French Startup Pigment Reaches $2.3 Billion Valuation

Paris-based Pigment, which develops AI-powered business planning software, has reached a new milestone in its financial growth. The startup secured $250 million in a Series E funding round, pushing its market valuation to $2.3 billion. The round was led by the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund, backed by the European Commission and major investors including Allianz and Novo Holdings. Notably, Nvidia is also participating in the round, serving as further confirmation that the chip manufacturing giant is seeking to strengthen its position in the European technology sector.

How Pigment Works

Pigment offers a platform that helps companies consolidate budgets, sales targets, and hiring processes into a single, unified model. The integration of AI agents has brought revolutionary changes to the system; today, 85% of new metrics on the platform are generated by automated systems rather than humans. According to the company, its annual recurring revenue (ARR) now exceeds $100 million, representing a doubling of the business. Pigment’s client list includes global brands such as Danone, Siemens, Snowflake, Unilever, and DirecTV. The platform is also actively used by leading AI players, including Anthropic and ElevenLabs, while L’Oréal has fully transitioned its salary planning process for over 95,000 employees to the software.

Future Plans and Investments

The majority of the newly raised capital will be directed toward research and hiring engineers. The team is focusing heavily on Graphite, the computational engine that powers the platform, as well as the development of agents capable of fully automating complex planning processes. According to co-founders Eléonore Crespo and Romain Niccoli, the field of enterprise planning will see more change in the coming years than it has over the last three decades. While the exact size of Nvidia’s investment has not been disclosed, the move underscores Pigment’s strategic importance. For European startups like Pigment, such financial support is crucial to compete with major international players and avoid the need to look outside Europe for capital.