In this edition: ❤️

🧠 The tech giant is going all-in on France’s AI future, pledging to train a million citizens, back 2,500 startups, and spread innovation beyond Paris. In a report released this week, the company highlighted partnerships, from Mistral to Danone, to demonstrate its commitment to France's AI ambitions.

Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

Headlines

🗞️ Nvidia is reportedly ready to dive into the deep end by pouring up to $1 billion into French-ish AI startup Poolside, a deal that would quadruple the company’s valuation, per Bloomberg. The round in discussion: $2 billion at a $12 billion pre-money, with Nvidia anchoring at $500 million and potentially doubling that if targets are met. Poolside makes AI-powered coding assistants and has already lined up $1+ billion in commitments, including about $700 million from existing backers. For Nvidia, it’s another aggressive bet on the AI tooling layer that powers developers. For Poolside, it’s rocket fuel to chase dominance in the code-assistant race. Neither company has commented. | Bloomberg

🗞️ Schneider Electric is riding the AI wave. The French industrial heavyweight smashed expectations with 9% organic growth in Q3, driven by explosive demand for data centers that power artificial intelligence. With its cooling and power systems now essential infrastructure for the AI boom, Schneider’s data center division is set to make up nearly a quarter of revenue next year. Despite headwinds in Europe, momentum is strong, especially in France and the U.S., as the group doubles down on its role as the invisible engine of the AI economy. | Reuters

🗞️ After headline-grabbing pledges of €109 billion at February’s Global AI Action Summit in Paris, nearly €26 billion in data center projects have now been confirmed through Choose France, marking a decisive shift from promises to construction. The energy grid operator RTE reports 14 gigawatts of connection requests and expects 900 MW of new capacity to go live soon—driven largely by AI workloads, projected to represent up to 40% of France’s data needs by 2030. A new “Fast Track” scheme is accelerating deployments, including a €50 billion AI campus near Paris backed by MGX, Mistral, Nvidia, and Bpifrance. While some experts warn of surging electricity demand, France’s low-carbon nuclear power surplus positions it as one of the few European nations capable of powering the coming AI wave without derailing its climate goals. | Le Figaro

🗞️ Sifted released its ranking of the top 100 AI startups in Europe, which includes 16 in France, though not Mistral AI? 🤷 And none in the top 10. Harmattan AI and H Company at 11 and 12 respectively represent the top Frenchies. | Sifted

🗞️ At the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair, French publishers rallied against two mounting threats: AI misuse and the booming second-hand book trade. They warned they could erode both revenue and creativity. Industry leaders like Vincent Montagne of the SNE are pursuing lawsuits against Meta and others over AI training on copyrighted works, while calling for a new “resale right” to ensure authors are compensated when books are resold. Despite a 1.5% revenue dip last year, rights sales and exports remain a rare bright spot, with France Livre reporting brisk audiovisual adaptations. Yet even these gains rest on fragile state support, now strained by looming budget cuts. | Publishing Perspectives

🗞️ Richard Linklater, the indie directing icon behind Boyhood and the Before trilogy, has a clear message for those thinking AI will make such films: “No algorithm is gonna do that.” With Nouvelle Vague (out Nov. 14 on Netflix) and Blue Moon, the director explores human genius in all its messy brilliance, from famed French director Jean-Luc Godard’s chaotic birth of the French New Wave to Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart’s tragic decline. Both stories celebrate flawed, emotional creators who defied convention and time itself. Speaking ahead of the films’ release, Linklater dismissed AI as “just one more tool,” insisting that storytelling, intuition, and soul can’t be replicated by code. His upcoming project, Merrily We Roll Along, will be filmed over 20 years so that actors age naturally, a poetic rebuke to Hollywood’s new obsession with digital de-aging. “That’s my hanging-on-to-humanity approach,” he said. | AFP

OTHER HEADLINES

🗞️ How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT | Some writers appear so accurate in their assessment of where society and technology are taking us that they have attracted the label “prophet”. Think of J. G. Ballard, Octavia E. Butler, Marshall McLuhan, or Donna Haraway. One of the most important members of this enlightened club is the philosopher Jean Baudrillard. | The Conversation

