Zest
“Can a French, science-backed HR engagement platform become the operating layer between employee sentiment and business performance for European mid-market and enterprise?”
Founded2016
HQParis, France
FoundersChristophe Bergeon, Guillaume Viry
Total raised€6M (2024)
Latest roundGrowth round, May 2024
IndustryHorizontal SaaS / HR & Performance
The story
Zest is a French HR SaaS company focused on employee engagement, performance management, and continuous feedback (surveys, annual reviews, OKRs, 360 feedback, people reviews). It is a pure HR-tech play — not an embedded finance company. Its differentiators are French sovereignty (OVH hosting, GDPR-native), scientific validation of survey instruments, and a proprietary in-house AI model. Serves 400+ enterprise clients across 35+ countries.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2016
Zest (ZestMeUp SAS) founded in Paris by Christophe Bergeon and Guillaume Viry as an employee engagement platform.· launch
2024
Raised €6M growth round led by Reflexion Capital and Go Capital.· funding
2025
Launched Zest AI for semantic analysis of employee verbatims and automated action plans.· product
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Zest’s embedded-finance stack
Accounting
Accounting gap: none