École Polytechnique's start-ups shine in a largely renewed 2025 Next40/120 list

Everything has to change for nothing to change. The 2025 French Tech Next40/120 start-ups list was unveiled on June 4, and was characterized by a broad renewal, with the exit of some forty players previously selected in a less favorable economic and financial context.

Start-ups created by École Polytechnique's alumni or supported by X-UP, École polytechnique’s incubator, were no exception to this trend: four exited the Next40 (Shift Technology, Dental Monitoring, Ilek and DNA Script) but four entered (Brevo, Alice&Bob, Homa, Equativ) and seven remained (Payfit, Mistral AI, Pennylane, Spendesk, Vestiaire collectif, Chapvision, Mistertemp). They therefore continue to represent a quarter of this list of French start-ups with the potential to become major players in global Tech.

Seven École Polytechnique's start-ups were labeled French Tech120 in 2025 (Wandercraft, Exotrail, Pasqal, Ekimetrics, OuiHelp, Veesion, Voltalis), sixteen lost this label (Brevo, Chapvision, Dental Monitoring, DNA Script, Ilek, Ivalua, Iziwork, Kineis, Payfit, Pennylane, Spendesk, Treefrog, Vestiaire collectif, Wifirst, Ynsect and Yes), several of them integrating or remaining within the Next40, and six retained it (360Learning, Alma, Deepki, Medadom, Papernest, SparingVision, Shift Technology).

Launched in 2019 by the French government, the French Tech Next40 label aims to promote and support the most promising start-ups in technology sectors through dedicated support measures.

The admission criteria for these two lists, which are demanding and highly focused on economic and financial performance, explain the scale of the renewal of the promotion in an ecosystem of innovation and technological entrepreneurship under stress.

For the Next40, 20 places are awarded to companies with the highest cumulative fundraising over the last three years, with a minimum threshold of €100 million, and 20 places are open to companies generating at least €100 million in net sales and at least 15% annualized growth over three years. All companies having reached Unicorn status (start-ups valued at over $1 billion and not listed on the stock exchange) are automatically included in the Next40.

For FT120 and the following 80 places, 40 are awarded to companies with the highest cumulative fundraising over the last three years, with a minimum threshold of 30 million euros, and are open to companies generating at least 20 million in net sales and at least 15% annualized growth over three years.