👋 A Programming Note 👋

Hi kids!

A brief update from The French Tech Journal Global Headquarters in Paris, where our relentless march toward Napoleonic-like worldwide conquest continues unopposed.

Over the past year, we've doubled the size of our audience and expanded the amount of content we publish. But it seems you ravenous hounds just can't get enough of us.

So to satiate your bottomless hunger for more French techie news goodness, we're officially expanding our newsletter lineup to three.

As you've probably seen in recent weeks, we've been publishing the French Tech Funding Wire on Friday evenings. What started as a quick recap of weekly funding deals a couple of years ago has grown well beyond that.

However, we also heard your complaints: Sending out this newsletter on Friday evening was disruptive. Rather than spending time with family and loved ones, or sitting on a terrace drinking a god-awful Aperol Spritz that everyone has convinced themselves is a wonderful cocktail but is really the most revolting amalgamation of liquid compounds ever invented by humanity, you instead spent hours engrossed in our newsletter.

So, here's the new plan. Starting next week, the publication schedule will be as follows:

• French Tech Funding Wire (Monday): Still a recap of all the deals plus a data-driven analysis of other trends.
• La Machine: French AI Radar (Wednesday): All the AI news, features, events, and announcements that you could need or want.
• French Tech Wire (Friday): The big headlines, features, interviews, and occasional snark.

Thanks for your support. We always love to hear your feedback. Even if you think we suck.

Inside this week's edition:

👀 Insurance just got a new nemesis: Toulouse startup Certificall turns every photo and video into legally certified, tamper-proof proof, making insurance claims fast, reliable, and fraud-proof in just 90 seconds. After raising €1M in Seed funding, Co-Founders Guillaume Laurent and Nicolas Chabauty explain how they plan to make Certificall the European reference for certified digital proof.

Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

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Tech Talk

💥 🧬 French biotech star ImCheck Therapeutics has just been snapped up by pharma giant Ipsen in a deal that could hit a cool €1 billion. That's not your average day in France’s primordial biotech backyard. Ipsen is putting down €350 million cash upfront, with the rest riding on regulatory and commercial wins. Born in Marseille in 2015 from the lab of Prof. Daniel Olive, ImCheck has been busy reimagining immunotherapy. Clearly, the big pharma world noticed. After its €100 million raise in 2022, this blockbuster buyout joins Adcytherix’s (say this five times fast!) mega-round in reminding everyone: French biotech is ready for its closeup. | Maddyness

💸 🧠 Lemlist has got the Claap! From bootstrapped hero to acquisition mode, Lemlist has snapped up Claap in an eight-figure deal to fuel its AI ambitions. The French sales automation champ was pulling in €35M ARR from 20,000 global clients. It plans to fuse Claap’s conversational AI into Smartbound, its shiny new prospecting tool. The mission is to kill “spray and pray” for good and make sales smarter, faster, and beautifully French. The next step is to build Europe’s first AI-driven sales platform and take the fight to their deep-pocketed American rivals. | Maddyness

📉 🇫🇷 For the first time in two years, French startups are shedding more jobs than they’re creating. That's a sharp reality check for the once-resilient ecosystem. In September 2025, Numeum’s barometer (powered by Motherbase) recorded 1,187 net job losses. Startups had added 16,000 jobs since January, but hiring momentum has flipped as layoffs outpace new roles. The chill now spans AI to SaaS, with hiring intentions plunging and looming 2026 budget cuts threatening innovation tax credits. | Maddyness

☁️ 🇪🇺 Cloud pioneer Octave Klaba is back in the pilot’s seat at OVHcloud, reclaiming the CEO role he left seven years ago after the brief tenure of Benjamin Revcolevschi. Klaba wasn't overly specific about the reasons for his return, though on Twitter/X/Whatever he expressed frustration that lots of little things had started to become sub-standard:

