# Romain Niccoli

> Romain Niccoli is the Paris-based cofounder and co-CEO of Pigment. A Mines Paris computer science graduate and former Microsoft engineer, he previously cofounded Criteo and Less. At Pigment he leads technology, product and human resources, alongside cofounder Éléonore Crespo.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Pigment
- **Organizations:** Pigment, Criteo, Less, Microsoft, Fondation Nationale Entreprise et Performance
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** Master in Computer Science, École des Mines de Paris (Mines Paris - PSL)
- **Known for:** Cofounded Criteo and remained with it through its 2013 Nasdaq listing and subsequent growth., Cofounded Less, acquired by BlaBlaCar in 2018., Cofounded Pigment in 2019.

## Career timeline

- **2000–2005** — Worked at Microsoft in the Seattle area on Windows; served as lead software design engineer.
- **2005** — Cofounded Criteo with Franck Le Ouay and Jean-Baptiste Rudelle.
- **2006** — Began serving as Criteo CTO in March, according to its 2016 proxy statement.
- **2013** — Criteo listed on Nasdaq.
- **2015** — Added leadership of Criteo human resources in April.
- **2017** — Left Criteo early in the year and helped build Less as cofounder and CTO.
- **2018** — BlaBlaCar announced its acquisition of Less on April 27.
- **2019** — Cofounded Pigment with Éléonore Crespo.
- **2022** — Mentored the FNEP mission on digital sovereignty.
- **2023** — Received the honorary Mines Paris PSL - Transvalor entrepreneurship prize jointly with Crespo.
- **2026** — Pigment announced a $250 million Series E on October 21.

## Achievements

- Cofounded Criteo and remained with it through its 2013 Nasdaq listing and subsequent growth.
- Cofounded Less, acquired by BlaBlaCar in 2018.
- Cofounded Pigment in 2019.
- Joint recipient with Éléonore Crespo of the 2023 honorary Mines Paris PSL - Transvalor entrepreneurship prize.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On October 21, Pigment announced a $250 million Series E at a $2.3 billion valuation, led by Scaleup Europe Fund managed by EQT; NVIDIA participation was described as planned. The company reported passing $100 million ARR earlier in 2026.
- **2026-10** — Niccoli presented Pigment’s autonomous-planning direction at Catalyst Paris, emphasizing shared data and faster decisions.
- **2026-09** — Pigment announced Frames, AI-generated interfaces connected to its live planning models.

## Links

- Website: https://www.pigment.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romainniccoli/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/romain_n

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/romain-niccoli
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23