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- 🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — March 3, 2025. €40.3M in new funding for French companies.
🇫🇷 French Tech Updates — March 3, 2025. €40.3M in new funding for French companies.
What you need to know this week in France: 🚀 Texas and France join forces on Space Hub project, 🇪🇺 new AI center for excellence to open in Paris.

Welcome to French Tech Updates! Your weekly source of startup, VC, and tech news and insights. I’m James, a startup-obsessed American living in Paris.
A new way to track deals in France 📊
There’s plenty going on in France (and in the world) this week, so I’ll keep this intro short. At the suggestion of a friend, I’ve created a new interactive dashboard for all the fundraising deals in the newsletter. Each week, I’ll update this tracker with:
📝 Every startup that announced new funding
📊 A running summary of total funding raised by industry
📈 Total funding raised and total number of deals for the year
💶 And the amount of funding raised each week
Check it out at the link above and let me know if there are any additional views or data points you’d like to see.

Total 2025 funding by industry as of this week
With that, let’s jump into this week’s update!
📝 Quiz: What % of VC deal value did AI represent in Q4, 2024?
(answer at the bottom of the newsletter)
A.) 20%
B.) 33%
C.) 50%
D.) 61%
What’s new this week in 🇫🇷
🤖 World Economic Forum to Launch European Centre for AI Excellence in Paris: The centre will support research, startups, and “responsible AI adoption.”
🚀 Texas-France Space Hub announced: It turns out having a city named Paris isn’t all the two places have in common. Announced at ASCENDx Texas 2025, the Texas-France Space Hub will connect startups, researchers, and industry leaders through a biannual accelerator program in both Houston and Paris.
🌍 Headlines from around the world
Chegg sues Google over AI previews “eroding the internet” (The Business Times)
Microsoft is shutting down Skype in 2 months (TechCrunch)
Bluesky Is Getting Its Own Instagram Alternative Called Flashes (Gizmodo)
Amazon launches Alexa Plus with new hardware coming next (The Verge)
Anthropic closing in on $3.5 billion fundraise (WSJ)
New Funding 💶
13 companies raised €40.3 in the last week
Vegetal Food | €1.2M | Food & Beverage
Vegetal Food, established in 2019, has secured €1.2 million in its first funding round from the FPCI Food Invest II, managed by Elevation Capital Partners in strategic partnership with FoodXpert. The company operates a digital platform that distributes 100% plant-based products across ambient, fresh, and frozen categories to professionals.
Aithra | €1.2M | 3D Printing
Aithra, based in Toulouse, raised €1.2 million from investors including Aerospace Angels, Business Angels des Grandes Écoles, Défense Angels, Femmes Business Angels, and Méliès Business Angels. The company develops 3D printers capable of producing ceramic parts for high-tech industries, addressing limitations of current manufacturing methods. This funding will support their first sales and further product development.
Akidaia | €1.3M | Industrial Systems
Nice-based Akidaia has raised €1.3 million from investors including Vinci's Leonard Invest, Bouygues' Construction Venture, Advans Group, and private investors from Paris Business Angels and Provence Angels. This funding will accelerate the development of their 100% offline access control solution, which allows users to unlock doors and secure areas using their smartphones without the need for an internet connection. The investment will also support increased production capabilities and international expansion plans.
OncoDiag | €1.4M | MedTech
French startup OncoDiag, based in Miserey near Évreux, has raised €1.4 million in a funding round supported by existing investors including Angels Santé, Business Angels des Grandes Écoles, Normandie Business Angels, Paris Business Angels, SFINE, and Normandie Participations. This investment will further the development of their non-invasive diagnostic tests: Prostadiag and Prostascore for prostate cancer, and Colodiag for colorectal cancer and international commercialization of Urodiag, their urine-based test for monitoring bladder cancer recurrences.
BiOceanOr | €2M | Cleantech
BiOceanOr, based in Sophia Antipolis, has raised €2 million to enhance its predictive water quality analysis platform. The funding round included investors such as Go Capital, The Yield Lab, and Caisse d’Épargne Côte d’Azur. BiOceanOr specializes in collecting, analyzing, and predicting water quality data using artificial intelligence, serving aquaculture industries in countries like Norway, Australia, Scotland, and Chile.
