• #GPACF 2026

    Automobile Club de France and ESSEC Automobile Club are partnering to set up the 9th Edition of the Grand Prix ACF AutoTech rewarding most innovative international and French startups devoted to automotive sector.

  • Teaser GPACF 2026

    Please find below the video for the 2026 application campaign

  • Premium Partners

  • Official Partners

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  • GPACF 2025 Winners

    Grand Prix ACF AutoTech, powered by ESSEC Auto & Mobility Club

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    ABILIZ

    PRIX PIONNIER ACF 2025

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    TETMET

    GRAND PRIX ACF 2025

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    H2GREMM

    MENTION GPACF GREENTECH 2025

  • Three Prize Categories

     

    Grand Prix ACF

    For startups that are most advanced in their development (Series A and +)

    Prix Pionnier ACF

    For youngest startups, at the early stages of their development (Seed)

    Mention GPACF GreenTech

    For finalist startup with the most eco-friendly product

  • WHO ?

    For startups in automotive sector providing innovative solutions in:

     

    • Use
    • Design
    • Manufacturing
    • Commercialization

    WHY ?

    Up to € 200 000 worth of rewards including:

    • € 35 000 money reward split between two prizes
    • Personalized financial and law advisory
    • Pitch & booth during the prize giving event
    • Meetings with automotive, entrepreneurship and finance executives

    ELIGIBILITY

    Companies which have registered their activity statutes less than 10 years ago at the earliest in France or in another country.

    Shareholding of at least 50% of the capital by one or several of its individual associates.

    Service or technological development companies which can apply their activities to the automotive sector whether in its use, design, manufacturing or commercialization.

  • Timeline

    November 28th 2025

    Deadline to apply to #GPACF 2026

    April 15th 2026

    Final of #GPACF 2026 at the Automobile Club de France with Jury and 250 guests, Prize Giving Ceremony

  • Jury

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    Eric BOURDAIS

    de CHARBONNIERE

    ACF

    President of Donation Fund

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    Yann

    de PONTBRIAND

    ACF

    President

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    Thierry PEUGEOT

    ESSEC Automobile Club

    President

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    Patrick BLAIN

    Renault-Nissan

    Ex-Excom

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    Félicie BURELLE

    OPmobility

    Managing Director

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    Carla GOHIN

    FORVIA

    Chief Strategy Officer

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    Patrice GRAILLAT

    FIDAL

    Paris Director

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    Christophe LACROIX

    MOTUL

    Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer

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    Stéphane PRIAMI

    CREDIT AGRICOLE Personal Finance & Mobility

    CEO

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    Anne ASENSIO

    Dassault Systems

    Vice-President Design

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    Yann BODERE

    Iot.Bzh

    Managing Director

    Grand Prix ACF

    2020

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    Laetitia CARLE

    France Digitale

    Vice-President

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    Ehsan EMAMI

    Qovoltis

    President

    Grand Prix ACF 2021

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    Jean Philippe GIBAUD

    GEOLITH

    CEO

    Grand Prix ACF

    2022

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    Dali RASHID

    Genomines

    CTO

    Grand Prix ACF

    2024

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    Tom VROEMEN

    Tetmet

    CEO

    Grand Prix ACF

    2025

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    Elisabeth YOUNG

    WAVE

    Présidente

  • Application Process

    Call for international and French projects until November 28th

    1

    Please prepare a slide deck in English or French (9 slides maximum + appendices if needed) + Founders' CVs

    2

    Please fill the short application below

    3

    Send before November 28th 11h59pm

    We will contact you afterwards when results will be given

  • PLEASE NOTE

    The 9 slide deck (English or French) must include the following information :

    > Team, Shareholders, Product or Service, Solved Problem, Pricing or Business Model, Market, Competitors (3-5 major competitors), Potential Coopération Ideas with GPACF Partners, your environmental/human impact

    > As well as an executive summary in the opening of the presentation

    Without this information, the Jury will not be able to rate your efforts for related criteria.

     

    If you develop a disruptive technology that needs to be explained, please do not hesitate to use appendicies to a avoid a "beleive me" effect. We will read it if the first 9 slides are good enough.

     

    If you encounter troubles with the application process, please do not hesitate to send your deck and the CVs of the Founders to essecautomobile@gmail.com. Please specify in your mail your contact details, which prize you are applying for (Grand Prix or Prix Pionnier).

