Four startups, four products and very different use cases: telemedicine, AI agents, interactive learning and hotel performance management. Yet behind that diversity lies the same challenge: turning a technology product into a service that people genuinely use.
Once the first users arrive, it is no longer enough for a product simply to work. It needs to be deployed, operated and secured reliably, while being able to support new use cases without its cloud infrastructure becoming a barrier to growth.
This is precisely the stage at which the UP Programme supports selected startups.
The four startups joining the sixth UP Programme cohort
Kernel: simplifying access to online care pathways
Kernel is a telemedicine platform providing access to personalised online care pathways, particularly for dermatology and hair loss.
The process starts with a structured medical questionnaire. A doctor registered with the French Ordre des médecins then reviews the case, establishes a diagnosis and, where necessary, issues an appropriate prescription. The treatment can then be prepared by an authorised pharmacy and delivered to the patient.
Kernel also provides a follow-up area that allows patients to stay in contact with their doctor. In a context where the data involved is particularly sensitive, the platform states that medical data is encrypted and hosted in France on HDS-certified servers.
With Kernel, technology supports an end-to-end care pathway, from the initial consultation through to patient follow-up.
Nijal AI: deploying AI agents without giving up autonomy
Nijal AI develops artificial intelligence agents for businesses, institutions and local authorities.
Its approach is built around three principles: providing solutions that are ready to deploy, allowing them to run either in the cloud or on-premises, and avoiding technological dependencies that can become difficult to control.
Nijal AI also places a strong emphasis on transferring skills to the teams using its solutions. The objective is not simply to design an AI agent, but to enable organisations to integrate it into their processes, maintain it themselves and retain control over how it evolves.
This approach reflects an increasingly practical challenge in AI: moving beyond experimentation towards services that can genuinely be operated, maintained and integrated into an organisation’s information systems.
Qiplim: turning content into interactive learning experiences
Qiplim develops a platform combining interactive live sessions with artificial intelligence.
From a document, presentation, web page or video, the platform can generate interactive activities that can then be used during a live session. Participants join via a QR code without having to create an account.
Qiplim is also developing an AI Studio designed to extend the experience beyond the live session, allowing participants to interact with the source material made available to them and transform it into different learning formats.
Data sovereignty is an integral part of its positioning: Qiplim processes its data in France on Clever Cloud, while the artificial intelligence models it uses are served from within the European Union by Mistral AI.
The platform already reports more than 210 beta testers and positions itself as a sovereign alternative to tools such as Kahoot and NotebookLM.
Arkan: from developing AI solutions to building its own products
Arkan supports businesses in designing, developing and deploying solutions based on artificial intelligence.
Alongside bespoke AI projects for companies across different sectors, Arkan is also developing its own products.
Among them, its Hotel Performance Platform centralises data from the tools already used by hospitality businesses, including property management systems (PMS), channel managers and extranets. This data is brought together in a dashboard designed to make it easier to monitor metrics such as occupancy, average room rate, RevPAR and booking trends. An AI assistant also allows users to query the data using natural language.
The platform is already used by two hotel groups representing thirteen properties.
At the same time, Arkan is developing Covera, a solution designed to automate the verification of suppliers’ insurance certificates using artificial intelligence.
Combining bespoke AI development with the development and operation of its own products also illustrates the scaling challenges technology companies can face as they grow.
When a product meets its users, infrastructure becomes part of the product
Kernel, Nijal AI, Qiplim and Arkan address very different needs and are not necessarily at the same stage of development. Their journeys nevertheless illustrate different aspects of the same transition: turning technology into a service that people genuinely use.
As a product finds its users, new constraints emerge. Applications need to remain available, deployments need to be reproducible, data needs to be protected, resources need to scale with usage and teams need to be able to keep shipping quickly.
Infrastructure gradually stops being just a technical concern in the background. It directly contributes to a company’s ability to develop and grow its product.
The challenge is not to spend ever more time operating that infrastructure, but precisely to ensure that it can support growth without distracting teams from their core business.
The UP Programme: turning cloud infrastructure into a growth enabler
This is the stage that Clever Cloud’s UP Programme is designed to support.
Launched in 2024, the programme was created to support technology startups beyond simply providing cloud credits. Its purpose is to give them access to the technical, human and financial resources they need to build their products on cloud infrastructure that can evolve with them.
Selected startups can benefit from:
- up to €10,000 in cloud credits during their first year;
- onboarding onto the Clever Cloud platform and training with our engineers;
- monthly coaching;
- access to Clever Cloud support;
- workshops and masterclasses for technical teams;
- mentoring for founders and their teams;
- visibility through Clever Cloud media, social channels and events;
- tools and resources to support the structuring of their business.
The objective remains the same: enabling teams to focus their energy on their product, users and market rather than on the day-to-day operation of their infrastructure.
Kernel, Nijal AI, Qiplim and Arkan are therefore joining a programme designed to support this pivotal stage: when usage grows, technical requirements evolve and infrastructure needs to keep pace with the product over the long term.
Want to join the next UP Programme cohort?
The next UP Programme selection will take place on 7 January 2027.
Are you building a technology startup and looking for cloud infrastructure that can scale with your product, while benefiting from regular support from Clever Cloud teams?
Discover the UP Programme and apply to join the next cohort.