The SaaS-ies 2025, Acquisition International | 7 Going a step further, Vincent told us: “When we founded Ardoise, we deliberately built for what learning with AI should look like once the hype curve had played out...when the initial excitement dipped, confidence wavered, and only the solutions with true staying power remained.” As Annee added: “That foresight is paying off.” This is about more than just features; it is about solutions that set new standards when it comes to relevance, adaptability, and performance outcomes. This is seen in a number of ways across Ardoise, including in ASPECT®, its learning methodology that is reimagining how learning is carried out and how skills are acquired in this AI age. Then there is Ardoise Intelligence®, its proprietary architecture, which gives customers the confidence that Ardoise remains resilient and adaptable, even as the AI ecosystem changes. Ardoise’s confidence in its ability stems from its team, comprising experts who work together in a collaborative, interdisciplinary manner. “Our science, product, and engineering teams work closely together to design solutions”, Vincent explained, “while our client-facing teams ensure what we build directly addresses real organisational needs.” On the back of this, the company’s staff have multifaceted roles, in the sense that they must also educate, advise, and co-create with clients, helping Ardoise to build the best product. Research, therefore, is key to Ardoise’s longevity, with two members of its executive team – which boasts more than 100 years of combined expertise across areas such as human resources and learning and development – holding PhDs. The company is also passionate about partnering with universities to further research around AI in learning, seen through its current role in a three-year project with the University of Lille. With 2025 quickly winding down, Ardoise remains focused on showing the world what AI can really do for workplace learning as we move through 2026 and beyond. Be it growing its ‘skills lab’ library or expanding its footprint beyond its current holdings in France, the UK, and Japan, a number of initiatives are in place to continue to spread the message, positioning Ardoise as something truly unique in the process. It is on the back of this distinction that we are proud to recognise Ardoise with this title in our inaugural edition of the SaaS-ies. Contact: Vincent Annest & Annee Bayeux Company: Ardoise Web Address: https://ardoise.ai Most Innovative AI‑Focused Learning SaaS Start-Up 2025 – France ‘Helping humans stay relevant’ is a tagline Annee Bayeux has used for almost 10 years, stemming from her vision of a world where every person, irrespective of their role or level within an organisation, can access transformative guidance when they need it through the provision of a training programme for employees that both adapts and empowers. Recognising this vision aligned with that of training expert Vincent Annest, the two created Ardoise as a way of bringing it to life across a range of diverse industries. Built on the values of adaptability, innovation, precision, and connection, Ardoise specialises in learning experiences that are either readily available or entirely bespoke, but always tailored and deeply contextualised. Across three distinct products, Ardoise delivers AInative courses that cover areas such as onboarding, leadership skills, coaching, and more. The first of these, the Ardoise Collection, consists of standard, pre-made training courses that can be quickly tailored to any organisation. Then comes Ardoise Bespoke, where the company works with its partners to create AI-driven learning experiences unique to the particular needs and expertise of a client’s organisation. Finally, there is Ardoise Studio, an agentic authoring tool allowing learning teams to build their own AI experiences directly. As it delivers these services, Ardoise must navigate the challenges that stem from a ‘mismatch’ when it comes to the current state of AI, which is used primarily to make marginal improvements to existing processes (faster content, etc.). However, new research has shown that AI works best when it is used to rethink processes and tools from the ground up, being used as a foundational component and not an add-on. This is why the company’s approach is, at its core, a blend of technological and pedagogical innovation. “We have stood apart by showing what truly AI-driven learning looks like: context-aware, performanceoriented, and, for the first time, truly adaptive. ” Founded in September 2024 by Co-CEOs Vincent Annest and Annee Bayeux, Ardoise exists to both bridge the gap between learning and performance and help humans stay relevant in a corporate world that is changing at speeds once thought unimaginable. Ardoise thus focuses primarily on delivering training that adapts not only to the world around it, but also to the people, roles, and even the entire businesses of its clients. We had the pleasure of catching up with Vincent and Annee on the back of their company being recognised with this welldeserved award.
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