His return couldn’t come at a more pivotal time. The French cloud giant is preparing to unveil its 2026–2030 “Step Ahead” strategic plan, aimed at shoring up its defenses against U.S. hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft Azure. Despite crossing the €1 billion annual revenue mark for the first time, OVHcloud’s stock plunged 18% following the announcement. Klaba’s mission now is to rebuild confidence by doubling down on European digital sovereignty, cost transparency, and deep tech bets in AI and quantum computing. | FrenchWeb, Maddyness

🏦🧑‍⚕️ Bpifrance has joined the cap table of Hublo, the French HR tech platform for healthcare workforce management, with a €20 million investment. It's unclear whether this is new equity for the company (fundraising) or whether the cash bought out existing shareholders (an exit). For the moment we're not counting it in our funding deals. But that could change! Still, the news is the latest big change this year for Hublo, which supports over 5,600 healthcare institutions and 1.2 million professionals across Europe. Earlier this year, private equity firm Five Arrows acquired a large portion of the firm from previous shareholders such as Revaia. | Le Figaro

💸 🌍 A new venture fund called Margin Ventures is on a mission to back underrepresented founders. Founded by Mehdi Belkahla and Anas Jaballah with support from Citizen Capital, Margin plans to raise €50 million and a first close at €30 million in 2026. The duo, both hailing from Paris’s banlieues, want to make sure innovation isn’t a members-only game. They will target founders in the low-income suburbs surrounding cities and small towns between Pre-Seed and Series A. They are looking for sustainability, health & education, and AI startups. Margin Ventures offers hands-on support and access to real networks. | Website

🎓🚀 Meanwhile, at the other end of the inclusivity telescope, here comes Polytechnique Ventures, doubling down on deeptech with a second early-stage fund. The new vehicle has secured an initial €21 million close, aiming for €30–40 million total. Backed by the École Polytechnique alumni community, the fund will invest in 15–20 startups spun out of the school’s cutting-edge labs, from medtech to green energy. Beyond capital, it brings hands-on mentoring in leadership, governance, and growth — all with that trademark X precision. | Sifted

🧠 ⚛️ France’s Quandela just plugged Lucy, the world’s most powerful photonic quantum computer, into Europe’s supercomputing grid. Built in 12 months with 80% EU-made parts, the 12-qubit wonder will be coupled with the Joliot-Curie supercomputer to enable hybrid quantum-HPC workflows. Lucy now sits at the CEA’s TGCC center near Paris - ready to turbocharge research from AI to energy grids. Europe’s quantum era? Officially online. | HPCWire

📺⚡ Free TV, anyone? Xavier Niel is planning to de-clutter your screens. Watching TV in 2025 shouldn’t feel like solving a password puzzle. But it does. Enter Xavier Niel with Free TV, a free platform offering 170+ channels, 25,000 replays, and Free Ciné with 500 films and 1,000 episodes, open to everyone - even non-Free subscribers. For €0.99, Free TV+ adds 300+ premium channels, including Disney Channel and CNN. Niel is betting FAST streaming can turn Free from telecom operator into a full-blown media powerhouse. | FrenchWeb

How Certificall Is Fighting AI-Fueled Visual Insurance Fraud

Founded in 2022 by two veterans of the insurance world,  Guillaume Laurent (President) and Nicolas Chabauty (CEO), Certificall has quickly positioned itself as a trusted third party for digital visual evidence. The Toulouse-based startup helps insurers, brokers, and large industrial groups certify photos and videos in real time, ensuring they are legally admissible across the EU.

In two years, the company has grown to a team of eight, serving over 150 major clients and 20,000 users, including heavyweight names such as Groupama and Eiffage Énergies. With more than three million photos already certified, Certificall is carving out a niche at the crossroads of technology, trust, and regulation.

“Over the past two years, generative AI has made it possible for anyone to manipulate images,” Laurent said. “Our mission is to block fraud at the source. With Certificall, every photo or video becomes reliable, verifiable proof from the moment it’s taken.”

💸 Top Funding Deals 💸

📇 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.fr
📍 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.

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