8 EDHEC startups in the Challenges 2025 ranking
They are reinventing the energy, mobility, health, finance, HR and retail sectors: eight startups from the EDHEC ecosystem feature in Challenges magazine's 100 startups to invest in in 2025. This is a strong recognition of the entrepreneurial approach taken by EDHEC through its training, incubation and financing programmes.
An EDHEC ecosystem to help shape the innovations of tomorrow
At EDHEC, entrepreneurship is supported by a structured ecosystem, combining training, support and financing: more than 3,000 hours of dedicated courses, three specialised incubators (impact, generalist, deeptech) based at STATION F and Sophia Antipolis, an impact seed fund (GENERATIONS powered by EDHEC, in partnership with Ring Capital), and certification courses such as L’Étincelle to democratise entrepreneurial skills.
Every year, more than 70 startups benefit from this support. This year, according to Challenges, 8 of them are among the most promising in France.
8 EDHEC startups to keep an eye on
Yoti, replaying childhood to save the planet
Founded by Jacques Grimont and Vincent Corrèges, Yoti is reinventing toy consumption through a circular, solidarity-based model.
At Yoti, each reconditioned toy tells a double story. The story of an object rescued from waste, but also the story of a journey to reintegration. In their workshops in Le Havre and in prisons, used toys are reconditioned by people in rehabilitation, including prisoners. The result: 65% of them find stable employment on their release.
Winner of our Act for Impact programme at STATION F, in partnership with BivwAk! and BNP Paribas, Yoti is aiming to achieve sales of €1.2m by 2024 and to open 100 centres in prisons. A social and environmental mission praised by Challenges.
TwoWay, the Challenges jury's FinTech Coup de Coeur
Founded by Chirine Benzaied and David Boclé, TwoWay develops AI tools for investment bank traders. Their solution centralises, analyses and exploits complex data flows to detect market signals and automate repetitive tasks.
The startup, which is incubated at STATION F and went through the L’Étincelle training programme, has won double recognition, being named Coup de Cœur Fintech by the Challenges 2025 jury.
Railee, turning train travel into the number-one reflex for European travellers
Railee aims to reconcile travel and the climate by facilitating access to train journeys across Europe. With over 100,000 searches already carried out on their platform, Camille Barneaud and Marc Sahuguet want to make trains the No. 1 choice for European travellers.
Incubated at STATION F, Railee is making rail journeys easier to understand and more accessible.
Coeur-net, identification by heartbeat
Coeur-net is a deep-tech start-up that has emerged from our TechForward incubator in Sophia Antipolis (in partnership with Eurecom and the Institut Mines-Télécom). Coeur-net is developing a biometric identification technology based on heart data, to secure access to medical data. The innovation is led by Benjamin Vignau, a doctor from INSA.
Kalent, AI for your recruitment needs
Kalent automates all your HR sourcing. Its AI agent automatically performs over 50,000 tasks: it analyses hundreds of millions of profiles, writes contact messages, selects the right candidates and schedules interviews directly in your diary. Thanks to Kalent, recruiters get up to 3 times more qualified interviews from a single vacancy.
This powerful solution has already been adopted by a number of customers and is led by Edouard Vaudour, a serial entrepreneur trained at EDHEC and formerly incubated at STATION F.
Mamili, the first home-based retirement home
Created by Victoire Bossard, an EDHEC graduate, Mamili offers an alternative to traditional structures, with a platform of care, services and activities for senior citizens living at home. Its ambition: more independence, more social contact, more dignity.
A humanist vision of ageing, hailed today by Challenges.
NRJx, reducing industrial energy waste
Backed by our GENERATIONS powered by EDHEC fund, NRJx's mission is to reduce the energy bills of industrial companies while accelerating their transition to leaner, more competitive production. Their SaaS platform, co-founded by Alexandre Kipp and Cédric Faucheux, analyses production, consumption and external data in real time to detect waste.
The start-up can reduce consumption by 10-20%, while helping manufacturers to achieve their decarbonisation targets. It has already helped 30 manufacturers in sectors such as food processing, chemicals and plastics.
Pikkopay, cutting waiting lines
Pikkopay is reinventing the in-store experience with a scan & go solution that turns customers' smartphones into super-fast checkouts.
Co-founded by Alexandre Chen and Trinh Joe, this RetailTech, incubated in our generalist programme at STATION F, is already being tested in a number of retailers and aims to make queuing an exception.
Discover our entrepreneurship support programmes: incubators, seed funds, certification courses, etc. At EDHEC, we give you the means to turn your ideas into reality and create a lasting impact.
