France Digitale is publishing its annual mapping of French AI start-ups on February 10. The 2026 edition lists 1,114 companies throughout the country.
France, land of AI? This is definitely what emerges from France Digitale’s annual mapping. Published this Tuesday, February 10, a few hours before the opening of AI Day, the census carried out with Sopra Steria Ventures counts 1,114 French start-ups developing products, services or infrastructures linked to artificial intelligence. To arrive at this figure, France Digitale defined its scope: companies created since 2006, whose headquarters are in France, with at least two employees, and above all, “putting AI at the heart of its proposed value”.
Marked regional specializations
With its 1,114 start-ups identified across the entire value chain, from hardware to software, France is ahead of Germany (935 start-ups) and has established itself as the leading European AI ecosystem. Paris and Île-de-France concentrate 63% of these companies, constituting the undisputed hub with a high concentration of foundation and fintech model publishers. But “the regions have a sort of monopoly on verticalized AI,” underlines Socheat Chhay, managing director of Sopra Steria Ventures. Grenoble has thus specialized in robotization and IoT, Toulouse in aerospace and autonomous agents, Sophia-Antipolis in health and climate, while Lyon and Bordeaux are developing applications for agro-tech.
Also very interesting, the mapping tells us that the French AI ecosystem is reaching a milestone of maturity, both on the part of investors and the start-ups themselves. All combined, the 1,114 start-ups have raised nearly 16 billion euros since their creation. “40% of investments in AI in 2025 were made by corporates or CVCs, including 25% directly in start-ups,” reveals Socheat Chhay. “The issue is no longer technological, it is strategic,” insists the managing director of Sopra Steria Ventures. Large groups no longer do speculative R&D but invest massively in series A and B to industrialize already proven solutions, particularly in health, fintech and industry.
On the start-up side, one in two companies is already profitable or plans to be profitable in the next three years. A sign of maturity, but also of a divergence with the American model. Where American start-ups can burn cash for years before thinking about profitability, the European ecosystem imposes financial discipline earlier, for better or for worse.
