Sophie Renard 
A consortium of major French companies including investment firm Ardian, telecommunications company Orange, energy company EDF, consulting firm Capgemini, and others have formed AION to bid for the European AI Gigafactories program, representing France’s acceleration in AI infrastructure development
Mister IA raised 10 million euros in funding from 199 Ventures (Andréa Bensaid’s fund) and Momentum Invest
Dior is reassessing its pricing strategy to win back customers who have been deterred by luxury price increases over recent years. CEO Delphine Arnault confirmed the brand is working on leather goods and maintaining price caution, having frozen Lady Dior prices since 2023. Creative director Jonathan Anderson is driving brand renewal with lower-priced product offerings.
Lauxera has oversubscribed a 520 million euro fund aimed at accelerating European medtech companies’ expansion into the United States market.
Paris-based Mistral has acquired Austrian startup Emmi AI, which develops foundational AI models trained with physics laws to simulate complex engineering processes. This is Mistral’s second acquisition in three months, following the February acquisition of French startup Koyeb. Emmi, created a year ago, raised a €15m seed round and has over 30 employees who will join Mistral. The acquisition demonstrates Mistral’s shift toward vertical specialization in industrial AI.
LEADBAY raised €3.8 million to revolutionize sales intelligence by moving beyond traditional data sources like LinkedIn profiles, job postings, web traffic, technology stacks, marketing campaigns, and social media activity to capture a larger portion of the real economy.
Exhibitly, a Ghent-based EventTech startup, raised €1.4 million in pre-Seed funding to expand its AI-powered personalisation platform for B2B events. The platform uses AI to create personalised experiences on event websites, increasing conversion rates by 10-20 times compared to standard event websites. The company has already signed 114 events globally and is cashflow positive.
Sebastian Becker, 30, became General Partner at Swiss venture capital firm Redalpine based in Zurich. He started as a working student during his studies and became partner after three years. Two years ago he was made Equity Partner and is now helping build out the London office. He discusses his career path, deep tech investments, and SpaceX investments.
The European Space Agency launched the SMILE satellite from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana aboard the Vega-C rocket. This mission, developed in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will observe for the first time how solar winds interact with Earth’s magnetic field. The satellite will detect X-ray radiation to study Earth’s protective magnetic shield at the magnetopause and polar cusps, improving space weather models crucial for satellite and telecommunications infrastructure protection.
Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet partnered with Swatch Group to launch Royal Pop, an accessible pocket watch priced at 385-400 euros combining AP design with Swatch manufacturing. The limited edition release caused significant retail chaos across France and other countries, with overwhelming customer demand forcing temporary store closures.