MB Therapeutics | €2M | Pharmaceuticals
MB Therapeutics, based in Montpellier, has received €2 million in seed funding to support the development of a personalized medicine solution powered by 3D printing. This grant will support the advancement of their innovative solution, enabling patients to benefit from next-generation drugs produced using 3D printing technology.
MoEa | €2.3M | Fashion & Textiles
Paris-based MoEa has raised €2.3 million to fund the development of new materials and recycled sneakers made from its collections. The funding round was led by Go Capital, Odiem Capital, and Ring Capital (Generations powered by Edhec), with participation from several business angels, including Antoine Leconte and Jérémy Charoy's Climate Club. MoEa specializes in creating vegan sneakers using biomaterials derived from fruits and plants, offering sustainable alternatives to traditional leather footwear.
Iktos | €2.5M | AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Iktos, based in Paris, has received a €2.5M grant. The company specializes in artificial intelligence for drug discovery, developing AI solutions to streamline the design of new molecules. The investment will support the expansion of their AI platform and the launch of Iktos Robotics—an automated end-to-end drug discovery service.
Byzantine Finance | €2.73M | Cryptocurrency & Blockchain
Paris-HQ’d Byzantine Finance has raised €2.8 million ($3 million) in a pre-seed funding round led by Node Capital and Blockwall Ventures, with participation from over 30 investors, including Lightshift, Masterkey VC, and Kiln Ventures. The company offers a platform that allows cryptocurrency investors to increase their earnings by participating in the security of multiple blockchain networks simultaneously.
Activ’Inside | €4M | Food & Beverage
Activ'Inside, based near Bordeaux, has raised €4 million from investors including Aquiti Gestion via the NACI 1 fund, Bpifrance, the company's founders, and new Deputy CEO Vincent Bellette. The company specializes in developing and producing natural active ingredients for the food supplement industry, particularly from saffron and grape extracts.
Edumapper | €5M | Edtech
Edumapper has raised €5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by daphni, with participation from Kima Ventures, Eurazeo (via HEC Ventures), Ring Capital, and angel investors. Edumapper offers a platform to assist future students, primarily high schoolers, in navigating the transition to higher education. Their tools structure data from educational institutions, alumni career paths, and job market trends to provide personalized recommendations, helping students discover, analyze, and compare available higher education programs.
Mabqi | €5M | Biotech
Grables based biotech Mabqi has raised €5 million through the "Innovations en biothérapies et bioproduction" initiative of the France 2030 program. Specializing in developing therapeutic antibodies for cancer treatment, Mabqi plans to use the funds to advance its prostate cancer research and development efforts.
Adocia | €9.7M | Biotech
Lyon-based biotech Adocia raised €9.7 million in a private placement led by investors including Armistice Capital and Gérard Soula, the company's chairman. Adocia specialized in in developing innovative treatments for diabetes and obesity and plans to use the funds to advance its AdoShell® Islets project, which focuses on cell therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes.
Upcoming Events 🗓
Interesting Jobs 👩💻
What Else I’m Reading 📚
Ÿnsect’s Bankruptcy: Hard Lessons For France's Deep Tech and Industrialization Strategies (Chris O’Brien)
Voters were right about the economy, the data was wrong (Politico)
2024 biggest breakthroughs in biology and neuroscience (Quanta)
7 Increasing Probabilities of Error (Barry Ritholtz)
How not to end the war in Ukraine (Foreign Affairs)
TechpressoWhy you’ll like it: Daily updates on the latest tech and AI news in an easy-to-read format. Stay in the know while finishing your morning coffee. | Trends.vc![]() Why you’ll like it: Short summaries of breaking topics in the world of startups and Venture Capital. An easy way to find new ideas and opportunities. |
Quiz Answer: C.) 50%
According to a recent report from PitchBook, total Q4 deal value for AI and ML companies came in at $58.7 billion across 2,202 deals—an increase in deal value of 240% from Q4, 2023 🤯.