BPI
BPI, the brand short for Bpifrance, is France's state-owned public investment bank, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Paris. A generalist that backs companies of every size with loans, guarantees and equity across all sectors, it is only an occasional water investor: as of 2026 it has co-invested in two water companies, never as the lead.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
BPI is the name most people use for Bpifrance, France's public investment bank, and it is enormous: a state-owned generalist created in 2012 to finance French companies from a first loan all the way to a stock-market listing, owned in equal halves by the Caisse des Depots and the French state. Water is barely a line item for Bpifrance, a rounding error on a balance sheet that runs into the tens of billions of euros across every sector of the economy.
Bpifrance shows up in water the way a giant generalist usually does: late, in company, and only where water touches a sector it already funds. Its two water holdings tell that story. Elicit Plant is a French agri-biotech whose foliar biostimulants help field crops survive drought, and Purecontrol is a French software firm whose AI reads SCADA and PLC control signals to cut water and energy use across plants and networks. Both are French, both sit where water meets deeptech and agritech, the sectors Bpifrance already backs at scale.
Bpifrance's water record is the tell: as of 2026 it has backed just two water companies across two deals, at Seed and Series B, always alongside other investors and never writing the round on its own, which is why (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional. For a newcomer the read is simple. Bpifrance is where a French water startup goes for a deep, patient, state-backed cheque once it already has a lead backer and a French growth story, not the water specialist you would call first.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- Is BPI the same as Bpifrance?
- Yes. On (don't) Waste Water, BPI refers to Bpifrance, France's state-owned public investment bank founded in 2012. It is not Bank of the Philippine Islands or Banco BPI of Portugal, two unrelated banks that share the BPI initials. Bpifrance is a generalist investor, not a water-only fund.
- What does Bpifrance invest in?
- Bpifrance invests across every sector of the French economy, from startups to large corporates, using loans, guarantees, equity and export finance. Water is a small part of that: as of 2026 it has backed two water companies, an agri-biotech tackling crop drought and a software firm optimising water and energy use.
- How many water companies has Bpifrance backed?
- Bpifrance has backed two water companies, Elicit Plant and Purecontrol, across two deals at Seed and Series B, always as a co-investor rather than a lead. That occasional footprint earns it a (don't) Waste Water water-commitment score in the Occasional tier as of 2026.
- Who runs Bpifrance?
- Bpifrance has been led since 2013 by chief executive Nicolas Dufourcq. Its startup and venture investing, the arm through which its water bets were made, sits under Paul-François Fournier, Executive Director for Innovation, who oversees the bank's direct venture-capital portfolio and innovation financing.
- Where is Bpifrance based?
- Bpifrance is headquartered in Paris, France, at 6-8 Boulevard Haussmann, and operates from more than 50 regional offices across the country. Created in 2012, it is owned in equal halves by the Caisse des Depots and the French state, which makes it a public rather than private investor.