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.

Since its launch, the UP Program has supported tech startups at different stages of maturity, with one simple goal: helping them build, deploy and scale their product on a robust cloud foundation, without turning infrastructure into an operational bottleneck.

Cybersecurity, health, legaltech, agriculture: this fifth selection once again reflects the diversity of the use cases supported by Clever Cloud. It brings together projects operating in demanding environments, where reliability, security, data control and the ability to scale quickly become decisive factors.

UP Program: the startups selected for this fifth edition

Sentibee — Simplifying vulnerability intelligence

Sentibee develops a vulnerability intelligence solution designed to help organisations better prioritise cyber risks.

Its goal is to reduce noise, contextualise alerts and turn complex data into truly actionable insights. The platform combines data collection, AI-powered qualification and human expertise to help teams understand what really matters: exploitability, real-world impact, priority level and the actions to take.

With VulnPilot, Sentibee also enables organisations to build watchlists, monitor critical assets or technologies, and generate prioritised action plans. A pragmatic approach to cybersecurity, designed to make vulnerability intelligence clearer, more useful and more accessible.

Pictaderm — Dermatological expertise in pharmacies

Pictaderm makes it easier to access dermatological advice through partner pharmacies, without an appointment.

The solution allows a patient to visit a pharmacy for a skin condition or a lesion that needs monitoring, and receive the opinion of a medical expert within 48 hours. Pictaderm addresses a concrete challenge: bringing medical expertise closer to the field, in a context where access to dermatology appointments can involve long waiting times.

The platform relies on a network of registered pharmacies and has already supported several tens of thousands of patients. For pharmacists, it provides a tele-expertise tool that helps guide patients more quickly and strengthens their role in the care pathway.

Legaia — An AI legal assistant designed by lawyers

Legaia develops Gaia, an AI legal assistant available directly by email and designed for lawyers.

The promise is simple: enabling law firms to use AI without changing their working habits. No new platform to open, no additional tool to learn: the lawyer simply forwards an email to Gaia and receives an initial analysis, search, draft or translation.

The solution covers several day-to-day use cases: drafting letters, searching case law, numbering and stamping exhibits, retrieving official documents or translating attachments. Legaia also places strong emphasis on security, confidentiality and compliance, which are essential requirements for professionals handling sensitive documents.

Cockpit Agriculture — Managing agricultural performance

Cockpit Agriculture develops an intelligent performance management solution for farmers and their value chains.

The startup is part of an augmented agriculture approach: helping agricultural stakeholders gain greater control, better monitor their activity and make more reliable decisions. In a sector facing strong economic, environmental and operational constraints, the ability to manage performance and make decisions with confidence is a key issue.

With this approach, Cockpit Agriculture addresses a central need: giving farmers and agricultural value chains tools designed to fit the realities of the field.

A batch that reflects the challenges faced by tech startups

The four startups in this new selection operate in very different sectors, but share several common points.

They all develop products where technology is not just a support function, but a central part of the value proposition. They also address use cases where trust is central: cyber vulnerabilities, care pathways, legal documents and agricultural management.

In these contexts, cloud infrastructure must remain reliable, scalable and under control. It must allow teams to iterate quickly, secure data, absorb growth and maintain a high level of availability, without diverting them from their core business.

This is precisely the role of the UP Program: supporting startups at the stage where infrastructure becomes a strategic topic.

The UP Program: a support framework designed for the long term

The UP Program was designed to support startups beyond their first cloud credits.

Selected startups benefit from a set of resources to help them structure their technical trajectory:

— up to €10,000 in cloud credits for the first year;
— onboarding on the Clever Cloud platform;
— training with Clever Cloud engineers;
— monthly coaching;
— access to support;
— workshops and masterclasses for technical teams;
— mentoring for founders and product teams;
— visibility through Clever Cloud media, social networks and events;
— access to financial planning and structuring tools.

The goal is to allow startups to focus on their product, their users and their market, while building on an automated, robust infrastructure capable of scaling with them.

Are you a startup looking to join the UP Program?

The next UP Program selection will take place on 16 September 2026.

Startups wishing to apply can submit their application now and discuss their project, technical needs and growth challenges with the Clever Cloud teams.

Since its launch, the UP Programme has supported early-stage and growing technology companies at various levels of maturity, with a strong focus on technical robustness, cloud infrastructure mastery, and the ability to scale a product over time.

Previous selections have welcomed startups from a wide range of sectors, including data, Green IT, fintech, healthtech, and legaltech. To discover them:

• Clever Cloud welcomes the first startups of the UP Programme
• UP Programme: Who are the newly selected startups?
• UP Programme: Discover the startups from the third cohort

The startups selected for this fourth edition

Moustache AI – Custom AI conversational agents

Moustache AI develops customised conversational and voice-based AI agents designed to adapt to the specific business use cases of each organisation.

The solution automates a large share of incoming requests while maintaining a high level of control over data, hosting, and regulatory compliance. Agents can be deployed quickly and integrated into existing tools, without heavy technical dependencies.

