VivaTech organizes five major Awards each year to discover and showcase breakthrough innovations from startups worldwide: the Female Founder Award, the AfricaTech Award, the Tech for Change Award, the Next Startupper Award, and the Innovation of the Year Award. Every year the winners never disappoint, but what happens after they win? Come see what last year’s winners have been up to since their big wins.
Female Founder Award: Hélène Briand, Verley
Verley is making waves in the dairy industry through world-first innovation, producing animal-free products that are molecularly identical and don’t compromise taste or texture. Since winning in 2025, Verley became the first company to receive a “No Questions Letter” from the FDA for dairy ingredients created via precision fermentation. In addition, the company has been recognized by industry leaders, placing in the top 200 most promising startups globally for the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield.
Hélène was also named as one of the 100 women making moves in French Tech by Les Echos. She says of VivaTech “The Female Founder Award has been an accelerator for my company visibility beyond French borders, VCs, recognition of work, and I hope will attract more female founders to [shine] bright on stage”
Africa Tech Awards, Grand Winner: REME-D
REME-D, founded by CEO Salma Tammam, is a deep-tech company using patented technology to bring affordable disease testing to low-resource settings. Their goal is to ensure equitable access to vital diagnostics, making healthcare systems more efficient and accessible for everyone.
Since being named winner, REME-D has scaled significantly, now testing over 50,000 patients every month across 92 hospitals and labs in Egypt. The company is also officially a registered vendor for the Egyptian Governmental Health Sector (UPA) and has expanded its reach by selling kits in Iraq, Sudan, and Kenya.
The company’s impact has earned it a spot in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200, and Salma Tammam was recently honored with the 2025 Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award. “It’s one thing to win a prize,” Salma says, “It feels great and it’s an amazing recognition, but with this recognition comes the responsibility of keeping up the delivery… we are back to our work, back to our labs, and back to pushing efficient and affordable diagnostics in African markets.”
Africa Tech Awards, FinTech & eCommerce: Zeeh Africa
Zeeh Africa is opening financial services across Africa and the diaspora by helping institutions access real-time data. The platform uses behavioral AI to automate identity checks and save customers’ data who lack traditional credit histories, providing them with more inclusive ways to access credit via APIs and no-code tools.
In addition to winning their category at VivaTech, Zeeh also gained international backing by winning the OVH impact challenge. Since then, the company has been busy strengthening its infrastructure, notably relaunching its direct debit feature. This move tackles one of the biggest hurdles in the digital lending market: getting borrowers to repay.
Africa Tech Awards, GreenTech: Plentify
Plentify has developed a home energy management system designed to help households reduce their carbon footprint. Their technology shifts energy usage to the cheapest and cleanest times of day, making sustainable living more affordable for the average home.
The company has seen good growth recently, closing a Series A funding round this past fall, bringing their total funding to over 5 million. This capital is already being put to work; they just released a new product, the Battery Booster, recently. They’ve also established many new key partnerships with industry leaders while also kicking off new pilots in the UK, Australia, and Brazil.
The impact of their tech is already being felt on a large scale, with over 9.9GWh of electricity saved and more than R40M returned to the pockets of South African households. By exporting these energy solutions globally, Plentify is proving that smart tech can solve real-world infrastructure challenges while also saving people money.
Tech for Change: Genesis
Genesis helps the agricultural world understand its impact by turning land-use data into clear environmental intelligence. Their platform mixes soil sampling with remote sensing and farming data to provide science-based proof of soil health.
Since their win, the company has continued to prove its work holds up, publishing a study about soil carbon in Geoderma, the global journal for soil science. They were also one of just five startups chosen by the ADP Group as a winner for Smart territories, their latest call for solutions.
After also winning the LVMH Innovation Award at VivaTech, Co-founder Adrienne de Malleray says of the momentum: “This double recognition means a lot: it proves that soil is finally being seen as a strategic asset. It shows that tech can be a real ally in the environmental transition.” After the event, the industry has continued to keep an eye on the company, with Genesis being named one of the top 200 startups at the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield.
Next Startupper: Greeny Solutions
Greeny Solutions, co-founded by Zied Madini, helps indoor farmers work smarter by using AI and smart sensors to automate the heavy lifting. Their system handles everything from climate control and watering to nutrient application and disease detection, allowing farmers to focus on their crops while saving time, money, and energy.
Though they started as a student-led project, the team is moving fast. They recently partnered with Agrinova Consulting Tunisia to push innovation in hydroponics and teamed up with the University of Monastir’s Electronics Research Laboratory. They have also expanded their network significantly, joining both the French Tech Grand Paris and the French Tech STL communities to help fuel their growth across the ecosystem.
As part of their prize, they will be hosting their own booth at VivaTech 2026. Zied says of their future: “The next step for our startup is to connect with people and investors all around the world and to continue our mission, which is to make the world a little bit better.”
Innovation of the Year: Chipiron
Chipiron is building a light, inexpensive MRI machine that operates an ultra-low magnetic field. Their mission is to make MRI scans 100x more accessible, as common as a routine blood test, allowing for the early and massive screenings necessary to catch diseases while they are still curable.
The team has hit major milestones recently, successfully producing the first in-vivo images on their full-body, in-house system. This development has caught the eye of the European Innovation Council (EIC), which awarded them “Best Pitch” at their Healthcare Investment Day, and helped them secure a spot in the top 10 most promising EU-funded HealthTech startups by EU-Startups.
Chipiron’s potential to transform healthcare has been recognized, including co-founder Evan Kervella being selected as one of the 200 Leaders of Tomorrow by Institut Choiseul. Reflecting their progress, Evan says: “I’m very glad the competition was tough. There were many applicants from what I heard, so I’m really proud that we had what it takes to convince the jury to award us.”
Ready to put your startup on the fast track? Submit your application here to be a part of VivaTech 2026 and have the chance to win one of these awards. Interested in seeing this year's winners? Get your pass and see them live on stage.
