After its last fundraising, last year, of 100 million euros, and while it has been said since last week that it is planning to raise 500 million again, the operator for connected objects, Sigfox seems best placed to join the very exclusive club of French unicorns (read above). Deezer is not far away either. But the games are open for the next candidate. The club should, in fact, expand in the coming months. Focus on three French companies that could reach, if they continue at this pace, a valuation of one billion.

Algolia

Sector:  online research  20.5 million euros raised

It is one of the fastest growing French start-ups in recent months. After only three years of existence, Algolia has already raised more than 22 million dollars and counts among its shareholders the American funds Accel Partners (one of Facebook's first investors) and 500 Startups, the Europeans Index Ventures and Point Nine Capital... All this after having gone through the Y Combinator accelerator, famous for having revealed Airbnb and Dropbox. The challenge was nevertheless considerable for a company positioned on Internet search. But Algolia, unlike Google, has chosen a B to B development, by offering professionals to integrate sophisticated search tools into their site or application, in real time.

PeopleDoc

Sector:  HR software  43.9 million euros raised

Here too, the board looks great, with Alven Capital, Kernel Investissements (Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet's structure), Accel Partners and Eurazeo. Since its fundraising of 28 million dollars in the fall, this human resources management platform has set up in New York and accelerated its growth. Formerly Novapost, PeopleDoc already has Danone, Total and American Express as clients.

Teads

Sector:  video advertising  50.8 million euros raised

A year ago, Pierre Chappaz's company (founder of Kelkoo) raised 24 million euros, in particular to accelerate its development in the United States. The objective is now to go public in the coming months. The platform aims to revolutionize video advertising on the Internet and is rubbing its hands with glee at the phenomenon of "ad blockers", which, according to it, should reshuffle the cards of the sector.