First Factory Call (Appel à projets Première Usine)

Première Usine is a France 2030 industrialization call run by Bpifrance for first-factory and pilot-site projects. It is designed to help innovative startups, SMEs, and in some cases ETIs move from development into industrial production. The program targets the moment when a product needs real manufacturing capacity rather than further lab work. Support is a mix of 60% grant and 40% recoverable advance. Projects must exceed 5 million euros in total spend, and the typical route is a single PME lead, with an ETI allowed only when it shows innovation and hypergrowth characteristics. The call also accepts ad hoc structures built to mutualize pre-industrial capacity for startups and small companies. Three relays run each year in April, September, and December. This route works best for teams that already know where the first industrial site will sit and what commercial scale it is meant to unlock. Applicants succeed when they can show a real production step, a clear market use, and enough operational maturity to justify a large industrial deployment.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.