France’s startup scene is showing strong momentum, standing out in the European tech market with over 25,000 startups spread across the country. Together, they’re responsible for more than 1.1 million jobs, both directly and indirectly. Behind this surge is a combination of private investment and national support, most notably through the “France 2030 plan.” This initiative is putting significant funding into young companies, with a goal of helping at least 100 of them reach unicorn status by the end of the decade.
So, what does “unicorn” mean in this context? It’s a label for a privately owned startup valued at more than $1 billion. France currently has 28 of them—up from 15 in 2023—most of which are based in Paris. This steady rise reflects a clear direction toward the 2030 target. These unicorns span a wide range of sectors, from fintech and healthtech to agritech, greentech, and digital platforms. Increasingly, they’re integrating AI and emerging technologies into their products and services.
But this isn’t just about reaching high valuations. Many of these companies are trying to solve everyday problems—whether it’s simplifying how businesses handle payments and operations, improving access to healthcare, or rethinking how food is produced. Take Spendesk and Payfit, for example, both focusing on tools that help businesses run more smoothly. Then there’s DentalMonitoring and Doctolib, which are bringing AI into healthcare in practical, user-friendly ways. Ynsect, working in agritech, is tackling food sustainability from a different angle. Each of these companies is building something that affects how people live and work—sometimes in ways that aren’t immediately visible, but still significant.
While unicorns tend to get the spotlight, there’s a group just behind them that’s worth watching too: the French “soonicorns.” These are startups that are getting close to the billion-dollar mark and have the potential to be the next big success stories. For now though, this article takes a closer look at the 28 unicorns recognized in France as of May 2025—companies that have already crossed that milestone and continue to grow their influence both locally and beyond.
BlaBlaCar, founded in 2006, is a carpool service platform that connects drivers and passengers traveling around, they can share rides and split the travel costs. This economical and affordable solution enables Blablacar to grow as a major player in the shared mobility industry.
The platform allows passengers to share empty seats with others for traveling the same route. Beyond cars, the company offers buses to travel across Europe with over 22 countries at low cost, helping traveling more affordable for many people.
Beyond convenience and saving, BlaBlaCar also contributes to environmental sustainability. By sharing rides, the community saved tons of carbon emission in recent years. The commitment to combining technology with social trust made it a key player in the field.
Founded in 2013, Doctolib is a health-related startup, offering a platform to simplify booking medical appointments and managing consultations entirely online. It helps general practitioners and healthcare providers manage their administrative tasks such as calendar planning, patient history storage, and prescription writing.
The company expanded with the strategic acquisition of Dottori.it in 2021 and Tanker in 2022. These moves enhance Doctolib’s portfolio by adding new features and entering into new markets, aiming to further improve healthcare proficiency.
Doctolib stands out as the most useful company in daily lives. By combining advanced technology with practical healthcare, it transforms medical care into a more accessible, modern, and manageable version.
Ynsect is a French agritech company focused on transforming how we produce food for animals and plants for the better world. They specialize in farming insects, particularly mealworms, to produce animal food, aiming to reinvent the food chain with alternative foods for pets to make the world healthier and safer with less impact on the environment.
What sets the company apart is its expertise to convert organic resources into highly nutritious food. Leveraging the powers from advanced robotics and computer AI, their farms operate with precision and efficiency.
In addition to pet and animal food, Ynsect also offers fertilizers rich in nutrients and friendly to our soils. By working at the intersection of nature and technology, they offer a clear path toward a more sustainable food chain.
Voodoo is one of the most powerful firms in mobile gaming today, known for its famous games such as Helix Jump, Block Jam. It entertains millions through their iconic apps and games which are free, easy to play, and hard to put down.
Voodoo isn’t simply stopping at casual games. It acquired Beach Bum, broadening their reach by stepping into the world of mobile board and card games. They’re building a gaming empire that offers diverse products to consumers.
In 2024, Voodoo made a big step by acquiring Bereal. This acquisition is of mutual benefit where Bereal has the good backing of Voodoo’s expertise and technology to accelerate, while Voodoo can boost their global position and become a global leader in mobile apps in general, not simply games.
Mirakl is a French software-as–a-Service (SaaS) company powering the next generation of e-commerce. It provides businesses with tools to build their own online marketplaces quickly, and efficiently. Mirakl simplifies the complexity by connecting businesses with sellers, systems, partners, data, and consumers all in one place.
It also offers dropshipping solutions, helping businesses grow faster without losing control. Trusted by major names like Macy’s, Carrefour, Toyota, Decathlon, they’re not simply building a unicorn, they’re building a great team with great people that turn complexity into clarity.
The company invests massively in technology to make their ecosystem more powerful, more flexible, aiming to grow even faster.
Vestiaire Collective is a fashion company that connects customers with various high-end and luxury brands like Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton with a wide range of items like handbags, watches, jewelry for women, men, and children.
What makes Vestiaire Collective different is its tight commitment to sustainability, giving fashion lovers a way to shop for quality items at an affordable price and be more sustainable. With the second life opportunity for products and their “Think First, Buy Second” campaign to encourage mindful consumption. These actions aim to reduce waste and promote green fashion habits.
