There are many ways countries can go about supporting their technology industries. In France, it involves the selection of an annual cohort of 120 high-potential start-ups – the French Tech 120 – including 40 private companies considered the most promising, called the Next40.
This year’s French Minister of State for Digital Affairs, Marina Ferrari, revealed this year’s awardees during VivaTech week in Paris. According to its proponents, this fifth class was the more selective since the start of the program.
The French Tech Next40/120 program started in 2019 and they learned along the way, especially when some unicorns turned out to be ZIRPicorns. Following recommendations from technology insiders, the criteria have changedand half the selection is now based on revenue metrics rather than fundraising.
As a result, only 28 of the French Tech 120 selected in 2024 claim valuations of $1 billion or more. On the other hand, La French Tech reports that the cohort collectively had one net revenue of €10 billion in 2023compared to €7.5 billion in 2022. Thirty-one companies reported net revenues of more than €100 million.
Overall, this cohort reveals or confirms some interesting trends that France is following, such as the rise of deep technology and artificial intelligence. But it’s also worth zooming in on the new Next40 honorees: If and when the IPO window reopens, the expectation would be for some of them to go public and reintroduce long-awaited liquidity into the venture capital pipeline.
Without further ado, here is the class of 2024, summed up in one image:
This is not the most digestible form, so let’s take a closer look newcomers.
Welcome to the club(s)
Here are some of the companies that made the Next40 list:
- AddGueststhe parent company of BungalowSpecials and Campings.comwhich had joined the French Tech 120 in 2023.
- ChapsVisiona B2B company positioned as a government data processing specialist.
- Ekwateura renewable energy provider that increased a mixture venture capital and crowdfunding;
- Equativone adtech company formerly known as Smart Ad Server which blocked Aufeminin.
- ilekother green energy supplier.
- Malt, a freelance marketplace operating in France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK;
- mister temp’an online temp agency;
- Mistral AIthe open rocket LLM it is rumored to be raising money at a $6 billion valuationtriple its December valuation.
- Pennylaneaccounting software scales this became a unicorn on February;
- Qair Groupyet another renewable energy player.
- Weezeventa ticketing platform created in 2008.
It’s especially impressive to see how quickly Mistral AI made the same list as two-decade-old Weezevent. The AI company only recently turned one, but Arthur Mensch and his co-founders are now at the helm of one of France’s most promising companies, and perhaps eventually a public one.
While this is somewhat implied by the “Next40” moniker which refers to France CAC 40, it is too early to say which of these will turn into IPO candidates and when or where. In 2023, Euronext only welcomed 64 new listingsunder 83 in 2022 and 212 in 2021.
Among the other 80 companies completing the FrenchTech 120, newcomers are Adagio, AQEMIA, Braincube, Comet, DriiveMe, Ekimetrics, Exotrail, Flowdesk, Foodles, Greenly, HappyVore, Hoppen, iSupplier, La Fourche, Madbox, Mooncar Surgical, mylight150 , Opteamis, Pasqal, PerfectStay, Planity, Shares, SiPearl, Swan, Umiami, Unseenlabs, Volta Medical, WAAT, WeMaintain and Worldia.
As far as we know, none of these startups are unicorns (yet). Then again, maybe this should never have been North Star. Regardless, it would be a difficult goal to achieve in recent months: investment in French startups fell significantly last year, from €13.49 billion in 2022 to €8.32 billion. According to EY, green technology was the largest group Financing of 2.7 billion eurosand is also well represented in the French Tech 120.
Reflecting the trends
France’s Tech 120 comes from a variety of fields, from fintech to space technology, but there are clear trends at play.
A caveat, though: For the first time, applicants were asked to honor commitments to gender equality and the ecological transition. The latter could put a bit more weight on green tech companies, which account for 30% of the 2024 class, but that’s also roughly in line with the share of investment they attracted last year.
Artificial intelligence is another area in which French startups have attracted large rounds, even at the seed stage. Something is going on with AI startups in France and the French government wants to support it. France’s Tech Next40/120 reflects this trend with the inclusion of Mistral AI, but also pharmatech AQEMIA and pasqal quantum computing startup.
Beyond AI, it’s deep tech that looms large on the list, accounting for 23% of the 120 companies. Again, this is no surprise: We’ve already reported that deep development technology was on the rise in Europe, with headwinds from public funding.
The French Tech Next40/120 program also comes with benefits. There is no direct funding. The main benefit is the promise of less friction and fewer “unnecessary institutional hurdles”. It is very telling that this is being advertised as big, and probably, more companies could benefit from it. But if you want to have world champions, you have to start somewhere.
The French Tech Next40/120 has already crossed the border: 88% of the companies in the new category have a physical presence or significant commercial activity abroad in 2024.
Their choice will give them greater international visibility, but it is at home that will most immediately open doors: From 2023, an initiative called “Je Choisis la French Techencourages public administrations and large companies to source solutions from French start-ups. Now that markets are more concerned with profitability, this is much more tangible than a unicorn horn.
