Inside the Trophées des Futures Licornes : comment les étudiants du Master in Finance d’emlyon repèrent les licornes de demain
Every year, emlyon business school’s Master in Finance students take on a professional challenge that blends academic learning with the fast-paced world of finance and entrepreneurship: the Trophées des Futures Licornes.
Co-founded by emlyon alongside Euronext, Reputation Age, Challenges, and Deloitte, the initiative asks students to identify and analyze French private companies with the potential to become unicorns within five years.
It’s backed by an influential network of financial, legal, and media partners including Caisse d’Épargne, Gide, Paris Europlace, Scope, Eres, Clay Asset Management, and TV Finance offering students valuable exposure to industry leaders.
For participants, it’s more than a competition it’s real-world immersion in startup valuation, market analysis, and collaboration with financial professionals.
The hands-on challenge culminates in an annual awards ceremony celebrating France’s most promising startups. In 2024, seven emlyon students conducted in-depth analyses on hundreds of companies, contributing to the selection of the winners.
Turning classroom concepts into real-world analysis
Adrienne Bérard-Quélin comes from a law background and joined the emlyon Master in Finance to broaden her scope within the legal sector.
“I specialized in mergers and acquisitions and often felt frustrated that I wasn’t able to fully grasp the financial aspects of deals,” she explains. “The Master in Finance allowed me to build a dual background in both legal and financial expertise.”
For her, the project offered an ideal opportunity to apply her analytical training to real business challenges. This year, the team’s task was ambitious: to analyze more than 400 French startups and assess which had the potential to achieve unicorn status.
“We studied their business models, activities, markets, financial results, growth rates, and key traction indicators,” Adrienne explains. “From that, we selected the top 50 finalists and then conducted more detailed analyses particularly focusing on ESG criteria and the sustainability of their models.”
Applying concepts from courses in valuation, strategy, and financial analysis, the students combined academic rigor with professional insight. “It was a comprehensive analytical framework,” she says. “We had to understand each company’s value proposition, assess the relevance of its business model, market positioning, and profitability outlook. Teamwork and the ability to synthesize large volumes of information were key skills throughout the challenge.”
Collaborating with Deloitte and leading partners
Working alongside professionals from Deloitte and other partners gave the project a distinctly professional dimension. “It was a genuine collaboration,” Adrienne recalls. “The Deloitte team was very approachable and generous with their advice. Our analyses were really valued it felt like a professional project, not just a student exercise.”
For Grégoire Saint Sardos, who joined emlyon after studying engineering at ECAM LaSalle, the collaboration was a natural fit.
“I’ve always been passionate about technology and investment, so venture capital felt like the perfect combination,” he says. “When I learned about the Trophées des Futures Licornes challenge, I immediately wanted to take part.”
Throughout the six-month project, Grégoire helped coordinate startup assignments within the team and attended meetings with Deloitte to refine their evaluation criteria.
“It was a pleasure to work with such renowned partners,” he says. “We focused on understanding how each startup generates revenue, its customers, milestones, and the total equity raised. Seeing deep tech companies like Unseenlabs, Beyond Aero, and Alice & Bob among the winners was especially rewarding, since my internship is in deep tech venture capital.”
Learning from France’s startup ecosystem
Beyond the analysis itself, the experience deepened students’ understanding of entrepreneurship and the French venture capital landscape.
“The project gave me a clearer view of the current venture capital ecosystem in France emerging sectors, market trends, and investment approaches,” Adrienne reflects. “It also helped me understand how to align the diverging interests of investors and entrepreneurs, for example when determining a startup’s valuation.”
For Grégoire, the challenge expanded his industry knowledge. “It really helped me discover the players in markets like AI, medtech, and greentech,” he says. “That understanding is proving highly relevant now that I’m working in venture capital.”
Both students emphasize how the experience reinforced their career goals.
“It taught me the importance of combining financial rigor with strategic insight two skills that are essential whether in investment banking or corporate finance,” Adrienne adds.
A night to remember: a professional experience with lasting impact
The project culminated in a high-profile award ceremony covered by Challenges magazine, offering students exceptional visibility and networking opportunities across the finance and investment community.
Throughout the evening, various industry leaders took the stage, including General Pierre de Villiers, former Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, who spoke on the theme “AI: a new world.”
Of course, prizes were given out as well. Among the 50 companies selected by the team, the jury awarded seven Futures Licornes prizes, with Descartes Underwriting, a data-driven global insurance specialist, taking home the Grand Prix.
Both Adrienne and Grégoire were unable to attend the ceremony in person a testament to how quickly emlyon Master in Finance students transition from classroom projects to professional roles but they agree the experience has been transformative.
“It’s a valuable addition to your résumé,” Adrienne says. “My advice to future students would be to stay well organized. The project runs over several months and can be demanding, but good time management is key to making the most of it.”
Grégoire adds, “Use the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of the startup world and deliver rigorous work Deloitte and its partners truly value the quality of your analysis.”
