Entrepreneurship
Mines Paris – PSL, one of France’s leading engineering schools, has a strong entrepreneurial culture, which is reflected in all of its courses and in its research partnerships.
8th prize
for Pigment and Kleep, organised by the Mines Paris Foundation
Innovation and entrepreneurship option
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship option prepares third-year engineering students for the creation of economic activities based on innovation. It provides them with skills and knowledge that prepare them for the creation of new activities or, more broadly, for dealing with a variety of entrepreneurial situations (from start-ups to large companies), situations that engineers are increasingly encountering.
During the option, students develop their potential for involvement in a variety of projects, experience the process of setting up a company and, more broadly, understand the reality of entrepreneurship and its ecosystems.
Companies created and supported by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship option
Kleep
Kleep is an AI solution that enables users to find out their size quickly and accurately, thus avoiding some of the waste associated with returns from online clothing buyers. Théophile Bousquet (P18) and Federico Fortis (P18) created their start-up while they were still 3rd year students at Mines Paris – PSL in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship option. They were the Emerging Winners of the Mines Paris TRANSVALOR 2023 Entrepreneurship Prize.
Verkor
Verkor was created in 2020 by six founders, including Philippe Chain (P87). Its aim is to design and produce in Europe batteries for electric cars using lithium-ion technology that can be recycled. The Dunkirk plant will start producing battery cells in 2025. Its founders estimate that the company, which currently employs 350 people, will create 1,200 direct jobs and a further 3,000 indirect jobs in the Verkor ecosystem in Isère and the Dunkirk area.
Cartage
Cartage was founded by Raphaël Toledano (P18) and Oscar Bourgeois (P18) during their 3rd year in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship option. The start-up was launched in 2023, making it possible to borrow an insured car from a neighbour or friend. To take advantage of this service, users register on the site, providing their personal details and the number plate of the car concerned. After a payment of €5 per day and verification by the site, users can borrow a car while being insured.
Exotec
Exotec, co-founded in 2015 by Renaud Heitz (P03), is positioned among the world leaders in logistics robotics. The company builds and distributes more than 5,000 Skypods worldwide. This autonomous mobile robot is equipped with wheels and moves in three dimensions, climbing up to 12 m on rack guides. With a team of 600 employees, Exotec integrates software, conveyors and machines to complement its robots and offer its customers complete robotic warehouses.
Fairmat
Fairmat, founded and run by Ben Saada (P07), is a company that recycles and reuses carbon fibre composite materials (from aircraft wings or wind turbine blades) that are currently incinerated or landfilled. This recycling process emits less CO2 and greenhouse gases than the production of a new material. It inaugurated the Fairfactory in Bouguenais near Nantes, its hundred or so robotic arms recycling 3,500 tonnes of materials a year. In a few years’ time, it should employ 400 people.
Pigment
Co-created by Éléonore Crespo (P10), an Innovation and Entrepreneurship option student, and Romain Niccoli (P97), Pigment is a financial planning platform that helps companies make the right decisions. She is the first female CEO of a French start-up to be included in the French Tech 40 index. Pigment enables businesses to draw up budgets, forecasts and agile plans to manage and ensure the sustainability of their activities.
Start-ups from Mines Paris – PSL
Start-ups from Mines Paris – PSL help to increase the impact of research. These young companies and the researchers who work with them are real vectors for innovation and play an active role in the School’s development policy.
Spin-offs from a Mines Paris – PSL research centre
- Alice & Bob – Centre Automatique et Systèmes (CAS), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Arxitek – Centre de Géosciences (GEOSCIENCES), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Embodme – Centre de Robotique (CAOR)
- Edwige – Centre de Gestion Scientifique (CGS), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- EneVille – Centre Efficacité Energétique des Systèmes (CES), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Exergetica – Centre Efficacité Energétique des Systèmes (CES), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Intempora – Centre de Robotique (CAOR), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF, mécène du festival “Musique aux Mines” depuis 2017
- Invisensing – Centre Automatique et Systèmes (CAS), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Nest
- Plenesys – Centre Procédés, Energies Renouvelables, Systèmes énergétiques (PERSEE)
- SUBLIME Energie – Centre Efficacité Energétique des Systèmes (CES), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- STEM – Centre Efficacité Energétique des Systèmes (CES), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- Stim – Centre de Gestion Scientifique (CGS)
- UVR – Centre de Robotique (CAOR), label Mines Paris SPIN-OFF
- REGMIND (ex-Luxia) – Centre de Recherche Informatique (CRI)
Start-ups created by Mines Paris – PSL graduates
- SmartBack, Ariane Valare (P17), co-founder
- Ecotable, Camille Delamar (P08), co-founder
- Big Blue, Matthias Griffe (P14) and William Meunier (P14), co-founders
- SPES Salutis (Le Donjon), SAS, Eloi de Cossé Brissac (P19), co-founder
- DNA Script, Xavier Godron (P11) and Sylvain Gariel (P07), co-founders
- Yespark, Thibaut Charry (P11), co-founder
- Cuure, Jules Marcilhacy (P09), co-founder
- Criteo / Lifen, Franck le Ouay (P97), co-founder
- OuiHelp, Victor Sebag (P08), co-founder
- FieldBox, Aymeric Préveral-Etcheverry (P09), co-founder and CEO, Antoine Trihoreau (P00), co-founder and Executive Chairman
- SpaceFill, Quentin Drillon (P17), co-fondateur
- JeudiMerci, Léonie de Verdelhan (P12), co-founder
- Lovebox, Jean Gregoire (P08), founder
- AdoreMe (New York), Morgan Hermand (P02), founder
- Nest For All (Dakar), Khadidiatou Nakoulima (P06), founder
- Briq, Thibault Lemonnier (P16), co-founder