ICYMI

🗞️ How Certificall Is Fighting AI-Fueled Visual Insurance Fraud | Founded by insurance veterans in Toulouse, Certificall transforms photos and videos into certified legal evidence in under 90 seconds. The startup just raised €1M to help insurers, brokers, and industries prevent fraud, ensure compliance, and restore trust in the age of AI-generated fakes.| The Grenoble-based company just raised €8M to scale its terahertz-AI technology that can see inside products on production lines | The French Tech Journal

🗞️ Mission Probabl: The Quest to Transform French AI Research into A Tech Champion | Scikit-learn, born at a French research institute, is one of the world’s most-used machine learning libraries. Probabl aims to turn it into a global business. Its journey reveals France’s AI potential and the structural hurdles of commercializing public research. | The French Tech Journal

🧠 Microsoft Stakes €4B Claim To Lead France's AI Transformation

Microsoft wants you to know that it really really really ❤️ France AI.

In the company's glass and steel headquarters in the almost-Paris city of Issy-les-Moulineaux, hovering just above the banks of the Seine River, Microsoft executives gathered partners and press this week to release the tech giant's latest report, "Microsoft & AI in France," which details progress on its €4 billion commitment to transform France into an AI powerhouse.

By the numbers:

• 250,000 French citizens have already completed AI training courses
• 1,000 startups have received support
• France now ranks fifth globally in AI adoption, with over 40% of its working-age population already using these technologies.
• AI could add €250 to €400 billion to France’s GDP by 2030

Behind these statistics lies a more nuanced tale of how Microsoft wants to help France position itself at the forefront of Europe's AI revolution.

"AI should not replace humans, but give them more ways to learn and innovate," wrote Corine De Bilbao, President of Microsoft France, on LinkedIn. "This is the meaning of our commitments made at Choose France 2024, which are now being translated into concrete results."

AI Funding News

For the week ending October 31, there were 5 AI startups that raised a total of €37.6 million.

📇 Company: The Mobile-First Company
🔍 Description: Paris-based startup building an AI-powered mobile software suite for small business teams. Its flagship product, Allo, is an AI-driven phone system designed for SMBs, featuring an AI receptionist, smart call summaries, intelligent routing, voicemail transcription, and seamless CRM integrations. Unlike traditional VoIP systems, Allo operates entirely on mobile devices, eliminating the need for complex IT infrastructure. The company follows a modular “One Problem, One App” approach, with upcoming products Due (AI invoicing) and Claim (expense management).
💻 Website: http://themobilefirstcompany.com/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: $12 million
🏦 Investors: Base10 Partners (lead), Lightspeed Venture Partners
👨👩 Founders: Jérémy Goillot (CEO, ex-Head of Growth at Spendesk) and Franco Pinto (CTO)
🗞️ News: The funding will support the expansion of The Mobile-First Company’s AI-driven suite globally, with a focus on the U.S. market, where Allo is experiencing 50% month-over-month growth. The startup aims to build simple, fast, and accessible software for small business owners traditionally underserved by enterprise SaaS, positioning itself as a mobile-native alternative to incumbents like RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall, and Nextiva. | PR, Tech Funding News

📇 Company: Primaa
🔍 Description: Paris-based MedTech startup developing AI-powered diagnostic software for histology and cancer detection. Primaa’s CE-marked solution Cleo Breast automates the detection and quantification of key biomarkers in breast cancer, while Cleo Skin—in the process of CE marking—targets melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma. Its tools enhance diagnostic accuracy, reduce processing time, and alleviate pathologists’ workloads.
💻 Website: https://primaalab.com/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Extended Financing Round
💰 Amount Raised: €7 million
🏦 Investors: MH Innov’–Elaia partnership fund, SWEN Capital Partners, Super Capital, and members of the Wendel family
👨👩 Founders: Fanny Sockeel (CEO & Co-founder)
🗞️ News: The new capital will accelerate Primaa’s European expansion and customer support, advance predictive AI models for disease progression and relapse risk, and support U.S. market entry through upcoming FDA certification activities. Its Cleo Breast and Cleo Skin tools are already deployed in leading French institutions such as Institut Curie, AP-HP, and Saint-Joseph Hospital. | Tech EU

