French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM has selected six startups as winners of the third edition of its Startup Awards, spanning maritime, logistics, media, workforce technology and humanitarian applications.
The competition attracted more than 350 applications, with 48 finalists pitching in Marseille. Each winner will receive a funded pilot or proof-of-concept project with CMA CGM or the CMA CGM Foundation, plus one year of support from the group’s ZEBOX accelerator.
The Winners
- CRABI Robotics (maritime): developing an autonomous marine robot that cleans and inspects ship hulls without taking vessels out of service.
- HODOR: building identity and permission systems for AI agents operating inside enterprise software.
- Mercateam : a workforce scheduling and skills platform designed to replace spreadsheet-based planning in warehouses and terminals.
- Meikai: a platform that measures brand visibility across generative AI assistants (next-generation media category).
- Kumulus Water: technology that produces drinking water from atmospheric moisture for humanitarian settings (CMA CGM Foundation challenge).
- StudiAva: an AI-based careers and skills-matching platform (CMA CGM Foundation challenge).
This was the first year the CMA CGM Foundation ran dedicated challenges alongside the group’s commercial categories.
CMA CGM said previous award winners have already progressed into pilot and operational deployments across the group, including vessel-tracking, terminal charging and warehouse automation projects. The awards form part of a wider innovation strategy that also includes partnerships with Google and Mistral AI, as well as direct investments in technology startups.
The programme is designed to move beyond showcase events and create tangible commercial or operational collaborations within CMA CGM’s shipping, logistics, air cargo and media businesses.
