French Tech Grant: amounts, criteria, and how to apply
The Bourse French Tech is a Bpifrance grant for an innovation project in its feasibility phase. It is not a loan. It takes no equity. It is not repayable if the programme is delivered as contracted. For many French startups it is the first public money they receive, sometimes before the first euro from an investor.
This guide restates the rules published on the Bpifrance catalogue in September 2026, and what regional offices actually ask for when they review a file. The two do not always overlap. That is where a lot of articles go wrong.
What the Bourse French Tech actually funds
The official page is short: the grant is there to “support innovation projects in a maturation and feasibility phase”, by part-funding internal and external R&D costs. In review, that usually covers:
- staff costs assigned to the project (salaried founders, first technical hires)
- external work (studies, prototyping, development)
- intellectual-property costs (patents, trademarks)
- travel tied to the programme
What it does not cover, or very rarely: standard computers, ordinary running costs, and any spend committed before the filing date. That last point is not a regional habit. It is in bold on the catalogue page: no cost incurred before filing can be retained.
The grant funds a spending programme, not the company. Rent, an invoicing tool or a trade show with no link to technical feasibility stay outside the base.
The real amounts in 2026
These figures come from the official pages, not from the articles that comment on them. The amount granted depends on the budget you present and on the review. There is no automatic scale.
| Parameter | Bourse French Tech | Bourse French Tech Émergence |
|---|---|---|
| Grant ceiling | €30,000 | €90,000 |
| Coverage rate | 50% to 70% of eligible costs | 50% to 70% depending on company category |
| Programme length | 24 months maximum | 12 months, up to 18 under conditions |
| Who it is for | SME under the EU definition | Small companies registered in France for less than a year, qualified deeptech project |
| Payment | Two instalments: contract signature, then the balance at the end of the programme | Two instalments: contract signature, then the balance at the end of the programme |
Sources: Bpifrance catalogue pages “Bourse French Tech” and “Bourse French Tech Emergence”, checked on 16 September 2026.
The ceiling applies to the grant, not to the total budget. A €40,000 project can receive up to €28,000 (70%). A €20,000 project can receive up to €14,000. There is no automatic €30,000 Bourse French Tech: the committee recalculates from the justified budget.
If you read that the ceiling moved to €50,000 in January 2025, you did not imagine it. The figure is everywhere, including in otherwise careful pieces. The official catalogue page, on 16 September 2026, still shows €30,000. Until that page moves, that is the figure to put in a forecast. The regional officer will tell you if their office applies a different scale.
The Bourse French Tech Émergence is a different offer. It is aimed at deeptech projects qualified under the Bpifrance framework, carried by a small company registered in France for less than a year, and it goes up to €90,000. Do not file an Émergence application for a SaaS with no scientific component: it will be rejected, or sent back to the standard grant.
Who can file
The published criteria
For the standard grant, the catalogue sets three conditions:
- be an SME under the EU definition (fewer than 250 staff, and either less than €50m of turnover or less than €43m of balance-sheet total)
- carry a technological, or “Nouvelle Génération”, innovation project with high technological risk
- have committed no programme costs before the filing date
Innovation is judged by the officer and the regional committee. An ordinary service with no technological or usage edge will be hard to defend. A SaaS, deeptech or medtech project, or a real break in the business model, gets through more easily, provided you write it with facts rather than adjectives.
What the catalogue does not say, and what regions often still ask
Many guides, including earlier copy on this site, present three extra filters as if they were written down: company less than a year old, fewer than 50 staff, support from a labelled structure.
None of those three points appears on the standard grant's catalogue page. The “less than a year” condition belongs to Émergence. The “less than three years” condition belongs to French Tech Tremplin, a different programme. The “small company” headcount (under 50) is what some offices apply in practice, not what is published for the classic grant.
Support is not an official box. In review, many regional offices ask for it, or treat it as a signal. That is not the same as a written knockout condition. It is common enough that you should check it before you write the note. The most stable starting point for a labelled structure near you remains the Mission French Tech.
