France is fast becoming one of Europe’s most dynamic AI hubs, with a wave of high-profile investments and homegrown startups capturing global attention. Fuelled by government support, a strong academic ecosystem, and a growing appetite for open-source innovation, French AI companies have attracted billions in funding from Mistral AI’s nearly €500 million to rising stars like Photoroom, Nabla, and Poolside. This momentum is transforming France from a quiet player into a global force in AI, robotics, and machine learning. As investors and founders increasingly look to Paris for the next breakthrough, French AI is not just catching up, it’s helping define the future.
In a move that underscores the growing global influence of France in the AI and robotics sectors, Hugging Face, an AI developer platform known for its open-source ethos, has acquired Pollen Robotics, a French startup specialising in humanoid robots. However, the amount of acquisition remains undisclosed for now. While headquartered in the US, Hugging Face’s French roots make this deal not just a business expansion but a symbolic homecoming that strengthens France’s standing on the global tech stage.
Why does Pollen Robotics matter?
Pollen Robotics, founded in Bordeaux in 2016 by researchers Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet, shares Hugging Face’s open-source philosophy. The company previously raised €2.5 million from investors, including Bpifrance before its acquisition.
The startup is best known for Reachy, a modular humanoid robot designed for research and education. Its latest version, Reachy 2, is already in use at top institutions like Cornell and Carnegie Mellon and includes advanced features such as VR teleoperation, stereo vision, and spatialised audio. The robot is priced at $70,000 and aims to make humanoid robotics more accessible.
A natural alliance for open-sourcerobotics
This acquisition is not Hugging Face’s first step into robotics. In fact, the two companies had already collaborated last year on Le Robot, an open-source machine designed to assist with household tasks. Hugging Face has also built a dedicated robotics team, led by Remi Cadene, a former engineer from Tesla’s Optimus program.
Now, by acquiring Pollen, Hugging Face plans to take this vision further by selling Reachy 2 and allowing developers to download and suggest improvements to its code. The integration of its AI models with Pollen’s hardware aims to unlock new applications in research, education, and even daily life.
Hugging Face: A French-born global leader
Founded in Paris in 2016 by Julien Chaumond, Thomas Wolf, and Clément Delangue, Hugging Face started out as a quirky AI chatbot project for teenagers. Its journey soon pivoted to open-source AI tools, becoming the “GitHub of machine learning.” Today, Hugging Face boasts over 1 million monthly active users and has raised nearly $400 million from leading investors including Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Google, and Amazon.
Although it later relocated to New York, Hugging Face remains deeply rooted in France. The Paris office is its largest, with 70 of its 180 employees based there. Another 50 are scattered across Europe. For co-founder Julien Chaumond, who previously worked at Parisian startup Stupeflix, the French connection is strategic and cultural. As he puts it, “Value creation is not defined by a company’s HQ.”
This acquisition reaffirms Hugging Face’s commitment to building a European presence while scaling globally. It also reinforces its role as a mentor and role model in France’s AI ecosystem.
What does this mean for France?
Hugging Face’s acquisition of Pollen Robotics is more than a strategic business move. It is a signal that France is becoming a serious player in the future of AI and robotics. With talent, strong academic institutions, and lower operating costs, Paris is becoming an innovation hub for next-gen tech.
In a country where founding startups was once a niche career path, building AI companies is now increasingly the default option. Hugging Face, which started as a French experiment and became a global leader, is now actively nurturing the next wave of French tech founders and acquiring homegrown innovators along the way.
This move helps consolidate France’s growing reputation as a breeding ground for world-class AI and robotics startups and brings the dream of open, accessible robotics one step closer to reality.
