Red Rooster Dispatch #21
A record-breaking French Tech Connect and what's next
Hi friends! 👋
June starts with something we’re still processing: French Tech Connect Poland 2026 exceeded every expectation.🔥
🏆 In this edition of Red Rooster Dispatch we look back at the conversations, startup pitches and award winners that made French Tech Connect Poland 2026 such a special moment for our community. We also share a new podcast episode, upcoming opportunities across the French Tech network and a few events worth adding to your calendar in the weeks ahead.
Let’s take a look together! 🚀
🐓 French Tech Connect Poland – 2026 Edition
French Tech Connect Poland 2026 Was Something Else: the conversations were sharp, the energy was high and the topics were the ones that will define the next decade. Four tracks brought together world-class speakers and practitioners, gathering - on both Conferences and the Awards Ceremony - 900+ registration, a new record for the venue.
Strategic Tech, Sovereignty & Security tackled Europe’s digital independence and the realities of defense tech in a shifting geopolitical landscape.
AI Decoded: Tech & Capital cut through the noise on applied AI and what it actually means for businesses and investors today.
Energy & Infrastructure Tech brought real industry expertise to the table on renewable energy, clean infrastructure, and the blockchain.
The Startup Pitching Battle
Sixteen slides. Sixteen seconds each. The Pecha Kucha format put our founders under the spotlight in front of one of the largest and most diverse tech crowds in the country: and the room was on edge until the very end.
Three outstanding founders walked away as French Tech Connect Award Winners, earning a fast-track entry into the xFactory - Forvis Mazars accelerator program and exclusive tickets to VivaTech. A stage, a prize, and a new chapter.
TrustTech Award - Sunflower
WorkTech Award - SmartyTalent
EnergyTech Award - Stabillon
Congratulations to all three: you earned it! 🔥
The Awards Ceremony & Networking Cocktail: 46 Floors Up
Some milestones deserve to be marked at the highest point in EU. The French Tech Connect Awards Ceremony was followed by a networking cocktail at Varso Tower - Warsaw’s skyline as the backdrop, and a room full of people who had just spent a day building something together.
The conversations that started up there won’t stop there.
A Special Mention
We were deeply honoured to welcome His Excellency Ambassador H.E.M Étienne de Poncins to French Tech Connect Poland for the second time. Since the early days of La French Tech Warsaw, his genuine commitment to strengthening French-Polish innovation ties has meant a great deal to our community. More than an institutional presence, he has been a real supporter of the connections growing between startups, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators from both countries. Having him with us again this year truly mattered.
A Huge Thank You to our Strategic Partners
Forvis Mazars | xFactory – Leading the Startup Pitch Competition and fast-tracking the three winning startups into their XFactory accelerator program, Forvis Mazars brought the full weight of their international advisory expertise to our innovation stage. Their long-standing commitment to empowering entrepreneurs across Poland makes them a natural cornerstone of this ecosystem.
Orange Polska | #OrangeInnovationPoland – Presenting Track 1: Strategic Tech, Sovereignty & Security, Orange Polska led one of the most critical conversations of the edition - on digital independence, resilience, and Europe’s technological future. Their industry leadership gave this track exactly the depth and authority it deserved.
Webellian – Presenting Track 2: AI Decoded: Tech & Capital, Webellian brought both strategic insight and technical credibility to the heart of our AI discussions. They also powered the live streaming of the Pitching Competition and Awards Ceremony, ensuring our community, wherever they were, could be part of the moment.
GreenFuture Energy – Presenting Track 3: Energy & Infrastructure Tech, GreenFuture Energy grounded our sustainability conversations in real expertise, driving the discussion on renewable energy, clean infrastructure, and responsible innovation in Poland and beyond. Their presence reminded us that the future of tech is inseparable from the future of our planet.
🎙️ Red Rooster Podcast – New Episode Out
🚀 From Corporate Tech to Entrepreneurship: Building Your Own Path – in this new episode of the Red Rooster Podcast, we welcome Corentin Bernard. Besides being a member of the board of La French Tech Warsaw, he is an entrepreneur whose path has taken him from major international tech companies to building his own ventures in the fitness industry.
His journey offers a candid look at what it really means to transition from structured corporate environments to the uncertainty of entrepreneurship, with all its challenges, learnings, and turning points.
From mastering high-level sales techniques in global companies, to navigating investor withdrawals and cash flow pressure as a founder, this conversation breaks down the realities of building a business far from the clichés often associated with entrepreneurship.
💡 Key topics discussed in this episode:
Why sales is one of the most powerful entrepreneurial skills?
The shift from corporate structure to startup uncertainty
How international experiences shape adaptability and decision-making?
The reasons behind his move from tech to the fitness industry
The importance of staying close to users and real-world feedback
Building resilience when facing high-stakes challenges
🔑 A conversation about more than entrepreneurship
This episode goes beyond business. It explores freedom, ambition, leadership, and what it really means to create your own path in a constantly changing world.
