When Thomas Semah, founder of Yneuro, places a simple headband on a VivaTech attendee, what happens next feels almost like magic.
In seconds, a screen lights up with a unique personal identifier called a Neuro ID. It’s generated from the user’s brain activity and enables them to authenticate their identity and unlock devices with their thoughts.
Our AI technology reads your neural signals, learns from your unique patterns, and creates your unique neural signature – your Neuro ID,” Semah explains. “You don’t have to do anything. You’re connected.
For French braintech startup Yneuro, live demonstrations like these at VivaTech are more than crowd-pleasing moments. They represent years of deep-tech R&D being turned into credibility, visibility, and business opportunities.
In fact, VivaTech has played a key role in Yneuro’s growth, helping turn an ambitious neurotechnology vision into a company now attracting global attention.
Technology Built For the Future of Security
Yneuro’s mission is to develop neurotechnologies that make everyday life more secure and seamless, starting with the world’s first neural authentication technology.
Instead of traditional biometrics like fingerprints and facial recognition, Neuro ID uses artificial intelligence to read a person’s neural activity and create a unique identity that can’t be recreated.
Legacy biometrics such as facial recognition, fingerprints, and iris or retina scans can be spoofed,” Semah says. “Neuro ID is private by design and unreplicable.
Yneuro is betting that in the future, brain sensors will be integrated into everyday wearable devices such as earbuds and smart glasses, allowing for brainwaves to easily replace passwords.
Studies show brain activity is just as individual as fingerprints, but this is the kind of innovation that people often need to see to believe. Potential users want explanations, and to know they can trust the technology. This is where VivaTech entered the story for Yneuro.
Early Signals of Market Validation
For a startup at the forefront of security, AI, and neuroscience, VivaTech offers something rare: a place where advanced technology can meet decision-makers who are ready to learn, question, and invest.
When Yneuro arrived at VivaTech in 2024, its first appearance helped the team test how the technology resonated with real users and experts. It also got the startup valuable attention.
We actually won the Best Innovation Award in 2024,” recounts Semah. “And [in 2025] we presented, for the very first time, the latest version of the ID on the Discovery Stage. The room was full.
Live demos allowed attendees to see in real time how Yneuro transforms neural activity into a digital signature, turning an abstract concept into a lived experience.
That clarity paid off. In 2025, the startup was invited by Salesforce to be featured on VivaTech’s AI Avenue, placing it among the most promising AI-driven innovations at the event.
Meeting the World at VivaTech
As a B2B startup offering its technology to consumer device companies, Yneuro needs to be able to get in front of everyone from manufacturers to potential corporate partners to other AI experts. VivaTech’s unique mix of tech leaders, global brands and public-sector stakeholders made that possible in a matter of days.
It was a great opportunity to meet investors, journalists, and decision-makers,” Semah explains. “We developed the idea for the world, and VivaTech is where we met it!
To start out, Yneuro is targeting sectors such as banking, healthcare and insurance that handle ultra-sensitive data. That means they require cutting-edge security and are governed by rigorous guidelines.
“We follow strict European rules and technical requirements,” explains Semah. “Neuro ID is private by design, so ethics and regulation are on our side, not against us.”
The startup’s many possible applications also found traction at VivaTech, where cross-sector conversations can happen naturally. Discussions that could have taken months to initiate elsewhere began face-to-face on the event floor.
“The Future is Neuro”
Currently a seed-stage startup backed by accelerators, Yneuro is still early in its journey, but founder Thomas Semah sees neurotechnology approaching a major inflection point.
“Neurotech is rising,” he says. “Apple, Meta – they’re not just watching, they’re moving fast. Because the future is neuro.” Indeed, braintech is quickly progressing from research labs into real-world products, and is poised to reshape how people interact with devices and data.
To finance the next stage of its own journey, Yneuro is preparing a fundraising round in 2026. This capital will be used to support an international rollout focused on three key markets for connected devices: the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
As VivaTech celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2026, Yneuro’s story illustrates exactly what the event was designed to do: accelerate innovation by putting the right technologies in front of the right people at the right time.
What does the future hold for Yneuro and neurotech? Join us at the next edition of VivaTech to find out!
