en.Wedoany.com Reported - Orange recently announced three initiatives aimed at accelerating support for the development of French startups, in order to strengthen its digital sovereignty strategy.
The first initiative, named "Procurement," involves Orange increasing direct purchases of products and services from French startups, with the goal of quickly identifying, certifying, and deploying innovative solutions that meet its business, technical, and operational needs.
The second initiative, "Distribution," leverages Orange's global geographic coverage, sales teams, and close ties with local economic structures to help startups connect with public and private sector clients.
The third initiative, "Integration," will incorporate a broader range of French startup solutions into Orange's B2B service catalog, enabling enterprise clients to more easily adopt and deploy them at scale.
Additionally, Orange's venture capital arm, Orange Ventures, will adjust its investment strategy to support companies in becoming trusted suppliers, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, trusted cloud, cybersecurity, healthcare, and defense. These new measures synergize with Orange's existing startup acceleration activities, including the global startup mentoring and scaling program Orange Fab, and the Orange Summer Challenge for startups in the Middle East and Africa, which helps companies refine and commercialize AI solutions through a 12-week intensive training program.
Orange CEO Christel Heydemann stated that France needs startups capable of achieving industrial scale, continuously optimizing solutions, and rapidly capturing markets. Orange is taking on this catalytic role, accelerating the scaling of trusted French solutions through procurement, commercial strength, and integration expertise. Heydemann is also a sponsor of the government-backed program French Tech 2030, which aims to identify and nurture innovative tech startups. The 2025 cohort has selected 80 companies, each receiving support in financing, business development, international expansion, recruitment, intellectual property, and localized operations.
Julie Huguet, Director of the French Tech Mission, emphasized that its strategic focus is on supporting the growth of French startups, with customer access, reliable relay, and smooth sales cycles being crucial. Collaboration with Orange can mobilize the entire ecosystem to create business opportunities for scaling companies. According to the latest data from the French Tech Mission, total venture capital exits so far in 2026 amount to €5.1 billion, far exceeding the €1.9 billion in 2025. Deep involvement from telecom operators like Orange is expected to further boost this figure.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
