In its bid to prove itself a global tech powerhouse, Paris has not shied away from using superlatives. Case in point: Station F, the world's largest start-up campus, owned by Xavier Niel (a member of the Groupe Le Monde supervisory board), and VivaTech, the biggest tech event on the planet, according to its co-founder Maurice Lévy (Publicis).

But in the "start-up nation", a term championed my French President Emmanuel Macron, the mood is far from celebratory. Fundraising rounds, which climbed steadily until 2022 – reaching a record €13.5 billion that year – have been declining ever since: €8.3 billion in 2023, then €7.8 billion in 2024, according to the consulting firm EY. Hopes for a rebound faded further in the first months of 2025, with investments projected to fall sharply over the first five months of the year (down 30% compared to the same period in 2024).

Since January 1, only three funding rounds have raised €100 million or more: Loft Orbital in the space sector (€170 million), Powesco in energy (€150 million) and Alice & Bob in quantum computing (€100 million). Optimists still believe that major fundraising could happen in the coming months. According to the Financial Times, Mistral, the French leader in artificial intelligence (AI), is reportedly in the midst of raising another $1 billion (over €856 million).

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