In only some days, France will host the Synthetic Intelligence Motion Summit, with heads of state flocking to Paris to satisfy world tech leaders. They’ll perhaps announce some giant investments and diplomatic agreements concerned about protection or the environmental affect of synthetic intelligence.
Forward of the summit, early-stage VC company Galion.exe, enlargement funding company Revaia, and advisory company Chausson Companions have teamed as much as create the French AI File, which appears on the present tendencies within the tech ecosystem.
Whilst all eyes are recently at the U.S. and China with OpenAI taking a look to elevate tens of billions of bucks and DeepSeek taking pictures everybody’s consideration, there was a increase in AI startups in Europe, too. In 2024 on my own, AI corporations represented round 20% of all VC investment within the area.
In general, that represents round $8 billion in investment for AI startups in 2024. That metric is perhaps going to develop hastily, as AI startups are nonetheless reasonably younger. Seventy % of the capital raised through AI startups in 2024 was once for a seed to Sequence B spherical.

Eu nations that have a tendency to draw VC investment usually have additionally transform the primary AI funding hubs, with the U.Okay. main the crowd, France and Germany following go well with, and the Nordics punching above its (demographic) weight. Right here’s the breakdown from 2020 to 2024:

Apparently, as AI corporations transform larger, they generally tend to draw global buyers, with U.S. VC corporations accounting for round 50% of cash invested in AI corporations on the Sequence C spherical and later.
In France extra in particular, there are “greater than 750 startups that experience created 35,000 jobs and function in all spaces which are remodeling these days’s society,” Minister Delegate for synthetic intelligence and virtual applied sciences Clara Chappaz mentioned at a press convention.
She additionally discussed that there are 2,000 scientists concerned about AI analysis and 600 doctorate scholars running on synthetic intelligence. And you could have spotted that there are rather a couple of French engineers and researchers running for AI corporations within the U.S., too.
The group in the back of the French AI File appeared extra carefully on the best 400 AI startups in France and attempted to spot the emerging stars. Whilst Mistral AI and Poolside are already some acquainted names for readers who’ve adopted the AI trade, nearly all of AI startups aren’t running at the subsequent basis type.
At the infrastructure entrance, some corporations are optimizing the knowledge workflows and pipelines, akin to Linkup and Kestra, or bettering inference efficiency, akin to ZML, or growing brokers that may sift thru massive information units and make stronger productiveness. Mud is a great instance of that.

However the truth is that almost all AI startups in France are specializing in packages for particular verticals. In keeping with this file, two vital spaces for AI startups in France are well being and local weather.
Owkin and its spin-off biotech corporate Bioptimus were main the pack at the well being tech entrance, but it surely’s a shockingly various staff of businesses with 3 giant spaces of hobby: imaging gear, drug discovery, and scientific remedy growth.

In a similar way, whilst a big bite of the AI trade is concerned about productiveness good points for place of work employees, synthetic intelligence may be actively getting used to construct the next-generation of local weather startups. Along with agritech, carbon and effort control — two subjects which are comparable — appear to be a large center of attention. There also are a handful of promising new fabrics corporations which are rising (Altrove, as an example).

All of the corporations incorporated within the record may also be discovered right here. You’ll additionally to find quite a few AI corporations running on one process serve as (gross sales, buyer care, HR or criminal) and the usage of AI to simplify the most typical duties.
In fact, some corporations aren’t going to be there in 5 years. However lots of them are recently rising at a fast tempo. We’re nonetheless at the start of the AI revolution, and even though it’s simple to consider the AI trade as a zero-sum recreation with one nation or one corporate “successful” over the others, it sort of feels just like the AI increase is extra dispensed than anticipated.
Revaia,Galion.exe,Chausson Companions,French AI File
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