In March 2022, Vestiaire Collective acquired U.S.-based resale platform Tradesy, marking a significant step in its expansion into the American market. This merger combined their communities with an aim of being a leading force in the field.
Alan is a French digital health insurance company that’s redefining how people access and manage healthcare easily on their own. From individuals to startups and enterprises, Alan offers clear and easy-to-use plans all managed through a simple app.
Alan does not simply position itself as an insurance provider, but as a health partner who prevents, insures, and supports you daily, Alan simplifies the healthcare experience with app-based AI medical assistants for everyone.
Last year, in 2024, Alan partnered with Belfius, marking a significant milestone in its development in Belgium - a second largest market after France in the healthcare sector. This alliance builds Alan’s position as a pioneer in health insurance innovation and artificial intelligence.
Shift Technology is using AI to bring speed, clarity and accuracy to the insurance industry. Their platform helps insurers make better decisions in areas like fraud detection, risk analysis, and claims processing.
By analyzing huge amounts of data, suspicious patterns can be identified and the platform will come up with suitable solutions. Insurers can respond quickly and fairly—saving both time and money.
Shift stands out for combining deep insurance expertise with advanced technology. Their solutions are trusted by over 100 insurers around the world, helping them move from reactive to proactive decision-making
Contentsquare helps companies create better user experiences on their own websites and apps from start to finish. It offers a software where businesses can keep track of what customers are doing on the websites, enabling consumer behaviors analysis.
Thanks to the website, companies can not only track the results but also improve it with AI recommendations for engagement, conversion, and retention rate. They can just jump straight to action with Contentsquare.
With customers like IKEA, LVMH, and Microsoft, Contentsquare has become a trusted partner for global brands. Its all-in-one approach combines analytics, automation, and accessibility tools to help companies deliver digital experiences that actually meet user expectations.
Ledger is a hardware wallet that provides secure solutions to manage your digital money like bitcoin, crypto, etc. Users, anyone that are interested in investment, are able to store their crypto in USB hardware, or other physical devices, which is committed to digital safety. It allows you to sell or buy crypto currencies easily.
It is upgrading your crypto experience by offering a wide range of products and services such as Ledger Nano, Ledger Flex, Ledger Stax, etc with different features.
Ledger also partners with major platforms like PayPal and integrates with dozens of crypto apps and services. Ledger is positioning itself as more than a wallet—it’s your trusted gateway to a safer crypto future.
Sorare is blending fantasy sports with blockchain technology by reinventing it. It allows users to collect, trade, and manage digital player cards, these cards are unconverted with its own uniqueness and ownership. Users can build virtual teams with these and compete in leagues.
Sorare has had a big deal with big leagues such as the NBA (National Basketball Association), MLB (Major League Baseball), and top football leagues. These deals prove that Sorare has grown very fast and will continue in the future.
Swile means smile at work, aiming to offer employees best benefits through their products. It provides an all-in-one smart card that digitizes the payment processes. Employees can also book business trips only in 3 clicks, using meal vouchers, gift cards.
Users are allowed to make it unique with personal customization, for example, the color, PIN, engraving. Swile makes sure that all users can create ones that they’ll love.
DentalMonitoring is a leader in AI dental solutions built to empower dental professionals. It connects dentists and patients through a platform where there are mutual benefits for both. After treatment, patients can send photos and keep updates with their dentist. Moreover, the doctor can then keep track of their patient's progress, to improve the care.
Their advanced technology of AI-driven analysis of images allows them to detect over 130 dental conditions, assisting professionals to adjustments to treatment plans without complex booking and waiting for in-person appointments.
Owkin is helping people to understand complex biology through AI. They identify new treatments, de-risk and accelerate clinical trials, and build diagnostic tools to reduce time for patients.
What makes Owkin different? It’s a strong focus on data, biology and Ai in discovering disease mechanisms. Owkin is helping to change how the world studies and treats disease—with smart tools and clear purpose.
Having grown into a financial services organization, Lydia, a French company in fintech, was originally more or less a mere peer-to-peer payment app. The new digital banking brand, Sumeria, launched by Lydia in 2024, had functionalities such as trading in stocks, savings, and loans.
The company has also partnered with Marqeta to enhance its digital banking capabilities. With these developments, Lydia and Sumeria are positioning themselves as key players in the European fintech landscape.
Payfit is a payroll software that scales with your business, making payroll and HR less complicated. Instead of wasting time on manual paperwork such as wage management, leave and absence management, pension, etc. Payfit allows you to do it 90% automated in one place quickly and less stress.
It unlocks more time, energy to focus on employees, not the boring and complex paperwork. Trusted by over 18,000 businesses across Europe, Payfit is expected to grow faster in future with their mission of simplifying payroll so you can focus on what matters.
Ankorstore is an B2B e-commerce platform that connects and supports independent retailers with unique, curated products from emerging local brands, offering items that you’re hard to find on the giant marketplace.
With the aim to give small businesses a chance to access unique, high-quality products, Ankorstore makes it easier for retailers to stay competitive. The platform is active in over 20 European countries and continues to grow fast.
