SNCF Connect & Tech joins the third edition of the AI Startup Accelerator

Paris, September 25, 2025. Meta has teamed up with SNCF Connect & Tech, France's leading tech company for sustainable mobility, and Hugging Face, an open-source collaborative platform offering machine learning models and tools to accelerate the adoption of open-source artificial intelligence solutions in Europe, to launch the 3rd edition of the 'AI Startup Program' in France. Applications for this program are now open to start-ups based in France, with the aim of bringing the economic and technological benefits of open models to the entire ecosystem.
 

Based at STATION F, this program offers start-ups privileged access to the resources of the world's largest start-up campus. With the support of the HEC Paris Incubation and Acceleration Center, the program aims to support 5 start-ups in their acceleration phase, from January to June 2026. A panel of experts from Meta, SNCF Connect & Tech and Hugging Face will select the winning projects based on open-source foundation models, or demonstrating their intention to integrate these models into their products and services.

Selected start-ups will benefit from technical mentoring, access to Hugging Face's platform and tools, and the opportunity to work on SNCF Connect & Tech priority issues (intermodality, eco-incentive mobility, accessibility and guidance, product development and marketing optimization, etc.). In addition to LLMs - large language models - start-ups will also be able to draw on cutting-edge open research models in the field of image and sound processing. Applications are open until October 31, 2025.
 

In October 2024, following the call for applications, 5 winners were selected by a panel of experts as part of the2nd edition of the program in France. The start-ups Batisia, Kodex AI, Neuralk-AI, Vocal Image and Pruna benefited from and gained access to free, open models thanks to the expertise of Meta, Hugging Face and Scaleway for 6 months.