Emilie Zapalski for Localtis
Economic development, Industrial reconquest
“French SMEs and mid-sized companies in the defense sector have major capital problems and large groups, contractors like Thales or Dassault, are asking them to produce faster and invest.” It is to respond to this “contradiction” that Alain Rousset, the president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, brought the idea of an interregional fund to his counterparts in Occitanie and Brittany, Carole Delga and Loïg Chesnais-Girard. dedicated to strategic SMEs and mid-sized companies in the dual industry (civil and military) and defense. Indeed, since the paradigm shift that occurred with the war in Ukraine, the order books of their sponsors are full, the 2023 military programming law having increased military spending to more than 400 billion euros by 2030 (an envelope which should further increase thanks to the current update). But SMEs and ETIs do not have the means to invest to produce at the right pace. This interregional fund, presented by the three elected officials on June 17 at the Eurosatory trade show, seeks to sustainably strengthen their financial capacity and support the increase in industrial pace.
More than 1,300 companies in the sector for the three regions
Each of these three regions has a significant weight in the sector. New Aquitaine, considered the leading aeronautical defense region, has 550 companies for 40,000 jobs (combat aviation, missiles and weapons, on-board materials and systems), with clients such as Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales. For Occitanie, Europe’s leading aeronautical region, there are 430 companies and 25,000 jobs in space and satellites, avionics and on-board electronics, and drones and autonomous systems (Airbus Defense and Space, Thales Alenia Space, Safran as prime contractors). Finally, Brittany has 388 companies for 64,000 jobs in the fields of military shipbuilding, cyber defense and optronics and electronic warfare (contractors: Naval Group, Thales, Ministry of the Armed Forces). In total, there are more than 1,300 defense companies in these three regions, out of the 4,500 that make up the Defense Industrial and Technological Base (BITD).
A public-private fund
The fund will take over from the State and the private sector because “the problem with strictly private funds is that they carry less risk on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are short term, explains Alain Rousset, but the industry is long term, we need ‘patient’ money and support companies without being intrusive, without intervening in their management”.
The new interregional system is a public-private fund. The regions prime the pump around 25 to 30 million euros. The fund will then be supplemented by fundraising from major defense manufacturers, institutional investors and banks. Objective: to reach a size estimated at 150 million euros. It will therefore enable the financing of SMEs and mid-sized companies in critical sectors and will also ensure their support: transfers, capital security in the face of foreign takeovers, territorial anchoring of critical know-how. Among the priority targeted sectors: aviation (drones and autonomous systems), digital (cyberdefense, AI and strategic electronics), space (new space and surveillance solutions), optics (photonics, lasers and optronics), and materials (critical materials and processes). advanced).
The initiative comes at a time when many regions, including Occitanie, have launched their own funds (see our article of May 28, 2026). But the group shooting of three should promote synergies. “This also makes it possible to mobilize the large groups established in each of these regions,” assures the president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Next step: financial analysis of the files, to be able to launch the first financing.
Bpifrance’s defense fund crosses the threshold of 100 million euros collected
Beyond the regions, other initiatives of this type are underway, such as the fund dedicated to the defense sector opened by Bpifrance in October 2025. Allowing the general public to invest from 500 euros in companies in the sector, it has crossed the milestone of 100 million euros collected. Nearly 10,000 individuals invested their money in this way. The fund ultimately aims for a target size of 450 million euros and the support of more than 500 companies not listed on the stock exchange. It has already invested around 34 million euros in 19 defense and space companies and in the field of the development of quantum computers, indicates the Public Investment Bank.
Also note the initiative of the French Forces of Industry (FFI), a club founded by entrepreneurs to reindustrialize France, and SouvTEch Invest, an investment platform for individuals, who launched on June 11 the national platform “French Investment” to direct private savings towards SMEs and ETIs in the industrial sovereignty, starting with defense. Individual and professional investors or their wealth management advisors can thus finance these companies directly, from 100 euros. The complementarities between the two structures allow for good functioning: the 25 regional FFI clubs detect companies and SouvTech Invest provides its expertise in financing and sovereignty. “It is not a question of financing bankrupt companies, but growing companies, which have full order books,” underlines Pierre-Elie Frossard, co-founder of SouvTech Invest.
