From AMI Labs’ new startup accelerator to Alan’s meteoric rise and VivaTech’s record-breaking edition, the French tech ecosystem has kicked off the year with a flurry of headline-grabbing developments. Here are the 10 stories that have shaped the narrative so far.

AMI Labs takes shape

La French Tech’s long-awaited AMI Labs program has finally unveiled its first cohort. Backed by the government’s France 2030 plan, the initiative selected 15 deep-tech startups working on generative AI, quantum computing, and green hydrogen. Each will receive up to €2 million in grants, mentorship from research institutes like INRIA and CEA, and privileged access to public procurement. The goal: bridge the gap between lab breakthroughs and industrial scale by 2027.

Alan breaks into profitability

Health insurance unicorn Alan has reported its first full-year profit, just seven years after launch. Co-founder Jean-Charles Samuelian announced the milestone alongside a jump in annual recurring revenue to €350 million, up 45% year-on-year. The company now covers over 500,000 members across France, Spain, and Belgium, and is eyeing Germany next. The profitability proof point, achieved while tripling its engineering team, is seen as a rebuttal to skeptics of insurtech’s unit economics.

VivaTech 2025 hits new highs

The annual tech extravaganza welcomed 155,000 visitors—up 20% on 2024—with Elon Musk and DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis as headline speakers. French President Emmanuel Macron used the event to unveil a €500 million sovereign cloud initiative and a “Tibérine” fund for AI defense startups. Among the 2,800 exhibitors, French GenAI players like Mistral AI and LightOn drew the largest crowds, while a dedicated “Planet Tech” zone spotlighted climate startups.

Mistral AI secures mega-round, eyes US expansion

Just days before VivaTech, Mistral AI closed a €600 million Series B at a valuation nearing €6 billion. CEO Arthur Mensch confirmed the capital will fund a US office in San Francisco and the training of a next-generation model competitive with GPT-5. The fundraise, led by a16z and Lightspeed, cements Mistral’s position as Europe’s best-funded AI startup and intensifies its rivalry with OpenAI.

H raises the largest seed round in French history

The mysterious AI startup “H” (formerly known as Holistic) raised €220 million in a seed round backed by Accel, Bpifrance, and Xavier Niel. Founded by former DeepMind researchers, the company has remained tight-lipped about its product, describing it only as “foundational AI agents” for enterprises. The record-breaking raise has sparked debate about whether the French ecosystem is overheating in the AI race.

Doctolib’s AI assistant goes live

Doctolib launched an AI-powered medical scribe integrated into its consultation platform, automatically generating clinical notes during patient visits. Initially deployed to 5,000 general practitioners, the tool promises to cut administrative time by 30%. Early feedback from pilot users shows strong adoption, though data privacy watchdogs are monitoring the handling of sensitive health data.

Back Market doubles down on refurbished devices

The re-commerce platform raised €450 million in a Series E round led by ADIA, the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, to expand into Asia and launch a B2B refurbishment service. Back Market now exceeds $1 billion in annual gross merchandise volume and has become a policy player, lobbying the EU for mandatory reparability indices on all electronics.

France tightens foreign investment controls

The French government lowered the threshold for screening non-EU investments to 10% of voting rights in critical sectors, including AI, biotech, and cybersecurity. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire framed the move as protecting “technological sovereignty” after a series of Chinese and American takeover bids for sensitive startups. The decree has drawn mixed reactions from VCs, some warning it could slow cross-border funding.

Pigment becomes France’s latest unicorn

Business planning software startup Pigment reached a $1.2 billion valuation after a €120 million Series D. Co-founders Eléonore Crespo and Romain Niccoli attributed the growth to a surge in enterprise demand for real-time financial modeling, particularly from US clients. Pigment now counts Unilever, Tesla, and Coca-Cola among its customers and plans to double its New York headcount.

French Tech 2030 picks up speed

The government’s ambitious support program has already distributed €1.2 billion of its €2.3 billion budget across 120 selected startups in nuclear energy, bioproduction, and space. A new mentoring network pairing entrepreneurs with retired executives from Thales, Safran, and Airbus went live, aiming to professionalize deep-tech governance. An independent audit will assess the initiative’s ROI by mid-2026.

L’article AMI Labs, Alan, VivaTech… : retour sur les 10 grandes actus de la French Tech depuis le début de l’année est apparu en premier sur Maddyness - Le média pour comprendre l'économie de demain.