While France is usually associated with AI and fintech, its IoT industry is rapidly growing. Over the last decade or so, French startups have begun to develop technologies which connect physical infrastructure to digital intelligence.
This IoT connection enables companies to gather real-time data and automate processes to be able to make smarter decisions. In fact, the French IoT market is worth around $21.5 billion, putting it on par with major global players like the United States and China.
What Is Fuelling France’s IoT Boom?
France has a massive manufacturing sector ranging from automotive and aerospace to heavy industry and energy. All of these businesses have spent time looking for smarter ways to automate their systems and track data in real-time. Meaning, IoT has upgraded pretty quickly from a niche technology to something that companies across France can genuinely rely on.
The country also boasts programmes like France 2030 and investment systems – Bpifrance and La French Tech particular – which have poured an extensive amount of funding and mentorship into deeptech startups.
Something that’s interesting about the French IoT ecosystem is the extent of how broad it is. Startups are innovating in every area possible, from connected factories to blockchain-powered machine networks.
Take A Look At The Top IoT Startups In France
Who are the French startups carving out a reputation for building IoT solutions that can solve real-world industrial and societal problems? Let’s take a look.
1. Braincube
Braincube is one of France’s most prominent Industrial IoT startups. The company assists manufacturers with turning raw production data into actionable insights. Their platform connects factory equipment and sensors, generating insights to boost efficiency and productivity, as well as sustainability.
To date, Braincube operates across 35 countries and has helped manufacturers save more than around $10 billion through improvements to their existing operations – and reduced carbon emissions by a whopping 2.5 million tonnes.
In 2023, the company secured €83 million in growth funding, led by Scottish Equity Partners and supported by Bpifrance.
2. Pixii Motors
Based in Paris, Pixii Motors develops intelligent electric scooters to enable smart urban transport. The Shadow scooter is their flagship product, integrating advanced sensors and connectivity with machine learning to support rider safety and optimise battery performance.
The scooter’s built-in software allows it to continuously collect data about the rider’s behaviour and road conditions which improve both the rider’s safety and efficiency.
Through the Madica investment initiative, Pixii has received funding of about $200,000 to supports its expansion.
3. Actility
Actility is one of the most renowned names in global IoT connectivity. They played a key role in developing LoRaWAN, a communication protocol which is designed for long-range, low-power IoT networks. These networks allow connected devices to transmit small amounts of data over longer distances, while consuming minimal energy.
The company’s flagship platform, ThingPark, enables companies to deploy and manage IoT networks at scale, supporting both public and private networks.
In 2017, Actility raised €70 million, with Bosch, Cisco and Swisscom being some of the investors. More recently, they secured a further €16 million in additional funding.
4. Moabi
Moabi develops platforms to help organisations track and verify the origin of materials and commodities using connected devices and digital tracking systems. The company set out to solve a major problem in global supply chains, which is a lack of transparency.
But when IoT sensors are integrated with traceability platforms, businesses can monitor the movement of their goods in real-time. This technology is particularly useful for industries like agriculture, forestry and commodities trading where goods are constantly moving.
It’s startups like Moabi who will play a significant role in building transparent and verifiable supply chains.
5. Diabeloop
Diabeloop is one of France’s most successful IoT-driven healthtech startups. Founded back in 2015, the company develops connected medical devices which automate the treatment of diabetes. These integrate glucose monitors, insulin pumps and AI-powered algorithms to create a closed-loop insulin delivery system.
Because the system is continuously measuring glucose levels and adjusting insulin delivery accordingly, it reduces the need for patients to manually intervene.
Diabeloop has achieved some significant milestones since its founding, including multiple funding rounds and partnerships with global healthcare companies.
6. Kalima
Kalima Systems is a deeptech startup which combines IoT infrastructure with blockchain. Traditionally, blockchain networks can struggle to process large volumes of data which have been generated by connected sensors. However, Kalima has created a decentralised blockchain platform which can handle high-frequency device communication.
With its technology, organisations can securely store IoT data on blockchain networks, create decentralised data marketplaces and improve overall trust in connected systems.
This platform is particularly useful in sectors where data integrity and security remain incredibly critical such as supply chains and energy networks.
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