Qonto is the all-in-one finance platform built for modern businesses and freelancers. It offers a business account that gets jobs done easily with a wide range of work such as expense management, invoices, cashflows, etc.
Whatever your business size, sector or state of growth, Qonto will make your day-to-day business development easier to save more time, trusted by over 500K businesses. In 2024, Qonto acquired Regate, proving that it is expanding really fast and redefining business banking.
Exotec builds robotic systems that transform how warehouses operate. Its autonomous robots move quickly to pick, store, and transport goods so that e-commerce and logistics firms can speed up order handling, reduce errors, and save time and money.
Exotec stands apart by providing flexible solutions that work with humans rather than just replace them. Their system adapts to the warehouse and its requirements, relieving companies from having to modernize through extensive disruption.
Spendesk is making finance management easier for businesses. It offers an all-in-one expense management platform in which companies can utilize for expense tracking, approval processes, and financial reporting efficiently. Thanks to the platform, companies can have a clear visibility and control every transaction in real-time but still can save time and money.
Recently, in 2024, Spendesk decided to fully combine procurement with spend management by acquiring Okko. This combination helps the enterprise to diverse their capabilities, offering customers more comprehensive and convenient services.
Ecovadis sets a global standard for resilient and sustainable supply chains by their rating platform. With trusted data, actionable insights, and continuous improvement, it enables companies to monitor their sustainability, environmental and social performance. By doing so, the companies can make informed decisions, promote sustainability, and drive an ethical impact.
In 2024, Ecovadis appeared in the annual list of World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024, trusted by over 150K+ companies. Perhaps, Ecovadis is considered one of the greenest unicorns in the French startup industry.
Verkor’s innovation lies in its development of low-carbon batteries in France. Founded in 2020, with a clear understanding of European demand for electric mobility and energy storage, Verkor has come up with the production of sustainable batteries.
What about tomorrow? It is promoting greener electric mobility by optimising proven technology. With the support from not only French and European institutions but also major industrial partners like Renault Group, Schneider Electric, Verkor’s innovation center is allowed to thrive more and more.
Mistral AI gets the job done faster, better by unifying AI for all your work. The company develops open-source platforms with multilanguage. This custom AI solution can automate tasks, answering questions based on enterprise knowledge, assist coding processes, manage files, etc.
Recent developments of Le Chat, an AI assistant for life and work with more capabilities such as access to the latest news, plan everyday life, track projects, upload and summarize documents, and do much, much more. This move has significantly boosted the company’s revenue.
Pennylane is transforming how small businesses and accounts manage their finances with a complete, powerful software integrated with tools needed to manage expenses, invoicing, cash flow, and accounting.
With a fresh funding of €75 million, it’s scaling fast powered by advanced AI tools. In 2024, it acquired Billy to boost the integrations and strengthen its offering. The acquisition promises to simplify more the way Pennylane users automate their processes. With big ambitions and strong backing, Pennylane is on track to become the financial hub for thousands of businesses across Europe.
Pigment is revolutionizing the business planning processes with its AI-powered platform. It helps you to improve efficiency across all your operations. It’s highly convenient when featuring for every department ranging from Finance, HR, Sales and Operations, Supply Chain, ESG. Pigment allows to connect data and plans from across your organization to enable all your teams to collaborate and work from the same assumptions.
With the updated addition of three AI agents in 2025, which are Analyst Agent, Planner Agent, Modeler Agent, Pigment will change business planning again, each with specific specialization. Users can now engage with their data through natural language and uncover insights instantly.
Poolside is building next generation AI for software engineering that can help people code faster, and smarter. Their biggest flagship model built from the ground up is Malibu which improves performance in coding tasks with the security boundaries and control.
In 2024, they raised $500 million from major names like Nvidia and eBay, pushing their valuation to $3 billion. This substantial investment supports its mission to develop secure, customizable AI solutions for software engineering.
Veepee is a multi-platform e-commerce company that helps connect customers to sellers around the world, and where online shopping meets exclusive deals. It started in France and became famous thanks to their flash sales, offering big brands at big discounts at a limited time period.
Running across several European countries and continuing to grow more ahead, Veepee makes sure you can get access to surprising deals, making shopping experience fast, and fun.
Mano Mano is a loyal friend of households, it offers products specializing in DIY, home and living, gardening items. As an e-commerce company, Mano Mano connects customers with thousands of sellers, providing a diverse selection of purchasing.
With an aim for a sustainable home, beyond products information and selling, its website also provides guides for how to save energy at home. Mano Mano is hoping to expand its presence in the European market.
France’s 28 unicorns in 2025 has shown significant commitment to investing in the startup landscape and is clearly gaining momentum on the global stage. From AI-driven healthcare to green energy pioneers and fintech disruptors, these companies are transforming and fostering the ecosystem while tackling urgent challenges like sustainability and digital transformation.
What’s next for this unicorn club? Cities like Lyon and Toulouse are emerging as important tech hubs, with the pipeline of soonicorns, France is on the right track to hit 100 unicorns by 2030. The future looks bright and unstoppable.