What knocks a file out immediately
- a company that has already received a Bourse French Tech: in practice the grant is awarded once
- a project already funded by another Bpifrance aid on the same spending programme
- a company in difficulty under the European guidelines
Co-founders who are not employees
Salaried founders can put their pay into the budget, on the share of time assigned to the programme. Unsalaried officers, for example a majority manager of an SARL, can value their time, but under specific calculation rules. Settle this with an accountant or the Bpifrance adviser before you lock the numbers. Recalculating it after filing cuts the grant by the same amount.
Documents to prepare before you file
Filing is online. The documents below are those regional offices ask for most often. This is not a list taken from a decree: an officer can ask for more.
Administrative documents
- Company extract (Kbis) less than three months old
- Articles of association
- ID of the company officer
- Company bank details
Financial documents
- Latest accounts, or an interim statement if the company is more than six months old
- Forward funding table for the project
Project documents
- Presentation note (usually 5 to 10 pages): context, innovation, market, team, action plan
- Detailed budget, justified line by line
- Overall funding plan: how the remaining 30% is covered (equity, honour loan, another grant, shareholder current account)
The presentation note is the document that decides the file. It has to answer three questions in plain language: how the project is innovative, why this team can deliver it, and which market it addresses. A fundraising deck pasted into a PDF does not replace that note.
The filing steps
The six steps of a file
Before filing
Speak to the regional officer
The grant is reviewed at regional level, year-round. A first meeting tells you whether the project fits before you write ten pages. Regional offices are listed on bpifrance.fr.
Preparation
Build the budget line by line
Each cost must map to an action in the work plan, with a volume, a rate and a named supplier. “Development: €15,000” does not pass. “Data-processing module, 150 hours at €100/hour, named contractor” does.
Preparation
Write the presentation note
Five to ten pages are enough if they answer three questions: how the project is innovative, why this team can deliver it, and how the remaining 30% is funded.
Filing
File online, then go through review
Once the file is in, an officer asks for extra documents. The regional committee judges the innovation, the team and the funding plan. An oral presentation is sometimes requested.
6 to 12 weeks
Notification and first instalment
If the file is approved, Bpifrance notifies you in writing. The first instalment is paid at contract signature, after any conditions precedent are lifted. The six-to-twelve-week delay is what regions typically see, not a catalogue commitment.
End of programme
Evidence and balance
The balance is paid after an end-of-programme report and a statement of costs actually paid. Without those documents, the first instalment can be clawed back.
The note structure that gets through committee most cleanly looks like this:
- The problem and the market, with sourced figures
- The solution and what sets it apart from existing alternatives
- How far along you are: prototype, MVP, first users
- The team and the skills actually present
- The action plan over the life of the programme
- The success metrics expected at the end of the 12 or 24 months
Avoid “disruptive solution” and “fast-growing market”. A regional committee reads several dozen files per session. It first drops those that never say how the project is different.
Stacking the Bourse French Tech with other aid
The simple rule: two grants cannot pay the same cost. The rest is a conversation with your accountant, because the legal regime (de minimis or the RDI framework) depends on the file.
| Scheme | Stacks with the grant | Watch-out |
|---|---|---|
| CIR / CII (R&D / innovation tax credit) | Yes, on distinct costs | Costs already funded by the grant leave the tax-credit base |
| JEI status | Yes | One is a grant, the other a payroll-tax exemption. They do not overlap |
| Hiring aid, ACRE | Yes | Check that the same salary is not exempted twice |
| Regional grants, ADEME | Yes, within the overall aid intensity | The regional officer often sees these files in parallel |
| Honour loan | Yes | This is debt, not a grant: it funds the remaining 30% |
| Another Bpifrance aid on the same project | No | One Bpifrance funding per spending programme |
Tax stacking, especially with the CIR, should be checked by an accountant before any filing. This table describes usual 2026 practice, not a tax ruling.
Stacking with JEI status is the cleanest of the two: the grant pays cash, the status lowers the cost of R&D salaries. They complement each other. Stacking with the CIR is the more technical one: any cost already covered by the grant must leave the tax-credit base. An accountant who knows the CIR does the calculation in an afternoon. A founder who does it alone finds out at audit.
