👋 Inside this week's edition:
👀 Laurie Soffiati joined French AI HealthTech Nabla earlier this year just as it gained international attention through its close ties to Yann LeCun’s AMI, one of the most ambitious AI research labs. A former government insider, she's now Nabla's Director of France, leading an unusual charge for a French startup. Nabla has succeeded primarily in the U.S. Now it's trying to win over its home market. Soffiati, who formerly worked for the national health care system, joins at a pivotal moment in the shift toward next-generation, agentic healthcare systems. But also, just as the company has been thrown into the global spotlight. Read the interview and profile.
Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand
Paris Blockchain Week 2026 marks a clear shift toward an institutional-first approach. Taking place on April 15–16 in Paris, the event focuses on how digital assets are being integrated into regulated financial systems, with discussions centered on adoption, market structure, custody, compliance, and financial infrastructure.
Hosted at the Carrousel du Louvre, with an invitation-only gathering at the Château de Versailles, Paris Blockchain Week convenes senior decision-makers from finance, regulation, and market infrastructure, positioning digital assets within existing financial systems rather than alongside them.
Confirmed participants and partners include S&P Global, Fidelity Investments, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Invesco, the European Commission, Circle, Ripple, Cardano, and Bybit, reflecting the growing institutional involvement in digital assets across Europe and beyond.
Learn more about the agenda and participation opportunities at Paris Blockchain Week 2026. And use this code to get a 15% discount: FTJ-PBW15.
Tech Talk
🇪🇺💰 Europe is (finally) putting serious money on the table. Brussels wants to mobilise €15B to fund tech champions and scale-ups, with up to €200M per fund. The diagnosis is clear: Europe builds startups, but struggles to scale them. Now comes the hard part: deploying that capital fast — and effectively. | Les Echos, Maddyness
🇪🇺🪖 Europe is going full defense mode - with startups in the mix. Brussels, it seems, is splashing the cash on the defence front and rolling out a two-track strategy: €15B in cheap loans to boost military spending, and a new €115M “Agile” programme to fund defence startups. The goal is clear: move faster, produce faster, and get technologies like AI and drones from lab to field in as little as 1–3 years. Less bureaucracy, shorter funding cycles (under 4 months), and a shift away from relying on a handful of legacy contractors. | Maddyness, Les Echos
🇫🇷🔬 And as regards French funding, Paris is currently leading the deeptech financing race… but with US backing. The French capital tops European deeptech funding, but still depends heavily on American investors... Strategic autonomy? No, not quite. Meanwhile, 360 Capital has just closed an €85M deep tech fund to help keep local momentum alive. | Maddyness
🇫🇷🛡️ Cybersecurity: all know the risk, few are ready. 80% of French companies admit they’re unprepared for cyberattacks — just as cybercrime scales like a proper industry. AI is boosting both sides… but attackers seem to be moving faster. | L’Usine Digitale
⚠️📱 Speaking of hacking, it just got a lot more accessible for those who fancy a bit of digital DIY crime. Two iPhone hacking kits - Coruna and Darksword - have been leaked online, potentially exposing millions of devices. Cybercrime is now modular, scalable, and dangerously easy to use...coming soon to an iPhone near you. | L’Usine Digitale
🏢📉 Mirakl calls time on remote work. From 3 days Work from home or anywhere to just one. The unicorn wants its “collective energy” back. Translation: offices weren’t that dead after all. Bonus: AI-driven reorgs are coming, with roles set to evolve fast. Back to the office.. or else?| Les Echos
🚲⚡ The e-bike boom hits a wall. Mobility startup Loewi has just entered judicial restructuring, joining a growing list of struggling players post-COVID. Demand slowed, costs stayed high - turns out not every green wave lasts. | Les Echos
🇪🇺🌍 European founders are staying home. Is Silicon Valley's magical pull now weakening? That is Balderton DG, Bernard Lieutaud's avis. According to this investor, more entrepreneurs now want to build global companies from Europe rather than move to the US. A real shift in mindset, wishful thinking - or just a better local ecosystem? Maybe all of the above. | Les Echos
💰💼 Another VC goes solo. Speaking of Balderton, rumour has it that investor Zoe Mohl is leaving the British-grown VC after three years to launch her own fund - joining the growing ranks of “solo GPs” betting on smaller, more agile setups. No details yet, but the trend is clear: fewer big firms, more personal brands in European VC. | Les Echos
🏭🌱 Climate tech gets industrial. Leviathan Dynamics opens its first factory to decarbonize industrial heat. Fewer slide decks, more actual infrastructure - Europe’s transition is getting tangible. | Les Echos
From French Government Insider to AI Disruptor: Why Laurie Soffiati Bet on Nabla After Calling HealthTech 'Ineffective'
At first glance, Laurie Soffiati may not appear to have the resume of someone tapped to play a key role at a French AI healthtech startup that has been thrown into the global spotlight.
A graduate of France’s elite public administration school, ENA, and former head of digital health at France’s national healthcare system, l'Assurance Maladie, she has a background on paper that screams establishment and insider. Certainly, it's not the profile of someone preparing to join the wave of companies trying to disrupt the system.
