We start with a list of startup ideas that have the potential to improve our societies & planets, and become big businesses in the process. Once we have validated an idea with our network of experts & investors, we recruit entrepreneurs to work on it with us as cofounders.

Using the Imagination Machine methodology, we will attempt to prove or disprove the viability of our idea within a few months. During this period we’ll pay a salary to the entrepreneurs. If we decide, after a few months, that we have validated the idea, then we’ll create a new startup together and Imagination Machine will invest the initial capital.

We have no plan to exit or sell our shares – our goal is to become partners for the long-term.

No! We are looking for entrepreneurs without a project, to come work with us on some of our ideas. Of course, if you have a great idea that you want to pitch us, we’d love to hear it!

All of our startups are hosted in our office here in Nantes, until they get too big to fit 🙂
If you are not in Nantes today, you can still apply! Between the moment you apply and our project launch, we will have plenty of time to show you all that Nantes has to offer!

No! We are an official partner of the French Tech Visa, so if you’re not a citizen of the EU, that’s no problem. Anyone accepted as an entrepreneur-in-residence will be fast-tracked through the French Tech Visa program.

We attempt to validate our ideas in a matter of a few months. If an idea doesn’t validate – because we can’t find customers, or the market isn’t ready, or our technology isn’t ready – then we decide to end the project. In most cases, the entrepreneurs from those teams get recruited onto other teams within Imagination Machine. If an idea does validate, then we continue indefinitely!

Yes, we pay a salary to our entrepreneurs in the early stages, but the primary compensation is in shared ownership of the company we create together.

We are proud to have a powerful network of investors and collaborators in Nantes working with us on all of our projects. Imagination Machine counts among its shareholders Julien Hervouet of iAdvize, Adrien Poggetti of La Cantine, Vincent Roux of Intuiti, Groupe Eram, Groupe Dubreuil, Lacroix Group, Groupe Armor, Banque CIC-Ouest, CETIH, Fred de Gombert and Nicolas Dupont of Akeneo, Pierre Antoine of Kinow, Guillaume Allain of Lucca, Edouard de Miollis, and more.