X-UP, École Polytechnique’s incubator, launches honor loans

From spring 2026, École Polytechnique's X-UP incubator will offer honor loans for the deep tech projects it hosts and supports. These honorary loans, supported by École Polytechnique’s Foundation and averaging €40,000 per project, will finance the start-ups' priority operations, leverage other funding, and accelerate the growth of the projects concerned.

22 Jan. 2026

Corporate relations

X-UP, École Polytechnique's incubator, is boosting its appeal with the launch in spring 2026 of an honor loan to strengthen the support it provides to the start-ups it backs.

Voted best incubator in 2024 by France Digitale, the X-UP incubator supports deep tech start-ups with a strong technological content in four areas: health, climate, industry of the future, and education.

The honor loan program will be financed by École Polytechnique’s Foundation, which will contribute to a fund dedicated exclusively to financing project leaders who are participating in or have participated in the X-UP Create incubation program.

X-UP Create is X-UP's ten-month intensive program for start-ups in the launch phase, enabling them to move from project to market launch through individualized support and group workshops on specific topics. It is structured around three successive and decisive phases: structuring and viable the entrepreneurial project, moving from a concept to a marketable product or service, and finally, facilitating operational, human, and financial development before the startup's launch on the market.

Loans will average €40,000 per project and may exceptionally reach up to €60,000. They will be repayable after a one-year deferral period, over 48 months.

An honor loan is an interest-free loan with no personal guarantee. It facilitates access to bank loans, lends credibility to the project in the eyes of early investors, and provides access to several financial support mechanisms. It also enables start-ups to launch their priority operations, such as prototype development, intellectual property protection, and initial recruitment.

Honor loans play a decisive role in the initial trajectory of a start-up by providing a crucial source of equity capital.

The rollout of honor loans for X-UP Create projects represents a new asset for the development of disruptive innovations within X-UP, which has supported more than 200 start-ups over the past 10 years.

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