📇 Company: Faktus
🔍 Description: Paris-based fintech building the first European neobank dedicated to the construction sector. Faktus provides financing solutions for craftsmen and small BTP (construction and public works) businesses traditionally underserved by banks. Its AI-powered platform analyzes invoices, contracts, and project schedules to reduce financing approval times from several weeks to just two hours. The platform also offers professional accounts with real-time cash flow tracking, invoice financing, material advances, and retention guarantees for project completion.
💻 Website: https://faktus.eu/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed (Equity + Debt)
💰 Amount Raised: €9M equity (+€47M debt)
🏦 Investors: Lakestar, Foundamental (equity), Insight Investment, and Fost Capital (debt providers)
👨👩 Founders: Alexandre Pochon and Réda Kabbaj
🗞️ News: The funds will enable Faktus to finance €500 million worth of construction projects within 18 months, strengthen its national presence across France, and expand into the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal by 2026. Since launch, Faktus has financed over 470 projects worth €100 million—including major sites such as Roland-Garros and the French Senate—and built a 30-person team combining expertise from BNP, Qonto, Revolut, Saint-Gobain, Coface, and Mirakl. | FrenchWeb

📇 Company: Altrove
🔍 Description: Paris-based deeptech startup developing AI-designed sustainable alternatives to critical materials such as rare earths and cobalt. Altrove’s proprietary platform integrates artificial intelligence, automated synthesis, and self-learning characterization to accelerate material discovery from years to weeks. The company aims to strengthen Europe’s industrial sovereignty by reducing dependence on imported materials used in electrification and high-performance manufacturing.
💻 Website: https://www.altrove.ai
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Seed
💰 Amount Raised: $10 million
🏦 Investors: Alven (lead), Bpifrance Digital Venture, Contrarian Ventures, Emblem; existing investors Entrepreneurs First and angels including Thomas Clozel (Owkin), Julien Chaumond (Hugging Face), Thomas Plantenga (Vinted), and Michal Valko (ex-Meta)
👨👩 Founders: Thibaud Martin (CEO) and Dr. Joonatan Laulainen (CTO)
🗞️ News: The funding will be used to expand Altrove’s R&D labs, grow its technical team, and scale AI-designed materials from gram-scale to industrial production within two years. The company has already achieved breakthroughs in rare-earth-free and cobalt-free magnetic materials and non-toxic, lead-free compounds for sensors and actuators, securing over a dozen partnerships across the automotive, energy, and heavy industry sectors. | Tech EU

📇 Company: DotBlocks
🔍 Description: Paris-based startup developing a cloud platform that democratizes numerical simulation and modeling for industrial companies. DotBlocks aims to make advanced computation accessible beyond R&D teams — enabling engineers, designers, and factory staff to accelerate innovation, improve process design, and support decarbonization in heavy industries such as metallurgy, glass manufacturing, and high-temperature processes.
💻 Website: https://dotblocks.com/
📍 HQ City: Paris, France
🧗 Round: Pre-Seed
💰 Amount Raised: €1.4 million
🏦 Investors: OPRTRS Club (lead), Aglaé Ventures, Kima Ventures, Olivier Pomel (CEO of Datadog), Thibaud Elzière (co-founder of Hexa), and Renaud Boutet (ex-Product Management Director at Datadog, Venture Partner at Hedosophia)
👨👩 Founders: Kevin Lippera (CEO, ex-Saint-Gobain) and Joffrey Bluthé (ex-CEA)
🗞️ News: The funding will accelerate DotBlocks’ commercial deployment—particularly with major industrial partners like Saint-Gobain—and support the expansion of its technical teams. The startup aims to position itself as a key player in next-generation industrial simulation by making high-performance modeling tools accessible across entire organizations. | FrenchWeb, Maddyness

