LVMH Group has announced the winners of its LVMH Innovation Award, which, according to the group’s press release, “recognizes the most innovative and high-potential startups helping to reinvent the luxury industry.” The three winners were named on Wednesday at the Vivatech tech conference in Paris.
“The reason I agreed to be a founding shareholder of Vivatech is that I was told it was an event for startups,” said Arnault at the opening ceremony of Vivatech, which he co-founded and which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. “I run a startup. I consider my group as a startup. We are a conglomerate of startups. The goal of a startup is to grow, but you must keep the spirit — and the spirit is still there. I think that’s why we are quite successful.”
After touring the LVMH booth, Arnault awarded the Best Impact Prize to French startup Fairly Made, a platform focused on raw material traceability, supply chain transparency, and environmental impact measurement. Fairly Made already works with many of LVMH’s fashion and leather goods brands.
Bernard Arnault awarded the Best Impact Prize to French startup Fairly Made.
Photo: Courtesy of LVMH
Synthesia won the Best Business Award “for its AI-powered enterprise video-creation technology at scale and in multiple languages, opening new possibilities for communication, training, and sales,” the release stated. Earlier this year, the UK-based company completed its Series E funding round, reaching a valuation of around $4 billion. The round was led by Google Ventures, with participation from Nvidia’s venture capital arm.
“Synthesia has now become a true scale-up,” said Franck Le Moal, LVMH Group IT and technology director. “What makes the company especially relevant to us is the large number of employees and team members we need to train across our industrial sites, stores, and facilities. We see significant potential in its ability to generate training content, personalize it for different audiences, and translate it in real time, which is extremely valuable.” A dozen LVMH brands already work with Synthesia, including Parfum Christian Dior, Moët Hennessy, Tiffany & Co., Hublot, and Loewe, according to Le Moal.
Inside the LVMH booth at Vivatech.
Photo: Courtesy of LVMH
New York-based Bluefish AI won LVMH’s Most Promising Award. Co-founded by Alex Sherman, Andrei Dunca, and Jing Feng, the platform measures brand image and product positioning across AI engines.
Le Moal explains: “With the extremely significant growth of LLMs — such as OpenAI, Perplexity, Gemini, Mistral, as well as Chinese LLMs — we are witnessing a very important shift in the digital industry. We are somewhat moving from SEO [search engine optimization] to GEO [generative engine optimization, a newer concept tied to AI search tools]. Our clients and prospects are increasingly using tools to search for information, learn about our brands, and look up details about our products.”
Inside the LVMH booth at Vivatech.
Photo: Courtesy of LVMH
“We are not yet seeing a large volume of e-commerce transactions coming through applications like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity,” he continues. “But we are seeing a very large number of potential consumers using these platforms to get information. And Bluefish is a platform that helps our brands understand and improve how we appear — or don’t — on these new tools.” Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior Couture, and Loro Piana are among the LVMH brands already using Bluefish AI.
This year’s event marks the 10th partnership between LVMH and Vivatech. “Looking back, in 2016, the luxury industry had not yet adopted technology at scale,” Le Moal says. “At the time, only two major brands — Louis Vuitton and Sephora — had made significant investments in this area, while others were lagging behind. Today, that has changed: all brands have now embraced technology. More broadly, technology is no longer limited to retail and omnichannel — it spans the entire value chain. It is everywhere. Finally, we are facinThere’s an absolutely incredible wave of AI and generative AI transformation happening. At Vivatech, our goal is to show how we’re adopting these AI tools and putting them to work for our brands.
Bernard Arnault and Vivatech co-founder Maurice Levy on the Vivatech stage.
Photo: Getty Images
Last year, content creation startup Omi, US customer intelligence firm Kahoona, and French startup Genesis won the Most Promising, Best Business, and Best Impact awards, respectively.
“Vivatech has become a key meeting point where human creativity and technological innovation come together — values that LVMH has always supported,” Arnault said.
In a conversation on stage with Vivatech co-founder Maurice Levy, Arnault added that he takes part in a design workshop using AI. “I like design,” he said. “Every week, we have a design session with AI where we create products. It’s fun.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the LVMH 2026 Innovation Awards winners written in a natural tone with clear concise answers
General Beginner Questions
Q What are the LVMH Innovation Awards
A Its an annual global competition where LVMH looks for the most promising tech startups that can help make their luxury brands better more sustainable or more innovative
Q When were the 2026 winners announced
A The winners were announced on during the Viva Technology conference in Paris
Q How many winners were there in 2026
A Typically LVMH selects around 15 to 20 winners across different categories The exact number for 2026 was
Q What do the winners get
A They get a cash prize mentorship from LVMH executives the chance to pilot their technology with LVMH brands and massive global visibility
Advanced Specific Questions
Q What were the main trends among the 2026 winning startups
A The biggest trends were AI for hyperpersonalization circular economy tech and radical transparency
Q Can you give an example of a specific winning startup and what it does
A Sure One winner was which developed a biodegradable leather alternative made from fruit waste that still feels luxurious Another was an app that uses a phone camera to create a perfect 3D body scan for madetomeasure clothing
Q How do these startups actually work with a giant like LVMH
A Its usually a pilot program For example a startup might test its sustainable packaging solution with one brand first If it works they scale it to other brands like Fendi or Bulgari