Almost ten years after launching PayFit to automate small companies’ HR processes and turning the company into a billion-dollar business, cofounder Florian Fournier has set his heart on a new project in a radically different field — defence tech.
Fournier has just raised a €16m seed round for Orasio, a new startup he launched at the start of the year with CTO Arnaud Delaunay, a machine learning engineer previously at US agri-tech FarmWise, and COO Fabio Gennari, a senior civil servant in the French government.
The startup develops AI-powered software to analyse video feeds and detect specific situations like someone carrying a weapon or the start of a fire. It intends to sell its product to local authorities, private companies managing sensitive sites and military forces.
The round was led by French VC Frst, Germany’s Global Founders Capital (GFC) and Polish investor Expeditions Fund. Fournier did not share Orasio’s valuation but tells Sifted that the deal involved a minority stake of less than 20% of the company, meaning the startup is valued at no less than €80m.
Fournier joins PayFit’s extensive ‘founders’ factory’ list — although he will remain on the board of the company. “I’m still very attached to PayFit,” he says. “But the team has grown and after 10 years, I’m ready to start again from scratch.”
“For the next 10, 20 years, I can put all my energy into this new project.”
A controversial technology
AI-powered video intelligence for security is not a new technology, although the rules surrounding its use, particularly in real time, are evolving.
In France, a law was passed in 2023 authorising the experimental use of AI-powered cameras in real time during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. It hasn’t been extended beyond the Games yet but has opened discussions about wider use of the technology.
The topic is controversial, with many digital rights organisations campaigning against the technology, which they see as infringing on privacy.
But Fournier says that the growth of AI-powered video intelligence is a matter of “when”, not “if”. Across France, he says, 47 out of the largest 50 cities have already deployed some form of video intelligence.
“We expect the legal framework to evolve in the next few years,” he says. “And it won’t be a question of whether we can use video intelligence, but what we can use it for.”
“Our role is not to define what the law should say in different countries, but to make sure that our solution respects the rules — meaning that we aren’t allowing our clients to do anything more than what’s legal.”
European sovereignty
Many ethical issues incurred by AI-powered video intelligence are due to European users currently buying American, Israeli and Chinese technologies, says Fournier.
“When these companies analyse video feeds, they’re not doing it with the same vision of privacy, and that poses an important security and sovereignty risk,” he says.
The French national police, for instance, uses Israeli software Briefcam — and was accused in 2023 by French NGO Disclose of using the tool illegally by enabling its facial recognition option. A ministerial report later confirmed that Briefcam had been used once to carry out facial recognition.
There is also the risk of sensitive data in video feeds being shared with foreign powers. Fournier says that Orasio will enable users to run the software entirely on their own premises, meaning no data leaves their infrastructure. They will also be able to deploy “on-edge” by running the technology locally on cameras, and on the cloud.
Many European competitors also offer video intelligence software, including French startups Wintics and Videtics, both of which were contracted by the government during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“There are many actors in every country,” says Fournier, “but they are solutions making €10m-20m in revenues, they launched a long time ago, they are far behind technologically.”
“You have to be lucid about the fact that the best solutions are not European.”
Becoming a European leader
Orasio’s first customers will be in France, says Fournier, but the goal is to become the leading European player in the field. This requires moving fast, both in terms of building a top product and expanding quickly.
This is why the company decided to raise a significant seed round. “From a tech perspective, we have to work with the best talent,” says Fournier. “And we need the commercial capacity to address multiple countries.”
Orasio currently has a team of seven, which Fournier plans to grow to 20 people in the next year, with a focus on engineering roles.
The startup plans to start testing its first product designed for military applications next month, and a second product for local authorities and private companies in October.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/payfit-cofounder-orasio-defence/
