🤔 Edito 🤔

Pitchbook completed its Q3 2025 cycle of data releases with its zoom on the French market, which offers a bit more nuance than the previous global and European editions earlier this month. Not much more reason for cheer:

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Ranking French Startup Hubs

There was a lot of buzz following the release of Dealroom's Global Tech Ecosystem Index – Sector Edition 2025 because the report ranked Paris #3 for AI hubs on Planet Earth. And yada, yada, yada, Paris.

But as I like to remind folks, Don't Sleep On Grenoble. I've written about what's what in Grenoble a couple of times. It's France's real Deep Tech hub, small but mighty.

I originally put together this chart based on Dealroom's report and shared it on LinkedIn.

Someone from Dealroom subsequently reached out and said, yo, there is a whole lot more data than there is in the PDF version we released in our live dashboard. And so there is. I dug into their online database to see what it tells us about France's top hubs. Again, no surprise, Paris is numero uno. But based on density, the gap between Paris and Grenoble narrows considerably:

(Note: Rennes is not officially part of the hubs being tracked by Dealroom, but I added it here because it's de facto France's cybersecurity hub. And by many of Dealroom's own metrics, it would rank above some of the other metro areas on the list.)

Back to Grenoble, though, you can see that its diversity is its strength:

💸 Weekly Funding Recap: October 24

🏆 Key Highlights

• Largest Rounds:
  • 🥇 Lattice Medical (€43M) – Medtech / regenerative reconstruction
  • 🥈 Dracula Technologies (€30M) – Deeptech / battery-free IoT
  • 🥉 Hublo (€20M) – Health HR SaaS

The week was defined by strong deeptech momentum, continued healthtech leadership, and the rise of AI-native platforms across multiple verticals — from urban infrastructure and music management to sports performance and enterprise automation.

🧬 Sector Diversity

This batch of French tech deals reflects a broad cross-section of frontier innovation, with France 2030 deeptech initiatives and Bpifrance-backed industrial scale-ups driving most of the volume.

1. 🧬 Medtech & Biotech

• Lattice Medical (€43M) and Exeliom Biosciences (€2.85M) underline France’s ongoing leadership in next-generation health technologies.

2. ⚙️ Deeptech & Industrial Innovation

• Dracula Technologies (€30M) and Tibeka Protections (€0.5M) lead a new wave of industrial deeptech scale-ups.

3. 💶 Fintech & Insurtech

• Certificall (€1M) and Hublo (€20M) represent complementary faces of digital transformation in regulated sectors.

4. 🌍 Climate & Sustainability Tech

• From sustainable food to green electronics, this category drew €46.5M across Lisaqua, Nutropy, and Dracula Technologies.

5. 🤖 AI & Software

AI continues to underpin diverse applications, from smart cities to creative industries:

• UPCITI (€19M) builds privacy-first edge AI for urban infrastructure.
• Kotcha (€3.5M) and MNGRS.AI (€0.9M) bring AI to coaching and artist management.
• Volta Software (€5M) and Playse (€5M) deploy AI to optimize B2B commerce and athlete performance.
  France’s AI renaissance is increasingly multi-vertical, combining agentic intelligence, automation, and personalization.

🔥🔥🔥🔥

📇 Company: Lattice Medical
🔍 Description: Lille-based MedTech company developing implantable medical devices for regenerative soft-tissue reconstruction using 3D printing. Its mission is to reinvent tissue regeneration and improve patients’ quality of life after cancer.
💻 Website: https://www.lattice-medical.com/
📍 HQ City: Lille, France
🧗 Round: Series B
💰 Amount Raised: €43 million
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance SPI (lead), Blast.club, Sprim, TIDJEE (industry specialists), EIC Fund, Captech Santé, Nord France Amorçage, FIRA Nord Est; with additional non-dilutive funding from France 2030 programs (M3DINPRINT and LIPOTEC) and banking partners
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Julien Payen (CEO), Corinne Devos, Clément Morisson
🗞️ News: The funding will accelerate clinical development toward regulatory approval, scale manufacturing, and prepare for global commercialization of Lattice Medical’s two flagship products: MATTISSE, a resorbable implant for breast reconstruction post-cancer, and RODIN, a matrix for reconstructing large subcutaneous tissue defects. | FrenchWeb

📇 Company: Dracula Technologies
🔍 Description: Dracula Technologies is a French deeptech pioneer in sustainable energy harvesting solutions, enabling battery-free IoT devices through its patented LAYER® organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology. Its printed modules capture ambient indoor light to power low-energy electronics, eliminating the need for traditional batteries and supporting large-scale sustainability goals.
💻 Website: www.dracula-technologies.com
📍 HQ City: Valence, France
🧗 Round: Series A Extension
💰 Amount Raised: €30 million (total Series A)
🏦 Investors: Banque des Territoires (lead, under France 2030), MGI Digital Technology Group, European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, historical private investors
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Brice Cruchon (CEO & Founder)
🗞️ News: The new funding enables Dracula Technologies to quadruple production capacity to 600 million cm² annually at its Green MicroPower Factory — the world’s largest dedicated OPV facility — and to explore industrial partnerships for additional global manufacturing capacity. With new backing from the EIC Fund, Dracula will accelerate its mission to eliminate batteries from billions of connected devices, expanding across smart building, asset tracking, and IoT sensor markets.

