2025 French cybersecurity startup radar
Published June 11, 2025
- Cybersecurity
With 179 startups and 46 scale-ups, the French cybersecurity ecosystem continues to grow
The French cybersecurity innovation ecosystem continues to grow, even against a complex global backdrop marked by a slowdown in investment throughout 2024. Startups that focus on key areas—such as AI, digital trust, and regulatory compliance—and demonstrate strong potential for international expansion are emerging as key drivers of this momentum.
For the seventh year in a row, Wavestone, in partnership with Bpifrance, is proud to release its French Cybersecurity Innovation Radar. The full results of the study were unveiled on June 11 at the VivaTech conference. The research covers the period from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025.
Key takeaways from the radar
An innovation ecosystem that continues to grow—albeit at a slower pace.
- 179 startups featured this year, including 43 new entrants (compared to 168 startups with 50 newcomers in 2024)
- 46 cybersecurity scale-ups in France—a slight increase of 4 from last year
€289 million raised—an increase of €60 million—though concentrated in fewer deals (19 fundraising rounds vs. 29 last year)
A positive shift toward consolidation is emerging at the European level, with 8 startup acquisitions this year—up from just 1 in 2023/2024.
AI continues to drive the market forward: 53% of startups have integrated it into their offerings, whether superficially or at the core. Notably, 15 startups stand out with cutting-edge solutions designed to secure business use cases and AI models.
Startup and Scale-Up Growth: Innovation, Global Expansion, and Certification—Keys to Success
Building on recent years’ momentum, France continues to generate an increasing number of startups, with 43 new companies added to this year’s radar.
Overall, the innovation ecosystem is gaining strength, marked by a significant rise in innovative solutions: 48% of companies now offer new security solutions or secure new use cases, up from 40% in 2024. This trend is largely driven by the exit of less innovative startups in an increasingly competitive market (11 closures or shutdowns this year, compared to 10 last year and 5 in 2022/23). Among new entrants, however, risk-taking appears more measured, with a slight decline in the share of innovative solutions (-2%). The cyber innovation hotspot remains Île-de-France, but regions like Brittany and Hauts-de-France are emerging as dynamic hubs, reflecting ongoing ecosystem decentralization.
The second growth driver, international expansion, remains strong despite a slight dip: 61% of companies export their solutions beyond France (down from 63% last year). This figure climbs to 93% when looking exclusively at scale-ups.
While Europe continues to be the essential gateway for all foreign sales strategies, some startups are taking a different approach than the typical EMEA→Americas→APAC progression: 11 companies bypass the challenging North American market altogether, targeting Asia directly after Europe.
Demonstrating credibility and resilience in an increasingly demanding cybersecurity ecosystem is a third essential pillar in growth strategies. Nearly half of scale-ups (49%) hold at least one cybersecurity certification—such as ISO27001, SOC 2 Type 1 or 2, CPSN, or France Cybersecurity—compared to just 15% of startups. Securing patents also adds to their credibility, with innovative French companies obtaining more than 31 patents.
Together, startups and scale-ups account for nearly 6,000 jobs. Scale-ups are the main drivers of employment growth, while startups remain cautious about hiring, maintaining a workforce size similar to the 2023/2024 period. Moreover, only 7% of startups employ more than 20 people, down from 12% last year, indicating a tendency to keep teams small.
Funding: €289M raised, signs of a tougher market ahead
Total funding increased to €289 million between June 2024 and May 2025—up €60 million from 2023/24. Larger funding rounds are becoming more frequent, with 10 deals exceeding €10 million (compared to 8 last year), including 6 rounds ranging from €25 million to €72 million.
Despite this momentum, several indicators suggest a tightening market. Notably, the total number of rounds has dropped to 19 this year from 29 in 2023/24. Additionally, only 9 rounds under €10 million were completed, totaling €17 million—down from 21 rounds totaling €56 million in 2024.
Some specialized investors are committed for the long term, with clear strategies focused on cybersecurity. However, France remains largely absent from large funding rounds exceeding €30 million, which limits the ecosystem’s growth ambitions. In contrast, we are seeing a growing trend toward consolidation, favoring acquisitions over direct investments: there were 8 acquisitions this year—compared to just 1 annually in the previous two editions—with 5 of those made by French groups.
