Five startups working across artificial intelligence security, biotechnology, healthcare, critical minerals and accessible technology won major prizes at VivaTech 2026 in Paris, highlighting the range of technologies attracting attention from one of Europe’s largest startup events.
The VivaTech Startup Prizes, announced June 19, recognized Endolith, SURGiA, HODOR, Alithea Biotechnology and AssisTech Smart Shower across five separate award categories.
Rather than representing a single technology trend, the winners address very different problems: controlling what autonomous AI agents can access, improving cancer-drug development, recovering critical minerals, strengthening healthcare supply chains and making everyday technology more accessible.
According to VivaTech’s official 2026 results (https://vivatech.com/media/press-releases/cp-bilan), the winners were selected across the Female Founder, AfricaTech, Innovation of the Year, Tech for Change and Next Startupper awards.
HODOR Wins Innovation of the Year for AI-Agent Security
Paris-based HODOR won VivaTech’s Innovation of the Year award with technology designed to control how AI agents interact with company systems.
AI agents can do more than generate text. Increasingly capable systems can use software tools, retrieve company information and perform actions across external applications.
That creates a permissions problem: organizations need to determine what an AI agent is allowed to access, which actions it can perform and how those actions can be audited.
HODOR describes its product as an identity and permission engine for AI agents, giving companies centralized visibility and control over agent activity.
VivaTech selected HODOR from five Innovation of the Year finalists. The competition evaluated startups on innovation, disruptive potential and the scalability of their business models.
The problem HODOR is addressing is becoming increasingly relevant as autonomous systems receive access to real business infrastructure. Gignomist has separately examined how advanced AI agents are creating new cybersecurity and containment challenges.
As Innovation of the Year winner, HODOR also received a VivaTech 2027 Startup Corner and an invitation to TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield 200.
Alithea Bio Takes Tech for Change Award
Germany-based Alithea Biotechnology won the Tech for Change Award for its work in precision medicine and immunotherapy.
The company develops immunopeptidomics technology used to analyze peptides presented by human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, molecules. This information can help researchers identify potential therapeutic targets and evaluate risks when developing personalized cancer treatments.
VivaTech says Alithea Bio’s HLA-Compass platform contains data covering 1.4 million unique peptides and 10,000 cancer-specific epitopes.
The company’s technology is aimed at pharmaceutical, biotechnology and research organizations developing personalized immunotherapies.
The Tech for Change program initially recognized 500 exhibiting startups working across environment, society and health. Thirty advanced in the award selection and six became finalists.
Fanny Giannou, CEO of Alithea Biotechnology, ultimately received the 2026 award.
The result illustrates the expanding role of AI and advanced data analysis in healthcare startups, where computational tools are increasingly being combined with biological datasets to improve drug discovery and precision medicine.
Endolith Wins Female Founder Award
Liz Dennett, founder and CEO of Endolith, received VivaTech’s Female Founder Award.
Endolith is developing biotechnology for the mining industry, using microbes and data-driven optimization to improve recovery of critical minerals from ores.
The approach is relevant as demand increases for minerals such as copper that are needed across electrical grids, renewable-energy systems, electronics and other infrastructure.
Dennett’s win came from a large international field.
VivaTech said the eighth Female Founder Award received 444 applications from founders in 85 countries. Five finalists were selected to pitch before the winner was announced.
The award is intended to increase visibility for women building technology companies, an issue that extends across the broader startup and AI ecosystem. Gignomist has also examined efforts to increase women’s participation and leadership in artificial intelligence.
SURGiA Wins AfricaTech Award
Ahmed Yahia, CEO and co-founder of SURGiA, won the AfricaTech Award.
SURGiA is developing a healthcare procurement platform serving markets in Africa and the Middle East.
The company combines digital procurement, inventory technology and financing tools with the aim of connecting healthcare providers with verified suppliers and improving access to medical products.
Healthcare supply chains present particular challenges in markets where hospitals and clinics can face fragmented procurement systems, limited financing and risks from counterfeit or unreliable medical supplies.
VivaTech expanded its AfricaTech Award in 2026 to cover seven sectors, including HealthTech, FinTech, AI and Big Data, GreenTech and industrial technologies.
Six finalists were invited to pitch at VivaTech before SURGiA was selected as the winner.
SmartShower Takes the Next Startupper Prize
Sasha Ovalle won the Next Startupper Challenge for AssisTech Foundation’s SmartShower project.
SmartShower is an accessible smart-home system designed to make shower controls easier to use for people with disabilities and others who may have difficulty operating conventional fixtures.
The project uses connected technology to address an everyday accessibility problem rather than focusing on a large enterprise market.
The Next Startupper program is aimed at students and young entrepreneurs. Six finalists advanced to the final stage at VivaTech before SmartShower received the award.
Its inclusion alongside AI, biotech and mining startups demonstrates the breadth of VivaTech’s prize program: innovation was evaluated not only by technical complexity but also by its ability to solve practical problems.
What the Five Winners Say About Startup Technology in 2026
Taken together, the five awards provide a snapshot of where startup innovation is being applied.
HODOR reflects a new infrastructure layer emerging around AI agents: identity, permissions and security.
Alithea Bio represents the growing convergence between computational technology and precision medicine.
Endolith applies biotechnology to an industrial challenge increasingly connected to electrification and critical-mineral supply.
SURGiA focuses on digitizing healthcare procurement in markets where access and supply-chain reliability remain significant problems.
SmartShower applies connected technology to accessibility and independent living.
These companies operate in very different markets, but their selection points toward a broader shift in startup technology. AI remains central to the technology industry, yet some of the most interesting businesses are using software, biotechnology and connected systems to address highly specific real-world constraints.
VivaTech’s 2026 Startup Prizes therefore offer more than a list of award winners. They show where founders are attempting to turn emerging technology into products for security, healthcare, industrial infrastructure and accessibility.
