shift toward conversational commerce, where AI agents increasingly influence product discovery and purchasing decisions. | EU Startups

📇 Company: Aerix Systems
🏷️ Sectors: Robotics, DefenseTech, Drones
🔍 Description: Aerix Systems develops an advanced aerial robotics platform built on proprietary technologies, including a next-generation autopilot and omnidirectional propulsion system designed for complex operational environments. Its aerial robots target dual-use applications in defense, critical infrastructure protection, and complex industrial inspection.
💻 Website: Aerix Systems
📍 HQ City: Mérignac
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €5M
🏦 Investors: Odyssée Venture
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Clément Picaud, Hugo Mayounove
🗞️ News: Aerix Systems has raised €5M to accelerate the industrialization of its omnidirectional aerial robots and launch a pre-series production phase. The round was co-led by Odyssée Venture and another specialized fund. The company develops a modular aerial robotics platform integrating proprietary technologies, including advanced guidance, navigation, and control (GNC), AI-enhanced autopilot systems, omnidirectional propulsion, sensor fusion, and secure embedded control architectures. The funding will enable the startup to prepare initial operational deliveries, structure its production chain, and scale manufacturing capacity at its 2,000 m² site in Gironde. Aerix targets high-value applications, including complex industrial inspection, protection of critical infrastructure, and counter-drone operations. The company recently joined NATO’s DIANA accelerator for dual-use technologies, boosting its international visibility among institutional and industrial stakeholders. | La Tribune

📇 Company: Meteoria
🏷️ Sectors: AI & Machine Learning, MarTech
🔍 Description: Meteoria develops a Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform that helps brands measure, analyze, and optimize their visibility within AI-generated responses across conversational assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini.
💻 Website: Meteoria
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €1M
🏦 Investors: TOMCAT, Business Angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Idriss Khouader, Ismaïl El Gaouzi, Maxime Hanquier, Samuel Valengin
🗞️ News: Meteoria has raised €1M to accelerate the development of its Generative Engine Optimization platform, a new category of tools designed to help brands manage their visibility in AI-generated answers. As generative AI increasingly mediates product discovery and purchasing decisions, Meteoria enables companies to map their presence in AI responses, analyze brand reputation within conversational environments, and optimize their positioning across major AI assistants. The funding will support product development, expand the company’s presence across France, Switzerland, and Belgium, and initiate expansion into Spain as it aims to become a leading European platform for AI-native search visibility. | LinkedIn

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