🌍 Tune in now to discover the full conversation.
🧜 Keep your involvement in Warsaw’s tech community!
Venture Café Thursday Gatherings in June: #258 PITCH. DISCOVER. PROSPER and #259 IDEAS MEET IMPACT.
Meet the JavaScript ecosystem at WarsawJS Meetup #139! 🚀 Alongside Webellian as a partner of the initiative, the will be diving deep into the realities of breaking into tech in the AI era, scaling React and React Native testing, visualizing software architecture with the C4 model, and maximizing efficiency by benchmarking Chrome DevTools.
VivaTech 2026 celebrates its 10th anniversary in Paris, June 17–20 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. The continent’s largest tech and startup event brings together 180,000+ attendees for four days of keynotes, startup pitches, and cross-industry networking. From AI to deep tech to climate, every major theme is on the agenda - and the French Tech network will be there in force as well as our Startup Winning Candidates.
You are a startup and you are interested to participate? La French Tech Warsaw offers you -20% for your pass! Enter the following code: FTWARSAW20.
La French Tech Bucharest is taking the stage in Paris on June 16 with Romanian Touch, an invitation-only evening at the Romanian Embassy celebrating innovation and French–Romanian business ties. With startup awards, high-profile speakers, and a Romanian gastronomic experience, it sets the tone perfectly ahead of VivaTech. A proud moment for our CEE French Tech family.
🇪🇺 Civic Engagement, European Scale – The Annual Gathering of the Collectif pour un Service Civique Européen
On May 28 and 29, 2026, the Collectif pour un Service Civique Européen held its annual gathering across Paris - and we were proud to be part of it. The two-day programme opened on May 28 with a Journée de la Jeunesse: exchanges between national agencies and key civil society actors at the Département de la Seine-Saint-Denis, workshops and professional encounters at the Mairie du 16e arrondissement, a special meeting with writer Marek Halter, and a closing cocktail at Europa Expérience – Bureau France du Parlement Européen, a deeply symbolic venue to end a day dedicated to youth and Europe.
On May 29, the main gathering at the École Militaire, Amphithéâtre Foch brought together voices from across the continent: keynote presentations of workshop results, panels on ecological civic engagement, solidarity with Ukraine, European unity, and a high-level roundtable on moving from bilateral to multilateral volunteer exchange - with representatives from Poland, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, Romania, Latvia, Cyprus, and beyond.
As a long-time partner of the CSCE, this collaboration runs deep for us. Through this network, we connect La French Tech Warsaw and many organisations across Europe, with young, committed talents who bring real executive force to our ecosystems. Over 1,000 young workers across Europe have already found their path through this initiative.
In the World Year of Volunteering, the CSCE’s work is a concrete answer to what a more united, more engaged Europe can look like - and a moment we were glad to share with our community. 🌍
💬 AI, Leadership & European Competitiveness: The Polish City Club Business Leaders Forum Lands in Paris
On June 5-6, 2026, the Polish City Club Business Leaders Forum - Paris 2026 brings together business leaders, founders, investors and decision-makers from France, the UK and Poland for two days of high-level executive discussions and cross-border networking in Paris.
Organised jointly by Polish City Club Paris and Polish City Club London, and hosted in partnership with the Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris and the Institut Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris, the forum focuses on three defining topics of our time: AI, European competitiveness, and business transformation.
Dr. Marcin Detyniecki, Group Chief Data Scientist & Head of AI Research at AXA, will open the conversation with a keynote titled “Beyond the Hype: Five Truths About Our Future with AI”. Juliette Leconte, Culture Initiative Director at LVMH Group, will share how one of the world’s largest luxury conglomerates is rolling out AI adoption across its 75 Maisons. And Dr. Jakub Michalik, Chief Policy Officer at Euronext, will address the future of European financial markets and the continent’s competitiveness in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.
A forum where strategy meets substance - and where the French-Polish-British business conversation happens at its highest level.
📍 Paris | 5-6 June 2026
🎟 Registrations are open:
📰 French Tech Connect Poland 2026 Featured in Le Petit Journal
Ahead of French Tech Connect Poland 2026 Le Petit Journal featured our event and highlighted the growing momentum of the French-Polish tech ecosystem. This media coverage helped shine a light on the ambitions behind this year’s edition and the community bringing it to life.
🚀 The event ultimately gathered 900+ registrations and welcomed 750+ attendees in Warsaw on May 21st, bringing together entrepreneurs, corporates, investors, institutions, and innovation leaders from across the ecosystem.
🙏 A sincere thank you to Bénédicte Mèzeix-Rytwiński and the entire Le Petit Journal team for their trust and support as media partners. We are grateful for the visibility given to French Tech Connect Poland 2026 and the innovation ecosystem we continue to build together.
🔎 New opportunities on our job board
Looking for your next challenge or simply keeping an eye on the market? We've recently added new job offers and V.I.E. opportunities to our job board. Whether you're actively searching or just curious about what's happening across the ecosystem, it's worth taking a look. 🚀