📇 Company: Hublo
🔍 Description: Hublo is France’s leading HR SaaS platform dedicated to the healthcare and medico-social sectors. Its digital solution simplifies workforce management for hospitals, clinics, and care institutions — helping them manage recruitment, scheduling, and staff engagement more efficiently. The platform also empowers healthcare professionals to find assignments, extra shifts, or internal mobility opportunities within their organizations. Founded in 2016, Hublo addresses one of the healthcare system’s biggest challenges: the shortage and high turnover of medical staff. By automating and streamlining HR workflows, Hublo enables establishments to save time and focus on improving patient care. The company is B-Corp certified, operates as an entreprise à mission, and is now active in France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland.
💻 Website: https://www.hublo.com
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Series C / Growth Round
💰 Amount Raised: €20 million
🏦 Investors: Bpifrance (Equity MidCap)
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Antoine Loron (CEO), Adrien Beata (Co-founder)
🗞️ News: On October 23, 2025, Hublo raised €20 million from Bpifrance, which invested the full amount through its Equity MidCap arm. This marks Hublo’s third funding round, following those in 2017 and 2021, bringing its total funding to €55 million. The funds will be used to accelerate Hublo’s European expansion (notably in Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland), enhance its SaaS platform with AI-driven modules for workforce planning and retention, and support further acquisitions following two deals completed earlier in 2025. Hublo currently serves over 5,600 healthcare establishments and 1.2 million professionals, generating €22 million in revenue in 2024 with strong growth momentum. Luc Heinrich, Deputy Director at Bpifrance Equity MidCap, emphasized that the investment supports a “technological leader in the modernization of the healthcare system,” combining innovation with measurable social and economic impact.| Bpifrance, Maddyness

📇 Company: UPCITI
🔍 Description: Paris-based smart city technology company developing integrated hardware and edge AI software that helps cities operate more efficiently while preserving citizen privacy. UPCITI’s privacy-by-design sensors process visual data locally to optimize traffic, safety, and infrastructure management without transmitting personal information.
💻 Website: https://www.upciti.com
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Series A
💰 Amount Raised: $20 million
🏦 Investors: Notion Capital (lead), Point Nine Capital, Chalfen Ventures
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Jean-Baptiste Poljak (CEO)
🗞️ News: The funding will accelerate UPCITI’s international expansion — including the opening of a U.S. headquarters in New York City — and drive product innovation as the company scales its privacy-first urban analytics platform across North America and beyond. | TechFundingNews

📇 Company: Lisaqua
🔍 Description: French sustainable aquaculture startup pioneering low-impact, antibiotic-free shrimp farming through a patented, circular land-based system combining biofiltration and predictive modeling to produce clean, eco-friendly seafood.
💻 Website: https://www.lisaqua.com/
📍 HQ City: Saint-Herblain, France
🧗 Round: Growth / Industrial Scale-up
💰 Amount Raised: €9 million
🏦 Investors: Fonds Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire (Crédit Mutuel Impact, backed by Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale), Noshaq, Le Gouessant cooperative, and other long-time partners
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Gabriel Boneu, Charlotte Schoelinck
🗞️ News: The funding will accelerate construction of Lisaqua’s first large-scale shrimp production facility in Monthyon (Seine-et-Marne) — backed by France’s Première Usine program under the France 2030 plan — marking the transition from pilot to industrial stage and paving the way for expansion across France and Europe. | TechFundingNews

📇 Company: Nutropy
🔍 Description: French foodtech startup specializing in the production of animal-free dairy proteins via precision fermentation. Nutropy bio-produces caseins identical to those found in cow’s milk, enabling the creation of cheese and dairy alternatives that replicate the taste, texture, and nutritional quality of traditional products — without using animal resources. Its “plug-and-play” powdered dairy ingredients help food manufacturers reduce their environmental footprint while meeting consumer demand for sustainable, functional dairy solutions.
💻 Website: https://nutropy.com
📍 HQ City: Évry-Courcouronnes (Genopole, France)
🧗 Round: Seed / Early Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €7 million
🏦 Investors: Big Pi Ventures (lead, Greece), Zero Carbon Capital (UK), Deeptech Beta Lab (Saudi Arabia), Wyngate Inc. (USA), Desai Ventures (India), PVS Investments (Netherlands), Novax (Sweden – Axel Johnson Group), with additional public support from Bpifrance and European innovation programs.
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Nathalie Rolland (CEO) and Dr. Maya Bendifallah (CSO)
🗞️ News: The €7M round will finance industrial scale-up, expand Nutropy’s portfolio of powdered dairy alternatives, and support international market expansion across Europe, North America, and Asia. Laureate of France 2030 and the Grand Prix i-Lab 2023, Nutropy positions itself as a Deeptech leader enabling the transition to sustainable dairy through fermentation-driven innovation.