  • Personal data (name, email address, telephone number, postal address, company name, résumé/CV and presentations) collected in connection with your application to the Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2026 are necessary to meet the organizational requirements of the competition. Such data are intended for the organizers—Automobile Club de France and the Club Automobile & Mobilité of ESSEC—, for premium partners for whom you have expressly opted in, and for the members of the Jury. The organizers undertake not to use personal data for promotional purposes without prior notice to the data subject. The data are confidential and retained solely by the organizers. In accordance with Articles 38, 39 and 40 of French Act No. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 on Information Technology, Files and Civil Liberties, as amended by Act No. 2004-801 of 6 August 2004, you have the right to access and rectify data concerning you and the right to object to the processing of your data by contacting us at: gpacfstartupauto@automobileclubdefrance.fr

  • Previous Editions

    Rediscover Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2018 - 2025 editions

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    Grand Prix ACF 2018

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    Grand Prix ACF 2019

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    Grand Prix ACF 2020

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    Grand Prix ACF 2021

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    Grand Prix ACF 2022

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    Grand Prix ACF 2023

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    Grand Prix ACF 2024

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    Grand Prix ACF 2025

  • Rewards

    Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2026

    €25,000 without counterpart, allotted by the Automobile Club de France

    1 environmental impact assessment carried out by Meridiam, related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

    1 year membership to the non-profit organisation France AutoTech

    Individualized counselling provided by the venture capital fund Aster, to optimize a business plan, in preparation for possible fund raising

    Grand Prix ACF AutoTech 2027 Jury seat for one of the founders of the award winning startup the year following its victory

    Business Expert Coaching (Strategy & fund raising experts Business Experts of Next Move) & one year subscription to Minutes Europe & Innovation newsletter written in Bruxelles by Next Move

    Media coverage made by Agence VLC

    Identification of a target foreign country and administrative support to help implementation in this country by the Forum Francophone des Affaires

    The equivalent of a €5,000 excl tax budget fee awarded by Fidal for legal assistance particularly in preparing possible fund-raising

    Exclusive meetings with our partners in order to assess the opportunity to collaborate or to invest

    Prix Pionnier ACF 2026

    €10,000 without counterpart, allotted by the Automobile Club de France

    1 year membership to the non-profit organisation France AutoTech

    Coaching by community of experts of SIA in order to address real needs of automotive sector

    Personalized assistance to address innovation support processes (region, national and european scale) by automotive innovation cluster & one year subscription to Minutes Europe & Innovation newsletter written in Bruxelles by Next Move

    The equivalent of a €7,000 excl tax budget fee awarded by Fidal for legal assistance particularly in preparing possible fund-raising

    Mention GPACF GreenTech 2026

    Personalized assistance to address innovation support processes (region, national and european scale) by automotive innovation cluster & one year subscription to Minutes Europe & Innovation newsletter written in Bruxelles by Next Move

    Personalized coaching by the environmental impact venture capital fund Shift4Good, for the optimization of the investor pitch document

    Assess the opportunity of a CrowdFunding operation, using Aster Crowd platform, for the startup as well as complete management of the relation with the subscribing investors if the operation is launched

    The equivalent of a €3,000 excl tax budget fee awarded by Fidal for legal assistance particularly in preparing possible fund-raising

    For the 6 finalists

    1 booth during the Grand Prix ACF AutoTech cocktail, April 15th 2026 at the Automobile Club de France

    Identification of a target local french authorities to help implementation in France, if the opportunity rises with PFA - Plateforme Filière Automobile

    1 meeting of investment assessment with partner funds of Grand Prix ACF AutoTech: Aster, Cathay, Demeter, Eurazeo, Meridiam, Partech, Speedinvest & Shift4Good

    Invitation to meet students of leading computer and web development school EPITECH

    Choose Paris Region will support the international finalists in their development in Paris Region. International startups will be invited to participate in a speed dating startup/large corporations meeting dedicated to mobility.

    The winners will be directly pre-selected to pitch in front of the Ville de Demain jury in order to have the opportunity to be incubated in STATION F, the world's largest incubator.

  • Contact us

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    Richard de Cabrol

    Grand Prix ACF AutoTech Managing Director

  • Follow us

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