Top 20 impact startups – Paris
2021-08-04
Confido
12 minutes
This week we’re jumping over the channel to investigate France’s startup scene.
Funding for startups in the country has been steadily growing year-over-year, with France’s own President, Emmanuel Macron, pledging to make France a “startup nation”.
According to Sifted, so far this year French startups have raised a record €5.6bn from VC funds, more than the €5bn in all of 2020.
Here are our top 20 Paris-based impact startups...
Climate action
About: A third of what we produce is produced...for nothing. But this is not inevitable. Phenix are convinced that any waste can find a second life, as long as you have a bit of imagination. Their app allows you to buy unsold food from merchants at a reduced price! They have a range of solutions for both customers, distributors and consumers.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Phenix has raised a total of $17.1m in funding over three rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2020.
About: Air pollution costs every human an average two years life expectancy. Plume Labs gives you the power to change that for yourself, your loved ones and your community. They build personal devices and apps that help you measure your exposure, plan your journeys and activities and improve your home and workplace.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Plume Labs has raised a total of $6.1m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in November 2017 from a Grant round.
About: Ynsect transforms insects into premium, high-value ingredients for pets, fish, plants, and human beings. From its purpose-built state of the art farms, Ynsect offers an organic, long-term sustainable solution to accelerate consumption of protein and plants.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: Ynsect has raised a total of $399.3m in funding over 10 rounds. Their latest funding was raised in October 2020 from a Debt Financing round.
About: OOPLA creates ecological kits that make it easier to live in an eco-friendly way. Their first kit consists of water-saving thimbles that allow the user to reduce their water consumption by up to 50%. All our their products are assembled in France by people with disabilities. They work in partnership with an ESAT in the Center-Val de Loire region in order to contribute to the social and professional integration of disabled adults.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
International Energy Agency (IEA)
About: The IEA works with governments and industry to shape a secure and sustainable energy future for all. The IEA is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative analysis, data, policy recommendations, and real-world solutions to help countries provide secure and sustainable energy for all.
Company size: 251 to 500 employees
Funding: Unknown
Sustainable cities & transportation
About: Karos provides a new way of getting around on a daily basis, making their users love their home-work journeys and building sustainable mobility. Karos is the number 1 carpooling application for commuting: simple, fast and without constraints.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Since its creation, Karos has raised €15m from international investors to ensure its development in France, Europe and North Africa.
About: Cityscoot provides thousands of self-service electric scooters in Paris, Nice, Milan and Barcelona. From the app, you can book a scooter in one click and enjoy unlimited freedom, without pollution and without noise.
Company size: 251 to 500 employees
Funding: Cityscoot has raised a total of $91.7m in funding over five rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2020.
About: Long live living trade! epicery is a platform that delivers shopping items from neighbourhood merchants. Support your local economy through their responsible deliveries, which are 90% on foot or by bike.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: epicery has completed two funding rounds. Their latest funding was raised in December 2017 from a Series A round.
About: With Zoov you can rent a shared electric bike at any time for €0.20 per minute and move freely in the south of Greater Paris and in the Bordeaux area. Zoov is the technological benchmark when it comes to electric bike-sharing thanks to smart, high-performance electric bikes, as well as a compact, economical parking and charging infrastructure.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Zoov has raised a total of $6.8m in funding over one round. This was a Series A round raised in January 2019.
About: BlaBlaCar is a global, trusted community of over 90 million drivers and passengers in 22 countries. The platform connects people looking to travel long distances with drivers heading the same way, so they can travel together and share the cost.
Company size: 251 to 500 employees
Funding: BlaBlaCar has raised a total of $563.5M in funding over 7 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Apr 20, 2021 from a Convertible Note round.
Edtech
About: Mila is an early-stage social technology venture focused on helping learning through music. Their flagship product is a rehabilitation tool for learning and language disabilities that we develop in collaboration with speech therapists and neurologists.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Mila has raised a total of $4.9m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in March 2021 from a Seed round.
About: klassroom is a mobile and desktop App designed to bring students' families, teachers and schools together. Their dashboard allows you to easily manage students’ data, access parents, information, and the entire school community.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: klassroom has raised a total of $3.4m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in July 2020 from a Seed round.
About: Magic Makers run creative code workshops for children and teens. During the school holidays, your children and teenagers have the choice: from website creation to programming in Minecraft, from experimenting with artificial intelligence to designing 3D video games!
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Magic Makers has raised a total of €3.6m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in June 2018.
Healthtech & wellbeing
About: Based just outside of Paris, Doctolib aims at fulfilling three entrepreneurial missions: improve the daily life of healthcare personnel, improve patient access to healthcare and patient health, and build a team of entrepreneurs with humanistic values.
Company size: 1001 to 5000 employees
Funding: Doctolib has raised a total of $266.7m in funding over seven rounds. Their latest funding was raised in March 2019 from a Series E round.
About: With Qare, you can choose a practitioner from over 30 specialities available online every day. Consult from your smartphone by downloading the app or from your computer. Teleconsultation with Qare is simple and secure.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: Qare has raised a total of €26m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in April 2019 from a Series B round.
About: Ouihelp help your loved ones lead the life they want at home, at their own pace. They adapt to the situation of your loved one and can set up our support within 24 hours.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Ouihelp has raised a total of €3.4m in funding over three rounds. Their latest funding was raised in January 2018 from a Series A round.
About: Alan is the first digital health insurance company in Europe. They revolutionise health insurance by focusing on user experience with excellent price-quality ratio health plans.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: Alan has raised a total of $363.9m in funding over six rounds. Their latest funding was raised in April 2021 from a Series D round.
About: Wandercraft‘s job is to make wheelchair users walk again. They make real the promises of robotics by providing an ordinary life to extraordinary people. Atalante is their flagship self-balanced exoskeleton, engineered to emulate human walk through 12 actuated degrees of freedom and state-of-the-art dynamic walk algorithms. In their world premiere clinical trials, persons with paraplegia walked human-like, autonomously and without crutches.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Wandercraft has raised a total of $30.5m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in October 2017 from a Series B round.
About: OLY Be wants to make Yoga, Meditation and Personal Development accessible to as many people as possible. This is why they offer each week both courses in hundreds of places for face-to-face practice & online courses to prolong well-being, in the comfort of your living room, at your own pace.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Every month, Cuure provide your own personalized selection of supplements recommended by their Scientific Committee to suit your needs. Put your new wellness habits into practice with their tracking app and take your goals to the next level with advice from Cuure’s Experts.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Cuure has raised a total of €1.8m in funding over one round. This was a Seed round raised in September 2020.
We want to do everything we can to help support these fantastic businesses and the work they’re doing.
If you belong to a tech for good startup and want to have a chat about how we could scale your Product or Tech teams, do get in touch at contact@confidotalent.com.
Looking for a new job in impact start-ups? Find jobs for good on our new sister site: Jobs For Good
Have we missed your favourites? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn, we’d love to hear from you!
Funding information taken from Crunchbase.