Spotlight on new startups assisted by Montpellier BIC, and on the winners of the highly selective I-Lab 2025 competition during the 2nd edition of Startup Day, held on December 12 at the Halle de l’Innovation in Montpellier. A big event dedicated to entrepreneurship in Montpellier.
52 new incubated startups
The figures highlight the pivotal role played by Montpellier BIC within the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“Out of 466 applications received in 2025, we selected 52 new entrants across all programs,” says Isabelle Prévot, director of the incubator.
These projects represent the strategic sectors promoted by Montpellier Métropole, namely health, digital technology, the environment, cultural and creative industries, and renewable energies.
A new entrepreneur in the 2025 cohort, Nicolas Taulet (with the project Nephroshape, a method for assessing the impact of chemical compounds on the kidney) highlights Montpellier BIC as “a platform for making the transition from researcher to entrepreneur.” Guilhem Molles (leading the project Akelion, innovative industrial equipment for recycling wastewater using minimal energy) highlights the benefit of “access to a project manager with whom we can discuss matters directly.”
Other new incubated startups include Petshka (chemical recycling of polyester waste), Ailix (a platform that simplifies access to artificial intelligence for company employees), Humeos (a scanner for observing soil and roots), Doctreen (a collaborative SaaS platform for the radiology market), and many others. Such projects reflect the area's entrepreneurial identity.
i-Lab: “real recognition”
The Startup Day event also provided an opportunity to highlight the area's exceptional success in the highly selective i-Lab 2025 competition organized by the French Ministry of Research. With seven winners from Montpellier out of 62 nationally, including two Grand Prize winners, this remarkable achievement is a source of great pride for the teams at Montpellier BIC and the University Innovation Cluster, who worked together to bring these deep tech projects to fruition. “This distinction acknowledges our impact. i-Lab is a real recognition,” says Clelia Oliva, Grand Prize winner and co-founder of Terratis, the first French company to reduce the population of tiger mosquitoes and insect pests using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).
Startup Day was also an opportunity to revisit the year's highlights, such as Montpellier Capital Risque held last November, and to introduce the four new startups from the second cohort of the Henera incubator, which is dedicated to carbon-free energy. One of these startups is Look Up Géoscience, chaired by Sébastien Lacaze. “Today, we can really see that Montpellier is becoming the capital of renewable energy,” he points out.
International success
Last but not least, current events unexpectedly drew attention to the thematic programs run by Montpellier BIC: in the field of video games, Montpellier-based studio Sandfall Interactive, which was part of the second Montpellier Game Lab cohort (a program co-run by the Push Start association), won nine trophies at the Game Awards in Los Angeles for its game "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33”. This is a record number of trophies won by a game at the Game Awards, considered to be the “Oscars” of video games!
Photos ©GIL
