Outlook

AI, impact and sovereignty are reshaping the founder's job. A few trends already outline the entrepreneurship of the coming years.

A new generation of companies is being born with AI at its core: more than 80 of them passed $100M in annual revenue in 2025, with tiny headcounts. Midjourney reportedly reached ~$200M in revenue with about forty people, an unprecedented ratio.

Sam Altman predicted the first "billion-dollar company run by a single person", made possible by AI agents. The bar for the AI-equipped solo founder is rising fast: fewer employees, more leverage, but also more loneliness.

Deeptech (start-ups born from research: quantum, biotech, energy, space) is a priority of France 2030, with a target of 500 creations a year by 2030 and billions mobilised by Bpifrance. It is the bet of turning French scientific excellence into industrial champions.

France's PACTE law (2019) created the "raison d'être" (statutory purpose) and the status of mission-driven company (nearly 2,000 in 2024), while the B Corp label is spreading. A generation of founders wants to combine profitability with social or environmental usefulness.

The Draghi report (2024) warns of Europe falling behind: AI captured about 61% of global venture capital in 2025, ~75% of it in the United States and only ~6% in Europe. Hence initiatives such as EU Inc (a pan-European start-up status) and the AI Act. Building companies in Europe is also becoming a matter of sovereignty.