> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 🇫🇷 French Tech Wire: Hugging Face, Mistral AI, and Pasqal Bring Some Big Check Energy 🥐 - URL: https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/french-tech-wire-deals-hugging-face-mistral-ai-pasqal/ - Published: 2026-09-04T06:00:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-04T06:00:12.000Z - Description: La rentrée makes it rain: Nvidia buys Hugging Face, Mistral AI lines up another mega-round, Pasqal hits Nasdaq, Wandercraft seeks mucho dinero, and Sorare bags a round to fight another day. - Author: Chris O'Brien - Tags: Newsletter 👋 **Inside this week's edition:** 👀 French startup **ArcSpace** has raised more than €2 million to test its compact electron-beam welding and cutting system in orbit in 2027, starting with satellite repair before targeting orbital manufacturing and space infrastructure. [**Co-Founder and CEO Guillaume Mohara explains the lofty vision.**](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/arcspace-2m-in-space-welding-satellite-repair/) **Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand** --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/content/images/2026/09/GBC_Paris_-_newsletter_banner_468x60.png)](https://luma.com/vanta-gk1n?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) ****A founder-only breakfast in Paris**: Ahead of Vanta's Trust Tour Paris, we're hosting a small-room session for founders: ****Growth Breakfast Club: Build the Product, Buy the Trust**, ****September 15, 9:30–11:30 AM, Le Grand Hôtel Cayré.** ****Christina Cacioppo**, Co-Founder & CEO of Vanta, and ****Gabriel Hubert**, Co-Founder & CEO of Dust, sit down to talk about why the best-scaling teams are ruthless about what they build in-house and just as deliberate about what they buy. Expect real talk on: - Why build vs. buy is a habit, not a one-time call - How Dust scales multiplayer AI without losing team alignment - Why compliance is one of the clearest buy-not-build decisions [Request To Join ](https://luma.com/vanta-gk1n?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) --- # Tech Talk 🤗🤑 It's done. **Nvidia** is buying **Hugging Face** for $12.93 billion, scooping up the Franco-American company that has become the de facto town square for open-source AI. Naturally, the finalization of the deal prompted celebration (largest non-IPO exit for French founders!) and lamentations (the three co-founders left early for NYC and there was little French investment in the cap table!) Whatever. The numbers explain some of the enthusiasm. AI registry Hugging Face now hosts nearly 3 million models and is used by millions of developers, giving Nvidia a front-row seat to what builders are actually downloading, tweaking and deploying. Nvidia and Hugging Face insist the platform will remain open, independent and compute-agnostic. For CEO Clément Delangue (who co-founded the company as a chatbot startup with Thomas Wolf and Julien Chaumond before pivoting), the deal is about giving open-source AI more compute, infrastructure and visibility while pursuing an ambition to reach 100 million AI builders. For Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the strategic logic is that the more open AI gets built and used, the more compute the world needs, and Nvidia remains extremely enthusiastic about selling that compute. Hugging Face was last valued at $4.5 billion in 2023, so Nvidia is paying close to three times that figure. The paycheck reportedly includes $1 billion in retention bonuses for Hugging Face employees. | [**Nvidia**](https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-to-acquire-hugging-face/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**Clem Delangue on LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/clementdelangue%5Fsuper-happy-to-share-our-intention-to-join-activity-7501248639705464832--RTv/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**WSJ**](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-agrees-to-buy-hugging-face-for-13-billion-11929060?st=gT4T1o&reflink=article%5FcopyURL%5Fshare&ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**The New York Times**](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/technology/nvidia-hugging-face.html?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) ![](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/content/images/2026/09/Hugging-Face-Chatbot.jpg) The early Hugging Face chatbot website, circa 1863 ⚛️📉 **Pasqal** has officially traded the Paris startup circuit for the Nasdaq, completing its **SPAC merger with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II** and emerging with roughly $360 million in cash to fund the next phase of its quantum ambitions. The neutral-atom specialist now trades under the ticker PSQL and plans to spend that money on building more machines, expanding production as it pushes toward the industry’s great promised land: fault-tolerant quantum computing. More than 90% of Bleichroeder’s public shareholders redeemed their shares before the merger, meaning most of that $360 million did not actually come from eager Nasdaq investors waving checks at French quantum. Still, Pasqal now has a deep pool of public capital and a mechanism for coming back for more when quantum physics inevitably gets expensive. The company already has seven QPUs deployed, three more in production and more than 25 commercial and research applications. Pasqal is keeping its headquarters and core technology in France and plans a future Euronext Paris listing. | [**EU-Startups**](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/08/french-quantum-scale-up-pasqal-hits-nasdaq-with-e309-million-in-cash-at-closing/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**FrenchWeb**](https://www.frenchweb.fr/pasqal-au-nasdaq-le-quantique-francais-cherche-le-capital-de-son-industrialisation/463104?