#43: Hexa's First CEO On Moving At AI Startup Speed
Cohere doubles Paris team, Deezer battles AI-music surge, MedGPT beats ChatGPT in exams, and €50M+ in fresh French AI funding fuels fintech, healthtech, and infra innovation.
AI
La Machine tells you what you need to know about an ecosystem that is emerging as a global AI hub. This includes the latest headlines, product launches, company launches, and funding rounds.
Hexa CEO: Charting A Course Through AI's Storm
Matthieu Gombeaud: "We must completely rethink the way we are building companies."
#42: The Anthropic-Mistral Transatlantic AI Funding Tango
As Anthropic plants its flag in Europe with a trust-first strategy, Mistral secures €1.8B in the continent's boldest AI sovereignty play yet. Meanwhile, French founders wrestle with wealth taxes while Chinese researchers rewrite the efficiency playbook.
Anthropic's Guillaume Princen: 'The building blocks of the digital economy are now as simple as having a conversation.'
The former Stripe executive was hired earlier this year to be Anthropic's Head of EMEA. He spoke with us about sovereignty, vibe coding, and why the Model Context Protocol has catalyzed the agentic era.
#41: Mistral AI Goes Dutch With $14B Valuation
The French AI startup is reportedly on the cusp of raising a new round led by chip equipment maker ASML of the Netherlands. Plus: Hugging Face hires; Cycle gets pedaled down under; Luc Julia gets called out; and Alpic raises $6M for MCP infrastructure.
How Alpic Is Building Model Context Protocol (MCP) Infrastructure For A New Agentic Internet
The Paris-based company has raised $6M to help companies deploy MCP servers for a world where AI agents, not humans, navigate digital services.
#40: When Agentic AI Breaks Bad
Agentic AI shows signs of going rogue, Fidji Simo outlines OpenAI's future, France launches a new digital council, CNIL drops its AI playbook, EDF bets on AI-infused nuclear, and GE Vernova snaps up French startup Alteia.
Bad bots or agentic misalignment? When AI appears to go rogue
AI systems are getting smart and independent. But what happens when they start making decisions we didn’t intend? A new Anthropic study reveals how even well-aligned models can go off-script. We spoke with ReciTAL CEO Gilles Moyse about the risks of agentic misalignment.
#39: Rewiring VC For The AI Age
Cathay's $1B AI fund balances disruption with collaboration between corporates and startups. Meta battles EU regulators over privacy rules. European AI funding surges 61% to €3.04B. Mistral's Le Chat upgrades. France cracks down on biometric surveillance.
Cathay Innovation's $1B Bet On Rewiring Venture Capital For The AI Age
The new fund challenges Silicon Valley's model by focusing on collaboration that connects AI startups directly with corporate giants to transform industries rather than disrupt them in an era where 'everybody has to play.'
#38 Photon-Powered Chips And Desktop Droids
French-founded Arago and Hugging Face are reshaping AI hardware: Arago’s photonic chips promise radical energy savings for data centers, while Hugging Face’s $299 Reachy Mini brings modular, open-source robotics to the desktop.
Photonic Chip Startup Arago Wants to Cut AI's Massive Energy Appetite by 90%
A year-old French company claims its light-powered processors could slash data center power consumption while keeping warehouse robots running all day instead of just one hour.
Hugging Face’s $299 Reachy Mini Signals A New Era In Personal Robotics
The AI powerhouse wants to bring robotics to the masses with its modular, open-source, and AI-integrated approach. By democratizing robotics, the company aims to spark a new wave of accessible hardware innovation.
Superhuman Founder Rahul Vohra On Reverse Engineering Product Market Fit
Speaking at Viva Technology 2025, Vohra breaks down his Product Market Fit Engine, a data-driven framework that leverages the right user feedback to build products that users love.
#37 France's AI Crossroads: Accelerate, Regulate…or Stall?
France pushes AI adoption with “Osez l’IA” as usage lags behind Europe. Regulators call for tighter rules, VCs and founders push back on the EU AI Act, and OVHcloud unveils a sovereign AI stack. Meanwhile, Primelis acquires Omny AI, and French defense embraces agile tech.
French AI Paradox: Speed Up or Slow Down?
France is racing to lead in AI...and also tapping the brakes. Between public fear, political urgency, and calls to pause regulation, the country’s AI strategy is anything but straightforward.