Impact 40/120: discover the 2025 winners!

On Thursday April 24, Impact France unveiled the 2025 winners of Impact 40/120, the index that highlights the 120 most promising French impact start-ups, including the 40 future impact unicorns. The unveiling event, which took place at ChangeNOW, was attended by over 400 entrepreneurs and decision-makers, including Minister Véronique Louwagie and former Secretary of State Brune Poirson, patron of the Class of 2025.‍‍

Discover the 120 winners

Launched last year at the initiative of Impact France, Impact 40/120 has rapidly become the benchmark index for French impact start-ups. Nowadays, companies are no longer rewarded solely for their economic performance, but above all for their ability to generate a positive social and environmental impact. Impact 40/120 highlights the 40 impact start-ups with the potential to become tomorrow's "impact unicorns", and the 120 impact companies to follow and support in their development. 

Selected by an exceptional jury of 15 inspiring personalities, the index provides not only high visibility, but also tailor-made support to propel the winners to the top: joining a community of committed leaders, meeting financiers and major groups, being supported in their acceleration... 

This new generation of entrepreneurs is charting the course for tomorrow's economy, which will have to combine competitiveness and sustainability in the face of the economic, social and environmental challenges of the future. Impact France wishes to continue supporting these pioneers, who are showing that impact is no longer an option, but a compass for the future. 

For its second edition, the index once again testifies to the maturity, resilience and diversity of the impact ecosystem. Some key figures that reflect this dynamic: 

• 6.7 billion euros raised by prizewinners since their creation 
• + 26% average growth for prizewinners in 2024 
• 40% of prizewinners were not in the index in 2024 
• 53% of award-winning companies have at least 1 woman on their founding team 
• 16% of prizewinners have a founder aged under 25 
• 35% of prizewinners have SSE status 

Discover the press kit

Véronique Louwagie, Minister for Trade, Craft Trades, SMEs and the SSE, present at the unveiling of the 2025 winners:

Supporting impact-based innovation means choosing an economy that combines high standards, social and environmental benefits and performance. The government is fully committed to this approach. The Impact 40/120 index shows that today's entrepreneurs are building an economy that is more sober, more responsible, but also more efficient. Their successes clearly show that it is possible to be economically ambitious and aim for social utility at the same time. These are the companies that are inventing the models of the future, and it's our duty to support them.

Brune Poirson, former Secretary of State and sponsor of the Impact 40/120 Class of 2025:

I'm very proud to be the patron of the new class of Impact 40/120. The start-ups in the index are shaping innovative, concrete solutions to contemporary challenges, demonstrating that innovation and performance can, and must, converge for the common good. It is our duty - and this is even more true in the current context - to support them, to accompany them on their ascent, so that they can reach new heights and inspire lasting change.