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) ![](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/content/images/2026/09/Pasqal-stock.jpg) 💶 🤖 **Mistral AI** is reportedly close to finalizing its long-rumored €3 billion Series D led by Samsung, with Nvidia, ASML and the EU’s new Scaleup Fund also joining the round, which would value the French AI champion at around €21 billion post-money. [**The Sifted Scoophounds** ](https://sifted.eu/articles/mistral-series-d-samsung-nvidia-asml?ref=frenchtechjournal.com)report that the round is oversubscribed, with Samsung taking the biggest ticket and the EU fund contributing roughly €300 million. | [**Sifted**](https://sifted.eu/articles/mistral-series-d-samsung-nvidia-asml?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 🤖🫰French robotics startup **Wandercraft** is reportedly looking to raise around **€100 million** at a pre-money valuation of roughly **€750 million**, with Goldman Sachs helping run the process, [**according to Bloomberg**](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-02/renault-backed-wandercraft-seeks-100-million-in-new-funding?ref=frenchtechjournal.com). The company, which makes both rehabilitation exoskeletons and humanoid robots for industry, raised $75 million last year from investors including Renault. It now plans to deploy 350 Wandercraft robots across factories in France and Spain by the end of 2027\. And last month, its medical exoskeleton Eve received approval from the US FDA. | [**Bloomberg**](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-02/renault-backed-wandercraft-seeks-100-million-in-new-funding?ref=frenchtechjournal.com)**,** [**Wandercraft**](https://www.wandercraft.eu/articles/wandercraft-receives-fda-clearance-for-eve-the-worlds-first-self-balancing-personal-exoskeleton-for-eligible-wheelchair-users-living-with-spinal-cord-injuries-at-any-level?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) ⚽🏅💰 **Sorare** has dipped back into the funding well, raising a new eight-figure round from longtime backers Benchmark, Accel, Partech and Kibo Ventures, with founders Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort also putting in money. It’s not quite the $680 million, $4.3 billion-valuation madness of 2021, but after several bruising years that included a restructuring that cut roughly 35% of staff last November, the French fantasy-sports company finally has some nicer numbers to talk about. The company did not officially release the amount, [**but Julia told Maddyness**](https://www.maddyness.com/2026/09/03/apres-des-annees-mouvementees-sorare-boucle-un-nouveau-tour-de-table-aupres-de-ses-investisseurs-historiques/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) that it is in the "8-figure" range, with a first tranche closed and a second on the way. What's less clear is how much of this may be new equity versus a recapitalization or...? Julia noted that three years ago "we started rebuilding Sorare from the ground up." He said that net revenue jumped 85% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, while its new free-to-play Arcade mode helped bring in more than 1 million new users over the past 18 months. Julia says the fresh cash will fund more products and growth, while Sorare now aims to get back to profitability by the end of 2027\. There is, naturally, a small regulatory cloud hovering over the comeback story. Sorare is still fighting the UK Gambling Commission over whether its game constitutes unlicensed gambling, with a trial scheduled for June 2027, while British authorities have frozen £10 million in Premier League funds linked to the former Sorare partnership.| [**Julia on X**](https://x.com/ni2las/status/2095479765746454726?s=20&ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**Maddyness**](https://www.maddyness.com/2026/09/03/apres-des-annees-mouvementees-sorare-boucle-un-nouveau-tour-de-table-aupres-de-ses-investisseurs-historiques/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**Yahoo**](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/uks-national-crime-agency-freezes-094627219.html?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 🏥🛍️ French surgical robotics company **eCential Robotics** is set to be acquired by U.S. medtech group **Enovis**, which wants to fold the Grenoble company’s robotic surgery platform into its orthopedic technology portfolio. The deal is reportedly includes about €176 million in cash to be paid to shareholders at closing, plus up to €35 million in contingent consideration tied to milestones. | [**PR**](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ecential-robotics-announces-binding-offer-from-enovis-302865407.html?