Wheelmove raises €1.5M Seed to industrialise Ze One, the electric conversion kit for manual wheelchairs

Wheelmove (Hauts-de-France) has raised €1.5 million in a Seed round from Rives Croissance and Bpifrance, structured as €1 million equity from the regional fund and €500,000 debt from Bpifrance's French Tech Seed programme. Founded by Amaury Dupas, the company develops Ze One, an electric conversion kit that attaches to any existing manual wheelchair and converts it into an all-terrain electric wheelchair.

How Ze One works

The product's proposition is additive rather than replacement: rather than asking wheelchair users to exchange their current chair for a new powered model, Ze One attaches to the chair already in use and adds electric drive and all-terrain capability. The kit is designed to fit a broad range of standard manual wheelchairs without modification. Ze One appeared at CES 2026, where it received attention outside its home market.

The all-terrain specification addresses a gap in the existing powered mobility landscape. Most standard electric wheelchairs are optimised for indoor or smooth-surface use and struggle on uneven ground, kerbs, and outdoor terrain. Ze One's pitch is that a conversion kit gives users powered outdoor mobility without navigating a new prescription and reimbursement process for a replacement chair.

What the round funds

The €1.5 million will fund industrialisation and initial commercialisation of Ze One. Rives Croissance is the regional investment fund for Hauts-de-France; Bpifrance's French Tech Seed instrument supplements equity with structured debt, a common approach for early hardware companies with defined development milestones ahead.

The regulatory path is the primary variable: a medical device conversion kit for powered wheelchair mobility requires CE marking under EU MDR before commercial launch in France and Europe. No timeline for CE certification or commercial availability was disclosed by the company.