PSL Tech Seed

The PSL Tech Seed initiative provides tech start-ups from PSL and Institut Pasteur that are supported by one or more private investors (business angels, venture capitalists, manufacturers, etc.) with access to joint financing from BPIFrance via the French Tech Seed fund.

In order to support tech start-ups in their post-maturity or pre-seed stage, the French government’s “Investments for the Future” program endowed the French Tech Seed investment fund with €400 million. To be eligible, start-ups must first have been certified by referrers approved by BPIFrance.

“This initiative is an excellent opportunity for start-ups to accelerate their early stages of development and thus their access to greater funding or to bringing a product to market.” Jérémie Weber, Head of Start-ups Division at Institut Curie

The PSL Tech Seed consortium, which is sponsored by PSL and includes Institut Pasteur, was one of the first grantees and became a certified referrer in January 2019. This status was renewed in early 2021 for a period of 2 years.

PSL Tech Seed is open to all PSL and Institut Pasteur start-ups, across all disciplines and fields of application. It will serve as a force multiplier for the private funding obtained by these start-ups, with a major impact on their development.

 

Images AFM et microscope Hummink
portrait Amin M'Barki
"After an initial round of fundraising for €700,000 from the PSL Innovation Fund, we applied for French Tech Seed funding. This allowed us to increase our equity capital and boost the amount of public funding we can get from BPIFrance. The FTS also serves as a certification and recognition of the quality of our project. Thanks to FTS, we have been able to start the process of hiring several engineers."
Amin M’Barki, CEO, Hummink


The startups created

Nineteen projects from the PSL - Pasteur environment were certified by PSL Tech Seed since the program was created in January 2019.

Thirteen projects from within the PSL – Pasteur ecosystem have been certified by PSL Tech Seed since the mechanism was created in January 2019.

  • AGS Therapeutics (ENS - PSL): Develops innovative therapeutic solutions that can be bioproduced from the extracellular vesicles of microalgae.
  • Aqemia (ENS-PSL): Calculates affinities between molecules and therapeutic targets for drug design and drug discovery.
  • C12 Quantum Electronics (ENS-PSL): Develops quantum processors using carbon nanotubes to accelerate complex computations and develop the computer of the future.
  • Energo (Chimie Paris-PSL): Develops a revolutionary technology for chemical synthesis via a combination of heterogeneous catalysis and cold plasma, at ambient temperature and pressure, with no pretreatment required.
  • Honing biosciences (Institut Curie): Creates a technology platform to optimize the efficacy and safety of cell therapies for cancer and chronic illness.
  • Honing biosciences (Institut Curie): Develops a new nanoscale additive manufacturing technology that can apply any material to any surface, with unprecedented design freedom.
  • Iconeus (ESPCI Paris -PSL, ENS-PSL): Develops neurofunctional acoustic imaging solutions for research and clinical applications.
  • Minos Biosciences (ESPCI Paris – PSL): Offers a multimodal, 2D single-cell analysis system for fundamental, applied, and clinical research as well as diagnostics.
  • Leanear (ENS – PSL): Offers innovative solutions based on the latest advances in cryptography for secure end-to-end data storage and synchronization.
  • Sublime Energie (Mines Paris – PSL): offers a biogas collection, purification and liquefaction solution that significantly lowers the profitability thresholds and makes it possible to develop methanation near sources of production.
  • Skiagenics (Institut Curie): Develops molecular diagnostics and precision medicine solutions based on genomic analysis and biomarker identification.
  • UVR (Mines Paris – PSL): Offers all the tools needed to generate true-to-life synthesized images that are indistinguishable from real photographs of an object.

Application process

If you believe you meet the eligibility criteria, please contact us (psl.valo@psl.eu): 

  • You will be invited to a meeting to present your project to us and confirm your eligibility
  • You will fill out the supplied application, which will be evaluated by an independent expert
  • You will be invited to present your project to the Selection Committee, which meets approximately once a quarter (March, July, October).
Tech seed graph