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**StockTitan**](https://www.stocktitan.net/news/ENOV/enovis-invests-in-innovation-with-binding-offer-to-acquire-e-cential-pka9gmw5rbhz.html?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ecential-robotics%5Fecential-robotics-announces-binding-offer-activity-7500592397039521793-nVaX?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAAAE0kG8BObj6r7nc5sfWRNVZaz22BQG3gmI) ⚖️👨‍⚖️ **LexisNexis** parent **RELX** has completed its acquisition of Paris legal-tech startup **Doctrine**, a few months after the deal was announced. The deal, whose price remains undisclosed, brings together LexisNexis’ 200 years of legal content and roughly 200 billion documents with Doctrine’s AI-powered research. | [**LeFigaro**](https://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/ensemble-nous-allons-devenir-imbattables-lexisnexis-rachete-le-francais-doctrine-pour-creer-un-champion-de-l-ia-juridique-en-europe-20260903?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 🛠️ 🛰️ **Hexa** continues to venture beyond its SaaS comfort zone and into hardware and deeptech, hiring Belgian aerospace-and-energy entrepreneur **Guerric de Crombrugghe** as a Partner to hunt for opportunities in defense, energy, and AI infrastructure. The startup studio says it wants to focus on technologies that are already scientifically proven but commercially underexploited. De Crombrugghe is already working on **WaterX**, for atmospheric water generators, and **Pong**, which wants to put satellite ground stations on commercial ships. | [**Maddyness**](https://www.maddyness.com/2026/09/02/hexa-veut-desormais-propulser-des-pepites-hardware-et-deeptech/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 🚗🤖 France has authorized road tests of **Tesla’s** **Full Self-Driving (Supervised)** system, just two months after saying it was too risky following a “constructive exchange” between Elon Musk and Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot. Tesla will initially provide two vehicles for the trials, as France joins a growing group of European countries cautiously opening the door to supervised autonomous driving. | [**EuroNews**](https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/09/03/france-tests-tesla-self-driving-two-months-after-calling-it-too-risky?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) **🌀🥼 Kyutai** is adding a commercial arm, Kyutai Transfer, to help turn the non-profit French AI lab’s open research into things companies can actually deploy. The nonprofit lab itself will remain focused on open science, while the new entity will handle consulting, training, integration, and other technology-transfer work around projects such as Moshi and Pocket TTS. | [**L'Informé**](https://www.linforme.com/tech-telecom/article/kyutai-le-labo-ia-a-but-non-lucratif-de-niel-schmidt-et-saade-lance-sa-structure-commerciale%5F7028.html?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) [Become a paid subscriber](#/portal/signup) --- # ArcSpace Wants to Build the Welding Tools for the Space Economy [![Guillaume Mohara, Cofounder, CEO & CTO @ArcSpace](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/content/images/2026/09/image-7.png)](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/arcspace-2m-in-space-welding-satellite-repair/) Guillaume Mohara, Cofounder, CEO & CTO @ArcSpace [**ArcSpace**](https://arc-space.com/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) is working on a problem that sounds almost mundane by space-industry standards: how to weld metal once you are already in orbit. The French startup, founded in 2022 by Guillaume Mohara and Adam Abdin, has developed a compact electron-beam system designed to join and cut metal in space. It has raised more than €2 million in a round led by Czech VC firm DEPO Ventures, with SCE Freiraum Ventures, IRDI Capital Investissement and a French business angels network also participating. ArcSpace plans to use the funding to prepare an orbital demonstration in 2027\. But the company is building toward a market that, in its biggest form, barely exists yet. [Go Inside ArcSpace](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/arcspace-2m-in-space-welding-satellite-repair/) --- # 💸 Top Funding Deals 💸 📇 Company: Lupin Dental 🏷️ Sectors: MedTech, Robotics 🔍 Description: Lupin Dental develops supervised robotic systems for minimally invasive dental procedures. Its Lupin Robotic System combines treatment-planning software with a robotic workstation that automates tooth preparation for aesthetic veneers, aiming to improve precision, clinical workflows, and patient outcomes. 