In a powerful testament to this momentum, Hugging Face, one of the world’s leading open-source AI platforms, has acquired Pollen Robotics, a French startup specializing in modular humanoid robots. Though the acquisition amount remains undisclosed, the move is a significant one—not just in business terms, but also symbolically—as Hugging Face circles back to its French origins while reinforcing its global expansion in robotics and AI.
France is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most dynamic AI ecosystems in Europe. Once overshadowed by Silicon Valley and London’s tech dominance, France is now emerging as a powerhouse—driven by a potent mix of government backing, academic excellence, and a deep cultural embrace of open-source technology. With high-profile players like Mistral AI raising close to €500 million, and fast-growing startups such as Photoroom, Nabla, and Poolside turning heads globally, French AI innovation is no longer playing catch-up—it’s setting the pace.
Why Pollen Robotics Is a Game-Changer?
Founded in Bordeaux in 2016 by researchers Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet, Pollen Robotics is known for its commitment to open-source principles—making it a natural fit for Hugging Face’s community-first model. The company had earlier raised €2.5 million from backers including Bpifrance, the French public investment bank.
Their flagship product, Reachy, is a humanoid robot platform designed for education and research. The latest version, Reachy 2, is already being used at elite institutions like Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University. With features like stereo vision, VR-based teleoperation, and spatialized audio, the robot offers high-end capabilities in a flexible, modular design. It is priced at $70,000, targeting labs and educational institutions aiming to explore the next frontier in robotics.
Hugging Face’s Broader Robotics Vision
This isn’t Hugging Face’s first step into the world of robotics. In 2023, the company collaborated with Pollen Robotics to launch Le Robot, an open-source assistant designed to perform basic household tasks. The success of that project prompted the formation of a dedicated robotics team at Hugging Face, led by Rémi Cadene, a former engineer on Tesla’s Optimus robotics team.
With the acquisition of Pollen Robotics, Hugging Face now plans to integrate its AI models with Reachy 2 hardware, allowing developers not just to use the robot, but to download and improve its codebase. This is a major step toward making intelligent, programmable robots accessible to the global developer community.
Hugging Face: A French-Born Global Leader
Hugging Face was founded in Paris in 2016 by Julien Chaumond, Thomas Wolf, and Clément Delangue. Initially launched as a chatbot app for teens, the company pivoted to become the “GitHub for machine learning,” offering a vast ecosystem of pre-trained AI models and open-source tools. Today, Hugging Face boasts over 1 million monthly active users, and has raised nearly $400 million from leading investors like Sequoia Capital, Google, Amazon, and Coatue.
Although its headquarters are now in New York, Hugging Face’s heart remains in France. Its Paris office is the company’s largest, home to over 70 of its 180 global employees, while another 50 are based across Europe. Co-founder Julien Chaumond has emphasized that a company’s impact is not defined by geography but by its community and values.
Why This Matters for France?
This acquisition isn’t just a strategic move—it’s a statement. France, once seen as a second-tier player in global tech, is now home to world-class talent, research institutions, and a growing investor ecosystem. Lower operational costs compared to Silicon Valley and the rise of hybrid work have made cities like Paris and Bordeaux prime hubs for innovation.
Startups like Hugging Face are showing that it’s not only possible to build globally competitive AI products from France, but that French companies can lead the charge. With Hugging Face actively investing in homegrown talent and now acquiring local innovators like Pollen Robotics, France’s transformation into a global AI superpower is accelerating.
What’s Next?
For Hugging Face, this deal opens up new frontiers in open-source robotics, combining its massive model library with real-world robotic applications. For France, it’s another milestone in its journey to becoming a top destination for AI and robotics investment.
The acquisition also signals a broader shift in the tech world: the era of decentralized, open-source-driven innovation is here—and France is at its center.
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