📇 Company: Volta Software
🔍 Description: French-Italian startup revolutionizing B2B commerce with an AI-powered platform that unifies, automates, and amplifies sales operations. Volta integrates with existing ERP, CRM, and PIM systems to centralize data, automate up to 90% of manual tasks, and leverage AI insights for growth and customer engagement.
💻 Website: https://volta.software (placeholder if available)
📍 HQ City: Paris, France / Milan, Italy
🧗 Round: Extension Round (Post-Seed / Early Series A)
💰 Amount Raised: €5 million (total funding €11 million)
🏦 Investors: RTP Global (lead), Pascal Houillon (former CEO of Cegid & Sage), Emblem, Robin Capital, Founders Future
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Paul Guillemin (CEO), Mario Parteli (Co-founder)
🗞️ News: RTP Global doubles down on Volta Software to accelerate AI-driven digital transformation in B2B commerce. The new capital will fuel commercial rollout, team expansion (30+ employees), and further development of Volta’s AI platform designed to unify, automate, and amplify the B2B sales experience.

📇 Company: Playse
🔍 Description: Playse is a digital football training platform co-founded by World Cup champion Blaise Matuidi and Thibault Aliadière (ex-Doctolib). It offers personalized coaching sessions, match streaming, and video CVs to help amateur players develop tactical, physical, and cognitive skills while giving clubs and families data-driven insights into performance.
💻 Website: https://www.playse.io
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed / Early Growth
💰 Amount Raised: €5M (including €2M via crowdfunding on Sowefund)
🏦 Investors: Seventure Partners, Sowefund crowd investors, and business angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Blaise Matuidi (ex-PSG, World Cup 2018 champion), Thibault Aliadière (ex-Doctolib executive)
🗞️ News: The funding will accelerate Playse’s international expansion (France, U.S., Congo) and development of AI-powered performance analytics, aiming to make Playse the global leader in connected football training. The startup targets €3.5M in 2025 revenue and €25M by 2028, with over 8,000 active players and 150 certified coaches already on the platform. | Maddyness

📇 Company: Kotcha
🔍 Description: Paris-based startup co-founded with marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge and the NN Running Team, Kotcha uses AI to make world-class running coaching accessible to everyone. The app recreates the athlete–coach relationship through four AI coaches (Head Coach, Nutritionist, Data Analyst, Personal Trainer) that adapt weekly training, nutrition, and recovery plans to each runner’s progress and lifestyle.
💻 Website: https://www.kotcha.com/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Pre-Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €3.5 million
🏦 Investors: Racine2 (operated by Serena and makesense), True Global, Motier Ventures, and individual investors from the consumer, health, running, and sports sectors
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Ben Dupont (CEO), Michel-André Chirita (CTO), Dimitri Dor (CMO), Eliud Kipchoge, and the NN Running Team
🗞️ News: Funding will support Kotcha’s launch in Europe and abroad, bringing its AI-powered coaching app to runners worldwide. Available globally from October 23, 2025, the app offers a free trial and a €14.99/month subscription. Kipchoge’s philosophy — “Running is a team sport” — lies at the heart of Kotcha’s mission to blend human empathy with AI precision so that no runner ever runs alone. | FrenchWeb

📇 Company: Exeliom Biosciences
🔍 Description: Paris-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new generation of innate immune modulators to restore and enhance immune responsiveness in cancer, inflammatory diseases, and chronic infections. Its lead program, EXL01, is a bacterial-derived, NOD2-targeting immunomodulator that reprograms the immune microenvironment to overcome resistance and enhance immunotherapy efficacy.
💻 Website: https://www.exeliombio.com
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Series A (Extension)
💰 Amount Raised: €2.85M extension (total Series A: €11.85M; total funding: ~€30M)
🏦 Investors: Biocodex (lead), Crescent Ventures, UI Investissement, Forepont Capital Partners
👨💼👩💼 Founders / Leadership: Benjamin Hadida (CEO)
🗞️ News: The funds will accelerate clinical development and global expansion of EXL01, including Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies and a new cancer indication in the U.S. The round extends Exeliom’s cumulative financing to nearly €30M in both dilutive and non-dilutive funding since its founding in 2016. | EU Startups

