Calipso Sensors, a manufacturer of sensors for the biopharmaceutical industry, was founded last year in Périgny. The company emerged from a research project involving both public and private partners. Its goal is to create 20 jobs by 2028 and then build a factory in Sainte-Soulle, employing 50 people.
For now, only a handful of employees work in the large workshop. The assembly line is almost empty—but not for long. Housed within the facilities of its parent company, GPC, in the Périgny industrial zone, the young company Calipso Sensors is preparing for significant growth. Founded in 2025, the company grew out of a research initiative bringing together public and private stakeholders: the association France BioLead, the companies Sanofi, Capgemini Engineering, Ypso-Facto, and GPC Bio, as well as the CEA-Leti research center and the engineering school CentraleSupélec.
The project dates back to 2019, when the biopharmaceutical sector—producing medicines from biological materials such as human cells or plants rather than synthetic chemistry—identified a shortage of suitable sensors. To accelerate the development of next-generation biopharmaceuticals, the pharmaceutical industry needed sensors that were more accurate, more versatile, and cost-effective. The response was a €17 million investment, including €8 million in public funding. Seven years later, Calipso Sensors is celebrating its first anniversary and preparing to industrialize a miniature sensor capable of simultaneously measuring temperature, acidity (pH), dissolved gases, and impurities.
A Factory by 2029?
"We will have our first customers in 2027," says Cyril van Robais, Chief Operating Officer of Calipso Sensors. By then, the company expects to employ 25 people, compared with 5 today, and to produce several hundred sensors per day. If sales meet expectations, the company plans to build a manufacturing plant in 2029. "We plan to establish ourselves in the municipality of Sainte-Soulle, where we already have a plot of land reserved for us. We're talking about an investment of four to five million euros and around fifty jobs," he explains.
Calipso Sensors will need expertise in metrology, micromechanics, and electrical engineering, among other fields. However, its management is confident about recruitment. "We are fortunate in La Rochelle to have a strong university ecosystem with specializations closely aligned with our needs. If we require more specific skills, we can find them within the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. So far, we have not encountered any recruitment difficulties."