This is not a forced exit.
Gojob, the AI-powered recruitment and staffing scale-up based in southern France, has decided to step away from the Next40 initiative at the request of its founder, just days before the unveiling of the new class of companies.
The decision carries particular significance because Pascal Lorne himself was instrumental in creating these programs. As a co-founder of the national French Tech movement and founder of French Tech South Region, he was among those who championed the creation of the FT120 and the Next40 with the French government roughly a decade ago.
“Joining the FT120 and later the Next40 was a highly committed, almost activist decision on my part,” says Pascal Lorne, CEO of Gojob.
Lorne is unequivocal about what the programs have brought to the company.
First, increased visibility among both French and international investors.
“Following each new cohort announcement, we receive dozens of inbound calls from investment funds, both domestic and international,” he says.
Second, enhanced attractiveness when recruiting talent.
These two advantages have supported Gojob’s journey from a little-known startup to a scale-up operating across three continents. The company generated €220 million in revenue last year and expects that figure to nearly double this year, according to its founder.
A New Phase, A New Positioning
The decision to leave the Next40 is part of a broader strategic evolution.
At the end of 2024, Gojob reached profitability. Shortly afterward, the management team increased its ownership stake and brought in Persol, a Japanese investment holding company and the second-largest staffing player in Japan, with annual revenues of €9 billion, through a €120 million transaction.
Historical investors, including Breega, Kois, and Alter Equity, exited their positions as part of the deal.
Persol became Gojob’s largest shareholder, holding more than 50% of the company, while Pascal Lorne remains the second-largest shareholder. Governance and leadership structures, however, remain unchanged.
“We are now in an industrial phase—the phase of a mature company,” Lorne summarizes.
The company’s mission remains the same: applying artificial intelligence to the labor market to reduce hiring friction and broaden access to employment opportunities.
In 2025 alone, the platform says it processed more than three million job applications.
Making Room—and Potentially Giving Back
Gojob is not the first company to voluntarily leave the Next40. Mirakl previously made a similar decision, arguing that other companies could benefit more from the visibility and support the program provides.
Gojob is following the same logic.
Lorne says he is considering investing in early-stage HR technology startups as a way to “fuel the ecosystem.”
For a founder who helped build these flagship French Tech programs and later benefited from them, it is a way of contributing to the ecosystem from the other side of the table—and helping the next generation of startups accelerate their growth.