💻 Website: [https://lupindental.com/](https://lupindental.com/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 📍 HQ City: Montpellier 🧗 Round: Series A 💰 Amount Raised: €15 million 🏦 Investors: Fynveur, Bpifrance 👨💼👩💼 Founders: Dr. Galip Gürel, Dr. Stefen Koubi 🗞️ News: Lupin Dental has closed a €15 million Series A to accelerate development and adoption of its robotic technology for dental procedures. Fynveur led the round with a €10 million investment, alongside existing shareholders and private investors, with additional loan financing from Bpifrance. The company’s flagship Lupin Robotic System uses software to design a patient's final smile and treatment plan before a robotic workstation executes the required minimally invasive tooth preparation for veneers. The system received UKCA certification in June 2026, enabling commercialization in Great Britain, following earlier regulatory clearance in India, although it is not yet approved for clinical use in the EU or US. Lupin Dental will use the financing to expand partnerships with academic and medical institutions, dentists, and Dental Service Organizations as it works toward broader adoption of its technology. | [**EU-Startups**](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/08/montpellier-based-dental-robotics-startup-lupin-dental-closes-e15-million-series-a-round/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) --- 📇 Company: Huscarl 🏷️ Sectors: InsurTech, AI, SaaS 🔍 Description: Huscarl develops an AI-powered actuarial platform for corporations, self-insured companies, insurance captives, and risk retention groups. Its autonomous AI actuary ingests unstructured data and automates workflows, including risk modeling, pricing, reserving, and capital analysis, with studies reviewed and signed by credentialed human actuaries. 💻 Website: [http://huscarl.io/](http://huscarl.io/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 📍 HQ City: Paris 🧗 Round: Seed 💰 Amount Raised: $5.6 million 🏦 Investors: FRST, Y Combinator, MS&AD Ventures, Business Angels 👨💼👩💼 Founders: Alexandre Musy, Paulien Jeunesse 🗞️ News: Huscarl has raised $5.6 million in Seed funding led by FRST to accelerate development of its AI actuarial platform and expansion in the United States. The Y Combinator-backed startup helps companies use self-insurance and captive structures by automating actuarial work, including modeling, pricing, reserving, and capital analysis. Huscarl offers one-off actuarial studies, appointed-actuary services for captives, and outsourced underwriting for group captives and risk retention groups, while keeping credentialed human actuaries responsible for reviewing and signing its studies. The company says it has already worked with a risk retention group and a single-parent captive belonging to a company generating more than $2 billion in revenue. Huscarl was founded by former Descartes Underwriting employees Alexandre Musy and Paulien Jeunesse, who previously worked together on cyber parametric insurance. | [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7501384767859478528-pexo?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAAAE0kG8BObj6r7nc5sfWRNVZaz22BQG3gmI), [**Coverager**](https://coverager.com/huscarl-raises-5-6-million-for-ai-actuarial-platform/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) --- 📇 Company: ColibriTD 🏷️ Sectors: Quantum Computing, DeepTech 🔍 Description: ColibriTD develops a hardware-agnostic quantum-powered multiphysics simulation platform built around H-DES, its proprietary hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving partial differential equations. The company targets computationally intensive applications across defense, aerospace, semiconductors, energy, automotive, climate science, and quantitative finance. 💻 Website: [https://www.colibritd.com/](https://www.colibritd.com/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) 📍 HQ City: Paris 🧗 Round: Seed 💰 Amount Raised: €4 million 🏦 Investors: Earlybird Venture Capital, SymbiaVC, Medin VC 👨💼👩💼 Founders: Laurent Guiraud, Hacène Goudjil 🗞️ News: ColibriTD has raised €4 million in Seed funding to accelerate development of its quantum simulation platform and expand internationally. Earlybird Venture Capital led the round, which previously backed the company’s €1 million pre-Seed round, with participation from SymbiaVC and Medin VC. Founded in 2019, ColibriTD has completed seven co-construction projects across six industrial sectors, including work with groups such as Thales, ESA and BMW. The company will use the funding to invest further in H-DES R&D, recruit quantum researchers and domain experts, expand hardware and academic partnerships, and scale client deployments. ColibriTD currently employs around 20 people and is positioning its platform as a software layer that can translate advances in quantum hardware into practical industrial applications. | [**EU-Startups**](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/08/paris-based-colibritd-raises-e4-million-to-scale-its-quantum-powered-multiphysics-simulation-platform/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com), [**La Revue Digitale**](https://www.larevuedudigital.com/colibritd-startup-francaise-de-logiciels-industriels-pour-le-quantique-leve-4-millions-deuros/?ref=frenchtechjournal.com) --- 👋🏻 If you’re enjoying [The French Tech Journal](https://www.frenchtechjournal.com/), support the project by forwarding it to friends and sharing it on your social networks. You can also comment on this post. And if you have ideas for stories, tips, or just want to harass us, shoot us an email: [chris@frenchtechjournal.com](mailto:chris@frenchtechjournal.com) / [helen@frenchtechjournal.com](mailto:helen@frenchtechjournal.com) 👋🏻‌