🗣️ Announcements 🗣️

🗣️ AI Startup Accelerator | For its 3rd edition, the AI Startup Accelerator program at Station F is partnering with SNCF Connect & Tech, Hugging Face, and HEC Paris Incubation & Acceleration Center to support French startups that are building the future of mobility through open source AI. For 6 months, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with the experts of our partners, to experiment with your solution on concrete use cases, to access real data, and to benefit from a strategic and technical mentorship to take your product to the next level. | Apply by October 31

🗣️ Pioneers AI Lab | The AI Lab unites the top 8 AI builders in Europe every 3 months to build global consumer and prosumer products at STATION F, Paris. | More details on the next application batch

📆 Events 📆

📆 The European AI Championship 2025 - Launch party | November 5 |What is the European AI Championship? ​Coming soon: 15 of Europe’s top AI engineers will battle live on stage, building real-world solutions using AI tools. They will represent their country to win, and you'll be able to watch and cheer for them with 1500 fellow engineers and AI-curious minds. Experience a championship where code meets competition, and AI hype meets AI application, wrapped in a unique, entertaining show. Think Eurovision, but for AI builders! | Buy tickets

📆 Data & AI Leaders Summit | November 5-6 | Paris becomes the nerve centre of data and responsible artificial intelligence. Access a program rooted in business reality: case studies, AI audits, governance, industrialisation, and sustainability. France's AI ecosystem is dynamic but under pressure: talent shortages, projects stuck at the POC stage, regulatory uncertainties (AI Act), and poor-quality data. Data & AI Leaders Summit Paris helps you move forward with technical content, immediately applicable and designed for the field. | Register

📆 dotAI | November 6 | We’re putting the spotlight on the best engineers in fabulous stages, so that their work is beautifully wrapped, their ideas travel better, and so that future leading engineers can aspire for that recognition. | Register

📆 Tectonic European Defense Summit | November 12-13 | Gather with the brightest minds in defense technology, policy, and innovation to forge the future of European security. | Buy Tickets

📆 Paris Meetup | fal x Hugging Face x BFL | November 13 | Join us for an evening of AI, creativity & connection. fal, Hugging Face, and Black Forest Labs invite you to an exclusive Paris meetup combining short talks, quick presentations, and open networking. Whether you're an AI engineer, developer, founder, product manager, or AI artist interested in generative media, this is your chance to connect with peers, demo new tools, and explore collaboration. | Request to join

📆 The Sovereign Cyber & Defence AI Forum | November 17 - November 20 | For ten years, European Cyber Week, organized by the Cyber Excellence Cluster and its members, has been bringing together French and European cybersecurity and cyberdefense players around a common goal: building sustainable digital sovereignty in line with the geopolitical challenges and commercial issues of the contemporary world. Civilian and military experts, startups and large groups, researchers and institutions: all will be present to discuss major technological, industrial, and societal issues. Cyber and artificial intelligence for defense, training, and guidance, Capture the Flag Challenge, wargaming, Bitflip, dual innovations, European and international defense, business and networking, resilience. | Register

📆 SophI.A Summit 2025 | November 19 - November 21 | The seventh edition of the international AI conference will take place at Sophia Antipolis Technology Park on the French Riviera, to reveal the latest advances in the field of artificial intelligence and its applications. This event brings together global AI experts in biology, health, mobility, and smart applications, covering both core technology and its applications, who will present their work through meetings, debates, round tables, and posters. | Buy Tickets

📆 Adopt AI | November 24 - 26 | The iconic Grand Palais will host the business-focused continuation of the AI Action Summit, led by President Macron alongside Heads of State and Government. Over three days, Fortune 500 CEOs, top researchers, and forward-thinking C-level leaders will showcase how AI is reshaping industries, driving strategy, and merging human and machine intelligence. | Buy Tickets

📆 ai-Pulse | December 4 | Hosted by Scaleway at Station F. Join leaders and engineers for a one-day technical conference dedicated to AI breakthroughs, research, and product demonstrations.| Register

📆 apidays Paris | December 9 - 11 | CNIT Forest, Paris | As Europe’s capital of tech, policy, and innovation, Paris provides the perfect setting to explore the convergence of APIs and AI. At the heart of this intersection, apidays Paris sparks essential conversations on data security, digital sovereignty, and sustainable innovation in the age of intelligent systems. | Buy Tickets

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