Top 30 startups announced for VivaTech 2025 Innovation of the Year Award

The Innovation of the Year Award celebrates the boldest and most visionary startups exhibiting at VivaTech 2025. Open to all exhibiting companies, the award honors those pushing boundaries and redefining industries. Startups were scored on Innovation & Creativity, Market Disruption, and Scalability. From hundreds of applicants, 30 made the short list.

The top five will pitch live at VivaTech on June 11, and the winner will be revealed at the VivaTech Global Awards Ceremony on June 12. The prize? A pitch slot at the ceremony, a free Startup Corner at VivaTech 2026, and a coveted spot in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200. This award recognizes not just great ideas, but also the teams turning bold visions into game-changing realities.

This year’s applicants blew us away. From turning glasses into self-driving guide dogs, to building photonic chips that could redefine computing, to converting mining waste into carbon sinks — this short list is full of breakthrough thinking with real-world stakes. We saw microrobot swarms for space exploration, AI that reads your mind to control devices, and bioelectronic implants fighting brain cancer.

These startups are pushing science, design, and engineering to new heights, especially in areas like sustainability, human-machine interfaces, advanced diagnostics, and accessible healthcare. What stood out most was the boldness. These teams aren’t just solving problems — they’re building the future from the ground up. Choosing five finalists — let alone one winner — will be incredibly tough. Every startup in this top 30 has already earned serious bragging rights.

Here are the VivaTech 2025 Innovation of the Year Award top 30 startups, as chosen by VivaTech in partnership with TechCrunch: