Bpifrance launches €75M fund for non-deeptech industrial startups

"These companies remain hard to support, because they face industrialisation, certification and commercialisation challenges on top of all the usual entrepreneurial issues, such as building a team," says Raphaël Didier, head of Bpifrance's industrial seed unit.

Track record of the first fund

The first fund now holds about fifteen stakes, up from eight in February 2025. They include Battri (lithium-ion battery recycling), Elixir Aircraft (light aircraft), Isybot (sanding robots) and Engo (connected glasses for athletes). The six-person team screened more than 1,000 projects and met over 400. According to Bpifrance, each euro invested has mobilised an average of €4 in private capital.

Several companies have reached industrial milestones: Yumgo opened its Moissy-Cramayel plant last year, and Elixir Aircraft raised €45 million in July in a round led by Bpifrance's SPI fund. The first investment, Angell, went into receivership in January 2025 after a defect in the frames of its first bikes, and was partly taken over by the Rebirth group. "As with any venture investment, you have to accept a failure rate," Didier says.

What BAI 2 will do

The strategy is unchanged. The fund targets startups with differentiated products or processes for identified markets that want to manufacture in France, have finished early R&D and are moving into industrialisation and commercial ramp-up.

It will take minority stakes in equity and quasi-equity alongside institutional and private investors, with initial tickets of €500,000 to €2 million in rounds of roughly €1.5 million to €15 million. The team aims for 20 to 25 new investments over four to five years. The first fund keeps reserves for its existing holdings, while BAI 2 is reserved for new ones.