Qonto moves to Bonne Nouvelle in a 1950s building restructured by PCA-STREAM
Qonto will settle from September 2026 in a completely restructured building in the Bonne Nouvelle district, in Paris 10, at 18, boulevard Bonne-Nouvellewith a rooftop and a 400-seat auditorium. The building, former PTT site from the 1950s, was the subject of a requalification carried out by PCA-STREAMarchitecture, town planning agency and research center recognized for its projects to transform existing buildings. Qonto will offer subletting an independent platform of 1,200 m²accommodating up to 168 positionswith premium services operated by its teams.
Ubisoft initiates a collective contractual termination as part of its savings plan
Ubisoft announced a project to collective contractual termination in France, likely to concern up to 200 voluntary departures. The system would target employees of world headquarters in Saint-Mandéwhich employs approximately 1,100 peopleand would exclude production studios.
Presented as subject to negotiation with the unions and limited to permanent contracts under French law, the project is part of a savings plan of 200 million euros unveiled at the end of January. It intervenes in an already tense context, marked by a return to 100% face-to-face and the continuation, in 2026, of the restructuring initiated in 2025.
Rover Group acquires Meowtel, American cat sitting specialist
The general animal services platform gets its hands on a vertical player claiming more than 4,000 cat sitters, 125,000 cats supported and a presence in 8,000 cities in the United States.
If the operation deserves attention, it is also for its Frenchy casting, even if it has lived for many years in the United States: Bruno Leveque, co-founder of PrestaShop, is also the “late” co-founder, alongside Sonya Petcavich, at the origin of Meowtel.
Infogreffe requires third-party authentication applications for access to the Kbis
The service Infogreffe plans to impose the use of Microsoft Authenticator Or Google Authenticator to managers wishing to access the recovery service for their Kbis extract.
This development, presented as a strengthening of security, raises questions about the exclusive use of non-European solutions for a strategic administrative service.
The measure comes in a context of intensified debates on French and European digital sovereignty, in particular on authentication and identity management.
Pinterest reduces its workforce by 15% to accelerate on AI
Pinterest plans to remove up to 15% of its workforceor several hundred positions, in order to prioritize the development of AI-based products and capabilities. The group, which has more than 4,500 employees worldwide, will also reduce its office space, according to a filing with the stock exchange authorities.
Management indicates that it wants to reallocate its resources towards “AI-first” teams, with a layoff plan finalized by the end of the third quarter, on September 30. Pinterest thus joins Amazon and Microsoft, which also invoke AI to justify workforce reductions.
Y Combinator excludes Canada and imposes a legal “flip” on startups
01/27/26 – 9 a.m.: Y Combinator no longer funds startups incorporated in Canada. From now on, only companies registered in the United States, the Cayman Islands or Singapore are eligible, forcing Canadian start-ups to restructure their capital via a foreign parent company.
This development, discreetly integrated into the standard conditions of the program in fall 2025, breaks with nearly twenty years of openness to the Canadian ecosystem. No official comment has been made by the accelerator. The measure revives concerns around the brain drain, while no startup based in Canada appears in the winter 2026 promotion.
The European Commission ranks WhatsApp Channels among the very large DSA platforms
01/26/26 – 5 p.m.: The European Commission considers that the Channels functionality of WhatsApp now falls under the Very Large Online Platforms regime of the Digital Services Act.
As such, WhatsApp joins Instagram and Facebook among the services subject to the reinforced obligations of the DSA. The platform will notably have to identify, assess and mitigate systemic risks, strengthen the transparency of its systems and comply with the increased moderation and governance requirements provided for by the regulation.
The European Commission opens a new investigation against
01/26/26 – 3 p.m.: The European Commission is opening a new formal investigation against X under the Digital Services Act, targeting the integration of Grok and the move towards an AI-based recommendation system.
These developments are suspected of not having properly assessed or mitigated serious systemic risks, particularly in terms of the dissemination of illegal content.
