Nvidia Takes Stakes in Doctolib, Pigment, Genesis AI and Entalpic
Trending Topics Jakob Steinschaden
Nvidia is buying stakes in four French startups, including Doctolib and Pigment. Jensen Huang says Europe needs to move faster on open AI, and Nvidia is backing that bet.
Based on reporting by Trending Topics, Jakob Steinschaden — read the original for the full story.
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Jensen Huang took Nvidia’s checkbook to Paris. The chipmaker said it is investing in four French companies: Doctolib, Genesis AI, Pigment and Entalpic. It didn’t say how much money changed hands, and it didn’t say how big the stakes are. Les Echos says they are minority stakes.
The announcement came during a reception on Place Vendôme, with France’s economy minister, Roland Lescure, in the room. It also fits a bigger pattern: Nvidia is pushing deeper into Europe’s AI scene, and Paris was only the first stop on Huang’s European tour. London and Berlin are next, with Nvidia’s GTC developer conference set for next week in Berlin.
Doctolib is probably the best-known name in the group. The medical appointment platform was valued at €5.8 billion in 2022, and it is now working on AI agents meant to take routine work off doctors’ hands, plus a digital health companion for patients. Doctolib says Nvidia’s money is meant to support that work.
The other three bets are more varied. Genesis AI, with offices in Paris and the San Francisco Bay Area, is building foundation models for general-purpose robots, along with simulation software and its own hardware. Pigment makes planning software for finance teams and has been pitched as an Excel rival. Entalpic uses AI to design new materials at the atomic scale, including for semiconductor manufacturing and next-generation electronics.
Nvidia is already on familiar ground in France. It says it holds stakes in Alice & Bob, Gradium and Scintil Photonics, and that its total commitment to Europe’s tech ecosystem is nearly $10 billion. The company also says it plans to announce another $2 billion in European deals within a week, on top of the $8 billion it says it invested over the past year. And yes, the whole thing comes with the usual circular-financing grumbling: critics say AI startups buy Nvidia chips with Nvidia-backed money, while Huang insists the investments stand on their own.
“Europe needs to get in the race,” he said in Paris. His preferred route is open AI models, which he says are cheaper and more adaptable. That’s the pitch, anyway. The money says Nvidia is trying to make it real.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Nvidia is doing what the smartest platform companies always do: funding the people who will need its stuff later. The circular-financing criticism is not some internet fever dream; it’s the obvious question sitting on the table. But in AI, everyone wants the same hardware, so calling it coordination probably sounds nicer than admitting the whole industry is one long receipt.
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