OpenAI has confirmed a formal partnership with STATION F, establishing a permanent on-campus presence at Europe’s largest startup hub and one of its most concentrated AI founder communities.
The partnership was disclosed through LinkedIn posts from leaders at both organizations and signals a shift from periodic engagement to a more continuous presence inside a founder community that has become a major European base for AI startup activity.
OpenAI develops large-scale AI models and developer platforms used by companies worldwide, while STATION F operates a startup campus in Paris that hosts more than 1,000 startups each year. According to STATION F, around 80 percent of startups on campus are now building AI-powered products, reflecting a broader move from experimentation to scaled deployment.
“We want to be where the best founders are,” Laura Modiano, Startups EMEA at OpenAI, wrote on LinkedIn. “And I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Station F, which has been at the heart of the French and European Startup ecosystem,” Modiano added.
“We believe deeply in the ambition of the AI talent here and want to deepen our relationship and support from Day 1,” Modiano continued. “With this partnership we will be present on campus, offer technical sessions and meetups, give founders direct access to our teams and infrastructure and support startups to scale globally faster, together.”
Partnership expands beyond ad-hoc engagement
According to details published alongside the announcement, the partnership is designed to move beyond one-off workshops toward a continuous relationship between OpenAI teams and founders building AI products in Europe.
Startups at STATION F will gain access to OpenAI-led technical sessions, regular on-campus discussions with OpenAI teams, and tools and credits to build, test, and scale AI-powered products from Paris. The agreement also aims to create earlier feedback loops between founders and the teams developing frontier AI models.
The partnership builds on OpenAI’s prior engagement with STATION F through founder sessions, technical workshops, and on-campus visits by leadership and product teams during key moments for the European AI ecosystem, including the AI Action Summit in early 2025.
“New partner on campus – and it is not just anyone,” Roxanne Varza, Director at STATION F, posted on LinkedIn. “After hosting the OpenAI team multiple times (including CEO Sam Altman) at STATION F, it seemed pretty natural to launch a formal partnership,” She added. “OpenAI products are in pretty high demand on campus.”
“So very excited to announce this as one of the first partnerships of 2026. We are eagerly waiting for the incredible Fidji Simo to stop by. Thanks so much to our OpenAI friends for making this happen,” Varza added.