Diag n’Grow – Valuation of intangible assets

Diag n’Grow provides a platform for the financial valuation of companies’ intangible assets, such as software, patents, trademarks, data, or know-how.

The solution targets startups as well as SMEs and mid-sized companies facing challenges related to financial management, taxation, restructuring, or fundraising. Its goal is to deliver a clear, documented view of the real value of these assets, which are often underestimated in traditional financial statements.

Swily – Business software for self-employed nurses

Swily is a software solution designed to simplify the day-to-day work of self-employed nurses. The platform enables the management of patient rounds, medical records, billing, and electronic transmission, through an application built for field usage.

Developed in close collaboration with healthcare professionals, the solution addresses strict requirements in terms of reliability, data security, and service continuity, which are critical in the medical sector.

LeCoffre.io – Secure document exchange for notaries

LeCoffre.io is a secure document exchange and collection platform designed by and for notaries.

The solution aims to replace sensitive document exchanges via email, relying on advanced encryption and traceability mechanisms. Data is hosted in France and complies with strict requirements in terms of data sovereignty and regulatory compliance.

Expert-Flow.ai – AI platform for judicial experts

Expert-Flow.ai develops an artificial intelligence platform dedicated to judicial experts, designed to automate and structure the entire expert assessment process, from judicial requisition to final report delivery.

The solution significantly reduces the time spent on administrative tasks through automatic data extraction, interview preparation assistance and guided report drafting. Built for sensitive use cases, the platform meets high standards of security, confidentiality and regulatory compliance.

A new selection reflecting the supported ecosystem

The startups joining the UP Programme today operate in demanding environments, where technology lies at the very core of the product.

Artificial intelligence, finance, healthcare, or legaltech: these projects are already in production or in acceleration phases, facing concrete challenges related to performance, security, compliance, and scalability. These are issues commonly encountered by startups once infrastructure becomes a structuring concern. This is precisely the context in which their integration into the UP Programme takes place.

The UP Programme: a structured support framework

The UP Programme has been designed to support technology startups beyond the initial deployment phases. It combines cloud credits, technical support, access to Clever Cloud teams, regular exchange sessions, and increased visibility, enabling founders and product teams to focus on what matters most: building and evolving their solution.

Are you a startup and looking to join the UP Programme?

The next UP Programme selection will take place on May 16, 2026. Startups wishing to apply can already submit their application and start discussions with the Clever Cloud teams.

In addition to cloud credits, the selected startups benefit from personalised onboarding with our engineers, coaching, access to workshops and masterclasses, as well as visibility across our media channels and events.

The objective is clear: to enable them to focus on their core business while relying on a reliable, automated and sovereign cloud infrastructure.

The new startups of the 3rd UP cohort

This year, seven innovative young companies are joining the UP program. They cover a wide range of sectors – e-commerce, finance, health, energy and data – with one thing in common: using technology to tackle concrete challenges.

Chaynon: fighting against refund fraud

Chaynon offers a decision-support tool for marketplaces and e-merchants to combat refund fraud. Their solution detects suspicious behaviours, helping to reduce losses linked to abuse while protecting merchants’ margins.

Klafuti: automating accounting data

Klafuti has designed a SaaS platform for accounting professionals (accountancy firms, chartered accountants, etc.) that automates the extraction, transformation and integration of accounting data. This approach simplifies the day-to-day work of experts and frees up time for strategic advisory.

Wattflow : optimising energy in professional buildings

Wattflow orchestrates the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of office and commercial buildings by communicating directly with the machines. The result: up to 40% savings on energy and associated costs, along with improved comfort for occupants. By directly connecting to technical equipment, Wattflow combines energy efficiency with enhanced user experience.

thaink²: simplifying Data & AI projects

thaink² Analytics is the Data & AI platform that simplifies your projects end to end. A no-code SaaS, intuitive and designed by experts. No more unstable data pipelines or ML/AI models stuck at the POC stage. The goal: to make AI operational and accessible to all companies, without technical complexity.

LiteoMED: a digital ecosystem for oncology

LiteoMED provides a comprehensive platform dedicated to oncologists. It combines precision medicine with a patient-centred approach, allowing practitioners to save time while improving care delivery and patient follow-up.

Kocliko: reducing energy costs and carbon in collective housing

Kocliko deploys a unique deeptech solution for intelligent control of collective heating, combining AI, certified sensors and a digital twin to sustainably reduce consumption, emissions and tenants’ charges.

Cloud Data Engine: securing distributed data exchanges

Cloud Data Engine specialises in the operational management of data spaces and the automation of compliance for decentralised data ecosystems (dataspaces, catalogues, marketplaces, etc.).

Why join the UP program?

The program is designed as a real springboard for startups. By joining UP, they gain access to high-level technical support, mentoring sessions, and increased visibility within our network and among our partners.

At Clever Cloud, we believe the cloud should be an accelerator, not a barrier, in the entrepreneurial journey. That’s why we invest in these promising young companies and give them the means to grow faster.

Are you a startup looking to join the UP program?

Apply now to be part of the next cohort!