Portraits of Female Entrepreneurs – Roxana Rotaru: Using AI to Combat Insurance Fraud

In April last year, Roxana Rotaru and her associate Seif Ben Ayed joined the 19th cohort of X-UP, the incubator of École Polytechnique. This was an important step for their fledgling start-up, Hedi, which had been established just two months earlier. ʻThis programme gives us the opportunity to receive support at various levels, whether it be market exploration, investment or intellectual property. We are also supported by Bruno Martinaud, co-director of the specialised master's degree in entrepreneurship at École Polytechnique in partnership with HEC. He has particularly helped us develop our network and contact potential investors and clients in San Francisco,ʼ explains Rotaru. ʻWe have recently signed our first clients in France and Qatar.ʼ Roxana has developed her perseverance and strength of character through her experiences and encounters. 

To understand her journey, we must go back twelve years and travel to Romania. Originally from Suceava, a small town in north-east Romania, Roxana Rotaru was accepted into Sciences Po Paris in 2014. She discovered the school somewhat by chance when its director visited several Romanian secondary schools teaching French to promote his institution.ʻI became interested in politics at a very young age, so I seized this opportunity,ʼ she says. ʻMy French teacher, Mrs Mocanu, helped me put together my application. I then took written and oral exams in Bucharest, which I passed.ʼ Roxana received her letter of acceptance before taking her baccalaureate, which she passed with an overall average of 19.5. ʻThe only remaining condition for joining Sciences Po Paris was to have my baccalaureate. So I did everything I could to succeed!ʼ, Roxana Rotaru tells us enthusiastically. 

She arrived in Paris with €1,000 in her pocket and a basic grasp of French, which made for a double challenge, both financial and linguistic. ʻMy parents gave me money to help me settle in. I had to find affordable accommodation before the start of the academic year, apply for financial aid, and become fluent in French by the end of December in time for my studies. In the end, everything worked out fine. I found accommodation through the CROUS and received a grant. As well as taking French classes at Sciences Po Paris, I spent a lot of time with French students, which really helped me to learn the language,ʼ she explains. Overcoming these obstacles helped her develop a strong ability to adapt.

Following an unsatisfactory internship at the Romanian Embassy in Lithuania and Latvia, Roxana Rotaru opted to pursue a Master's degree in Territorial and Urban Strategies at Sciences Po Paris. Her studies focused on public policies that promote urban and territorial development. She completed internships at Caisse des Dépôts and EDF before joining the consultancy firm Sopra Steria Next, where her clients included RTE (Réseau de Transport d'Électricité), Enedis, Veolia and SNCF. ʻEnergy was a field that fascinated me. I conducted a market study on the sale of nuclear reactors at EDF, participated in an international working group involving European TSOs (Transmission System Operators), of which RTE is a member, and worked for Enedis.ʼ She then moved into a different sector, contributing to the development of new digital tools. ʻAt Veolia, I managed the rollout of a new national billing system and provided change management support to employees to help them familiarise themselves with the tool.ʼ Roxana Rotaru then began to take an interest in new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). ʻAt SNCF, I developed an AI service to help welcome foreign tourists to the 2024 Summer Olympics.ʼ

These experiences proved formative and useful for her entrepreneurial project. In 2025, she and her business partner, Seif Ben Ayed, founded the start-up company Hedi, which uses artificial intelligence to detect insurance fraud. Once again, the idea came to them 'by chance'. ʻSeif, whom I met through my friends at Sciences Po Paris, had organised a fondue party. We bought the special cooking appliance online after checking the reviews. On the day, ten of us gathered around the table with cheese, but despite its 4.8 out of 5 rating, it didn't work. The only possible explanation we could think of was that the reviews were fake, which constitutes fraud.ʼ In January 2025, Roxana Rotaru resigned from Sopra Steria Next, and Seif Ben Ayed left his car insurance company to start a new business: Hedi. The product: an analysis system that insurers can use to verify the authenticity of claims, from the moment a policy is taken out to its termination, including the management of insured persons' claims.

They quickly approached the X-Novation Center, École Polytechnique's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, to benefit from the support offered to selected start-ups. Their application caught the attention of the centre, and Hedi was accepted into the cohort of deep tech start-ups incubated at École Polytechnique. Roxana Rotaru and her associate attended workshops, received support from a mentor and made key contacts for the development of Hedi, which led to the signing of several clients. ʻIt's important to surround yourself with the right people, she tells us. As women, we often suffer from imposter syndrome because our legitimacy is more easily questioned. I was fortunate enough to meet people who encouraged me in my professional projects, and who generously gave me their time and shared their experience.ʼ

What is your favourite animal?

Roxana Rotaru: Stella, our 10-kilogram French bulldog! She's our "Chief Happiness Officer" at Hedi. She joins us at work. She accompanies us on our regular walks in the forest with our mentor, during which we discuss our start-up.

Stella has a front-row seat to the Hedi adventure! She is our "official" mascot and, for us, a full member of the team, with her own LinkedIn page.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I am an avid reader. I read on my way to École Polytechnique and before going to sleep. At the moment, I am exclusively interested in contemporary female authors because women have often been marginalised in literature, as in other fields. My favourite is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, published in 2022. It tells the story of two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, who share a passion for video games and start their own business together. 

I can't help but see echoes of my own journey in it. Seif and I have known each other for ten years, long before Hedi came along. There's something beautiful about the idea that some collaborations develop quietly over time before blossoming at the right moment.

Which trip has made the biggest impression on you in recent years?

Thanks to my business, I have had more opportunities to travel. My business partner and I recently attended the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, which focused on designing the society of the future and imagining our lives tomorrow. It was magnificent!

In the future, I would like to visit Bhutan, a country that measures its wealth by the happiness of its inhabitants. This philosophy really resonates with me.

Otherwise, I go back to Romania twice a year. Even though I left 12 years ago, being at home with my family always brings me comfort.