These grants also count against a public-aid ceiling. Depending on the file, that is the de minimis cap (€300,000 over three rolling fiscal years) or the RDI framework, which the Émergence page names explicitly. Ask the officer which regime applies to your file before you stack other grants.
The wider picture, JEI, angels and funds, is in our guide to funding a startup in France.
The five mistakes that get a file rejected or cut
A weak budget. This is the first reason amounts get reduced. Unjustified lines, day rates off market, or ineligible costs in the base lead to a downward recalculation. The committee does not always refuse: it cuts.
A generic note. If you can swap your company name for another and the text still reads, the file is dead. Write what you have already done, what remains to be proved, and why now.
Costs committed before the filing date. Any invoice signed before submission is ineligible, with no exception. If you have already paid a contractor on the project, that invoice does not enter the base. File before you sign.
A team missing from the file. The committee judges the ability to execute as much as the idea. A deeptech project carried by a team with no visible technical skill will be questioned. Two paragraphs on the founders' backgrounds avoid that conversation.
No overall funding plan. Bpifrance funds only 50% to 70% of the programme. The file must say how the rest is covered. “Equity” with no amount, no date and no origin is not enough.
After the Bourse French Tech: what comes next
The grant covers a feasibility phase. It is not designed to fund a finished product or a market launch. Once the programme is over, what follows depends on the stage you have reached.
If the project has produced an MVP and the first customer feedback holds, the schemes that follow naturally are Bpifrance's Prêt d'Amorçage Innovation, an honour loan, a raise from business angels, or an accelerator. Orders of magnitude from pre-seed to seed are in our funding stages guide.
This is also the moment when documents stop being a grant file and become an investor file: a readable cap table, up-to-date articles, signed intellectual-property assignments. onefive is built for that transition: a dataroom with per-investor access and read tracking, in the same workspace.
Sources
The amounts and conditions in this guide come from the following pages, checked on 16 September 2026: the Bourse French Tech catalogue; the Bourse French Tech Emergence catalogue; the i-Lab innovation competition page for the ceiling comparison; and the Mission French Tech for orientation toward support structures.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Bourse French Tech repayable?+
No. It is a grant, not a loan. It is not repayable if the programme is delivered as contracted. It can be clawed back if the project is not carried out, if costs are non-compliant, or if the file was false. The balance is paid only against evidence.
Is the 2026 ceiling €30,000 or €50,000?+
The official catalogue page shows €30,000 as of 16 September 2026. Many articles have cited €50,000 since January 2025. Until the catalogue moves, build your forecast on €30,000 and ask the regional officer to confirm.
Can you apply more than once?+
In practice the grant is awarded once per company. A first file that is refused can be refiled on a recast project. Once the grant is notified, it is not renewable on the same project or on another.
Do you need an incubator to apply?+
The official catalogue does not make it a condition. In review, many regional offices ask for it or treat it as a credibility signal. Confirm this with the officer in your region before you invest time in the file.
How long does review take?+
Between six and twelve weeks in most regions, depending on the committee's load. That delay is not a published Bpifrance commitment. Put it in your cash plan as a range, not a date.
Can founder salaries go into the budget?+
Yes if the founders are employees of the company. Unsalaried officers, for example a majority manager of an SARL, can value their time under specific calculation rules, to be confirmed with a Bpifrance adviser or an accountant before the budget is locked.
Is the grant taxable?+
Yes. A public grant is in principle taxable as corporate income. It can also reduce the CIR or CII base, because costs already funded by the aid must be deducted from it. Have the impact checked by a professional before you close the financial year.
How is this different from the i-Lab competition?+
The i-Lab innovation competition, run by Bpifrance under France 2030, funds the creation of innovative-technology companies with a grant of up to €600,000, on eligible costs capped at €1 million. The criteria are tighter, the calendar is annual, and the process is longer. The Bourse French Tech remains the more accessible scheme for a feasibility phase.