Rapid AI growth and a market driving new use cases
Following a successful pivot to AI adoption last year, French startups and scale-ups continue to accelerate their progress:
- 15 companies stand out in AI security (up from 11 in 2024), specializing in areas such as securing AI models and training processes, protecting environments and data (anonymization, encryption, etc.), and detecting malicious AI uses like deepfakes.
- 30% of companies (versus 22% in 2024) are reinventing their products with AI to automate, speed up, and extract more value from cybersecurity actions—such as threat detection and analysis, automated data classification, and fraud prevention.
- An additional 23% leverage AI to simplify product use, assisting users with chatbots, linking to tailored resources, or automatically generating documentation.
The implementation of new European regulations and directives—NIS2, DORA, CRA, among others—will require scaling across many cybersecurity areas and represent a significant growth opportunity. Some startups are already developing solutions that address these specific new requirements, including:
- Comprehensive understanding and control of company ecosystems (mapping and inventorying IT systems, managing third-party risks)
- Standards around the security of embedded and connected products (monitoring and maintaining product security)
- Cyber resilience and continuity of critical organizational activities
Notably, innovation in encryption continues to drive dynamic companies, opening the door to secure cloud use cases and improved fraud detection. The mandatory shift to post-quantum encryption will also create a substantial market.
An exciting new development in the innovation support ecosystem is the launch—for the first time in France—of a fully integrated “startup studio.” This initiative aims to connect seasoned entrepreneurs with innovations and needs identified by a community of cybersecurity experts. This approach could help solve the longstanding challenge of pairing an innovative idea with a team capable of developing it and successfully bringing it to market.
Our commitment to innovation, driven by the Deeptech initiative, is clearly reflected in the strategic cybersecurity sector in 2025. This ecosystem is expanding and entering a new phase: a scaling up of offerings, growing influence of specialized investors, and ultimately, transformative consolidations. The AI wave is already reshaping the landscape, with 53% of players integrating these technologies into their products and services. This trend will continue, requiring us to stay at the cutting edge internationally, anticipate technological breakthroughs, and embed security into use cases from the outset. In this context, internationalizing solutions is essential, and it remains critical to support project leaders to preserve the vitality and independence of our ecosystem.
The French startup ecosystem remains vibrant and continues to generate many innovative new companies. It’s worth highlighting that more than half of these new ventures bring genuinely novel innovations! They address emerging needs like AI security, cyberattack resilience, and digital twins. Startups are also innovating in their go-to-market strategies, with some deliberately bypassing the U.S. market to prioritize expansion in Asia and Europe.
A shift in approach needed to sustain growth
The cybersecurity ecosystem continues to grow but must adapt its structure to meet the demands of an increasingly challenging market. Accelerating growth requires action at multiple levels and from various stakeholders:
Focus on innovation, which remains the primary driver of growth and sustainability in an ecosystem that grows more competitive each year. Reevaluate your development strategy considering the international context and communicate it clearly to attract investors aligned with your vision.
Specialize in cybersecurity to develop clear investment strategies. Sustain the financing and support efforts established in recent years to ensure a steady pipeline of new companies and maintain the interest of future clients and investors. Continue to encourage consolidation among promising European startups.
Consider cybersecurity innovation as a differentiator and a lever to maintain the independence of your digital systems.
Startup and Scale-Up selection criteria
- Startups and scale-ups must have their headquarters in France, with at least 50% of their revenue generated from security product sales.
- Startups must be under 7 years old and employ fewer than 35 people.
- Scale-ups must meet at least one of these financial criteria:
- Have raised at least €10M in a single funding round over the past three years, or
- Have an annual revenue of at least €2.5M and an average yearly growth rate exceeding 25% over the last three fiscal years.
- This financial condition must be combined with a consolidated headcount of fewer than 250 employees.
- If the company is linked to another entity (ownership exceeding 25%), the headcount consolidation is as follows:
- For ownership between 25% and 50%, add the parent company’s employees prorated to the ownership share.
- For ownership over 50%, add the full headcount of the parent company.
Data is current as of May 28, 2025.
This study also draws on qualitative interviews with the vast majority (70%) of companies featured in this radar, as well as with key players in the innovation sector.