• Poppins

  Participated · Series A · Oct 2023

  Launched in 2018 by François Vonthron and Antoine Yuen and originating from École Polytechnique, Poppins develops medical-device software targeting neurodevelopmental disorders, with a focus on dyslexia. Its core product is a video-game app designed to provide daily at-home exercises that complement, not replace, speech therapists. The company says the app enables more frequent at-home care and has demonstrated clinical benefits in trials, including a double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving over 6,000 families in France. Poppins was developed in collaboration with leading research teams and patient associations and is positioning the product for integration into care pathways. The startup cites a large unmet need in France — 1.3 million children with dyslexia and long waits for speech therapy — and frames its mission as increasing care capacity and early intervention. Financially, Poppins has now raised a total of €20 million. Poppins, founded in 2018 and spun out of the École Polytechnique, offers a CE-marked digital medical device delivered as a musical video game for children with specific learning disorders. The app is downloadable to tablets and smartphones and is based on five years of scientific research carried out with engineers from École Polytechnique and clinicians and speech therapists from La Timone hospital in Marseille, in collaboration with the Fédération Française des DY. The device was evaluated at home in a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial and to date has been made available via complementary health insurance plans that cover the therapy’s cost. Allianz France tested the device with children of 8,000 employees and has taken a stake in the company through its InnovAllianz fund. Poppins aims to roll out its digital therapeutic program at scale to reduce geographical and social barriers and to expand its research and clinical study program. With the new financing the company’s total funding stands at €12.9 million.

No current team members are available.