And yet, after three years evaluating digital health tools from inside, she came to a blunt conclusion:
“Many of the health tech products I saw were not actually that effective.”
And so, in January, she left behind the life of a French civil servant to become Managing Director of France for Nabla, the Paris-based startup that has developed an AI assistant for clinicians that automates documentation, coding, and EHR workflows in real time, evolving into an adaptive, agentic platform that supports care delivery across settings. Soffiati is betting that AI is now finally ready to deliver on healthtech’s long-standing promises.
While she may be taking on this challenge at a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI, she is also joining the company just as it garnered international attention thanks to its association with AMI Labs, the Paris-based world models startup that recently raised a €890B Seed Round. Through partnerships, founders, and funding, the two companies share an unusually close pedigree, which has given Nabla's profile a sudden boost, with all the recognition and scrutiny that comes with it.
📇 Company: Hynaero
🏷️ Sectors: Aerospace, ClimateTech, DefenseTech, DeepTech
🔍 Description: Hynaero is a French aerospace startup developing next-generation amphibious water bomber aircraft designed specifically for wildfire suppression. Its flagship program, the Fregate-F100, aims to deliver a high-capacity, purpose-built aerial firefighting platform with enhanced operational performance, safety, and mission systems. Unlike legacy aircraft adapted from other uses, Hynaero is building a dedicated solution to address the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires while strengthening European industrial sovereignty in specialized aviation.
💻 Website: Hynaero
📍 HQ City: Bordeaux
🧗 Round: Seed + Series A
💰 Amount Raised: €117M
🏦 Investors: N/A
👨💼👩💼 Founders: David Pincet
🗞️ News: Hynaero raised €117M in a combined Seed and Series A round led by Bpifrance with participation from Région Sud and an undisclosed investor to advance the development of its Fregate-F100 amphibious firefighting aircraft. The equity financing will fund the Concept and Preliminary Design phases, support industrial structuring in France, and scale engineering teams ahead of a planned Preliminary Design Review in 2028. Founded in 2023 and incubated by Bordeaux Technowest, Hynaero is positioning itself as a sovereign European alternative in aerial firefighting, addressing aging fleets and increasing wildfire risk. The round brings total project funding to over €125M, including €7M in France2030 grants. | PR
📇 Company: EGIDE
🏷️ Sectors: DefenseTech, DeepTech, AI & MachineLearning
🔍 Description: EGIDE is a French defence technology startup developing next-generation, cost-efficient defence systems to counter the growing threat of low-cost drones and strike munitions. The company is building electrically propelled interceptors and Mystique, a hardware-agnostic software platform that integrates distributed sensors, AI-driven detection, and layered interception systems across air, ground, and maritime domains. Its approach enables scalable, modular, and rapidly adaptable defence capabilities tailored to modern warfare and the protection of critical infrastructure.
💻 Website: EGIDE
📍 HQ City: Paris
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €8M
🏦 Investors: Expeditions, Eurazeo, Heartcore Capital, Galion.exe, Kima Ventures
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Simon Calonne, Florian Audigier
🗞️ News: EGIDE raised €8M in a seed round co-led by Expeditions, Eurazeo, and Heartcore Capital to accelerate the development of affordable, scalable defence systems amid rising geopolitical tensions and the proliferation of low-cost drones. Founded in 2025 by former MBDA engineers, the company is developing electrically-propelled interceptors and its Mystique platform to enable AI-driven, multi-domain defence operations. The funding will support product development and the expansion of a pan-European engineering team, positioning EGIDE as a key player in rebuilding Europe’s defence capabilities with a new generation of cost-effective, adaptable systems. | PR
📇 Company: DiappyMed
🏷️ Sectors: HealthTech, AI & Machine Learning
🔍 Description: DiappyMed is a French medtech startup developing digital solutions to personalise diabetes treatment. Its flagship product, EkiYou, is a digital therapeutic app that calculates personalised insulin doses based on meals, physical activity, and blood glucose levels. Powered by an external algorithm, the solution acts as a “pocket diabetologist,” helping patients reduce cognitive burden while improving daily disease management. The company also developed EkiYou Carbs, a carbohydrate-counting app co-built with Montpellier University Hospital.
💻 Website: DiappyMed
📍 HQ City: Montpellier
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €5M
🏦 Investors: Ventech, AFI Ventures, Sofilaro, IRDI Capital Investissement
👨💼👩💼 Founders: Omar Diouri, Coralie Lefevre, Youssef Raqui
🗞️ News: DiappyMed raised €5M in a seed round led by Ventech and AFI Ventures to accelerate the deployment of its diabetes digital therapeutic solutions. Alongside the funding, the company secured a strategic partnership with Sanofi to support the rollout of EkiYou, its insulin-dosing app, and to increase adoption among healthcare professionals and patients. Founded in 2021, the Montpellier-based startup aims to secure reimbursement from the French healthcare system in 2026. The funding will support team expansion, R&D, and training initiatives, as the company positions itself within a rapidly growing ecosystem of diabetes care innovation driven by the recent reimbursement of remote monitoring solutions in France. | Maddyness
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