📇 Company: Seaber
🔍 Description: French startup specializing in the design and manufacturing of autonomous underwater drones (micro-AUVs) used for oceanography, maritime surveillance, mapping, and naval training. Seaber’s drones are known for their reliability, portability, and ease of use — democratizing access to autonomous underwater vehicles once limited to large institutions.
💻 Website: https://seaber.fr
📍 HQ City: Lorient, France
🧗 Round: Growth / Series A
💰 Amount Raised: €1.5 million
🏦 Investors: Breizh Up (Région Bretagne, managed by UI Investissement), FNX Ventures, Sodero, Défense Angels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Vidal Teixeira, Quentin Peyregne
🗞️ News: The new funding will support Seaber’s international expansion and strengthen its leadership in the emerging market of autonomous underwater drones. The company has been doubling its revenue each year and aims to sell 100 drones annually by 2030. | LinkedIn

📇 Company: Fleetiz
🔍 Description: Fleetiz develops an all-in-one fleet management platform designed to simplify and optimize the operation of bicycle and equipment fleets. Its solution leverages AI for predictive maintenance, user safety, and fleet optimization, helping companies reduce costs and environmental impact while supporting sustainable mobility.
💻 Website: https://fleetiz.fr
📍 HQ City: France (exact city not specified)
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €1 million
🏦 Investors: CITA
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Emmanuel Greve, Thibault Martin,
🗞️ News: Fleetiz raised €1 million alongside CITA to accelerate the development of its platform, strengthen its presence in the French and European sustainable mobility markets, and integrate new AI-based modules for predictive maintenance and fleet safety. The company will also showcase its innovations at the RNTP 2025 in Orléans. | LinkedIn

📇 Company: Certificall
🔍 Description: Toulouse-based insurtech startup providing a digital proof certification platform that transforms photos and videos into tamper-proof, legally admissible evidence across the EU. Certificall helps insurers, brokers, and large industries prevent fraud and ensure document integrity through geolocation, qualified time stamping, eIDAS compliance, and digital signature seals. The platform already supports 150+ enterprise clients and 20,000 users, including Groupama and Eiffage Energies, with over 3 million certified photos to date.
💻 Website: https://certificall.com (assumed based on company name; confirm if available)
📍 HQ City: Toulouse, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €1M
🏦 Investors: TomCat (lead), Groupama, InsurAngels
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Guillaume Laurent (President, Co-founder), Nicolas Chabauty (CEO, Co-founder)
🗞️ News: Certificall will use the funding to strengthen its technological platform and accelerate its commercial expansion in Europe. The company is positioning itself as a trusted third party for visual evidence in the fight against AI-driven digital fraud, fully compliant with EU eIDAS regulations and benefiting from the growing shift toward digital identity and self-care tools across financial services. | The French Tech Journal

📇 Company: MNGRS.AI
🔍 Description: French AI-powered artist management platform developed by Global Music Community. MNGRS.AI serves as a “digital manager” for creators, using artificial intelligence to guide them through career strategy, release planning, audience growth, and content optimization — empowering artists to professionalize and scale sustainably without replacing human creativity.
💻 Website: https://www.mngrs.ai
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: $1 million
🏦 Investors: Music and sports investors, including Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), Jules Koundé (FC Barcelona), Mike Maignan (AC Milan), and African cultural entrepreneur Mamby Laye Diomandé (founder of SIMA – Salon des Industries Musicales d’Afrique francophone)
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Alexandre Deniot (ex-Midem, Universal Music) and Thomas Quenoil (ex-Universal Music Group, Midem)
🗞️ News: The funding will support MNGRS.AI’s international expansion and product development as it scales its AI-driven artist management service to serve thousands of creators across Europe, North America, and Africa — democratizing access to professional career management in a $16 billion global artist services market. | LinkedIn

📇 Company: Tibeka Protections
🔍 Description: Lille-based deeptech startup developing patented flexible ballistic textiles for next-generation body armor. Tibeka’s first product — a bulletproof vest specifically designed for women’s morphology — combines impact absorption and flexibility, addressing a long-overlooked market need in public and private security sectors.
💻 Website: https://www.tibeka-protections.com (placeholder, official site not confirmed)
📍 HQ City: Tourcoing (Hauts-de-France, France)
🧗 Round: Seed (First Funding Round)
💰 Amount Raised: €500,000 secured (target €1.2M: €900K equity + ~€300K non-dilutive financing)
🏦 Investors: New private investors alongside the three co-founders
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Bertrand Meslier, Stéphane Belamy, and Mulat Alubel Abtew
🗞️ News: Tibeka Protections raises its first €500K in equity to industrialize its patented shock-absorbing textile and launch the first female-fit bulletproof vest by late 2025. The company plans to internalize textile production at its Tourcoing facility within two years, leveraging the EuraMaterials ecosystem and non-dilutive support under France 2030 initiatives to accelerate R&D and commercialization. | Infonet

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