Fundraising, Crowdequity, Impact 40/20... News from ESSEC Entrepreneurs

A round-up of the most significant news from ESSEC entrepreneurs in recent months.

Fundraising

Co-founded by Arnaud Delubac (M20), Greenly raises €49 million for its carbon accounting platform, helping companies to assess, manage and sustainably reduce their CO2 emissions. “Our Climate Suite brings together all the key services: GHG assessment, Life Cycle Analysis, supplier commitment, CSRD reporting, SBTI alignment... A solution that already has 2,000 customers in 10 countries and over 15 business sectors.”

Co-founded by François Roth (E12), Alexandre Martin (E12) and Amaury Courbon (E12), coliving operator Colonies raises €30m. “Colonies already has 2,000 units open, an occupancy rate of over 95%, and a presence in France, Belgium and Germany. Above all, it means numerous residential development projects in Europe (16,000 units) creating new housing for young people and limiting the (gigantic) carbon impact of the real estate market.”

Co-founded by Sébastien Gaudin (E04) and based in Brussels, insurtech The CareVoice is raising $10m in Series B funding for its platform that enables health insurers to offer a fully integrated, centralized digital care pathway. Having developed historically in Asia, where it is now present in some fifteen markets, and having doubled its sales by 2023, the company aims to conquer Europe, offer new products and consolidate its position in the European market.

Co-founded by François Jacob (M10), Hiboo has raised €9.3 million for its solution, which collects and aggregates data from companies' fleets of light vehicles and heavy equipment. “A means of improving productivity and energy efficiency for players in the construction, rental and software industries...”

Co-founded by Romain Palmieri (E17) and Dorian Perron (E17), Groover raises €7.5m for its marketing platform dedicated to independent artists in the music sector. Already present in 180 countries, the company aims to launch new services, including coaching and career development, and a gas pedal to maximize visibility and profitability. 

Scienta Lab, co-founded by Camille Bouget (M17), raises €4 million for its artificial intelligence solution applied to precision immunology. With this first round of financing, the deeptech company incubated at Station F aims to strengthen its technological and biomedical teams to accelerate its research activities in Europe and the United States. The ultimate aim is to offer better therapeutic options to patients suffering from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Co-founded by Romain Rouphaël (E08) and based in Portugal, LN Markets is raising €3 million for its bitcoin trading platform, which is forecast to grow by more than 2,600% by 2023, with a transaction volume of over $2 billion. The funds will be used to increase headcount, improve the interface and offer additional functionalities to customers. 

Co-founded by Bénédicte Tilloy (E82), Ask for the moon is raising €2.5m for its “Cogenerative Knowledge Platform”, which helps employees of major groups to share their critical know-how internally with the support of artificial intelligence. “We're going to invest €5 million in R&D, take on 40 new employees and triple our international sales by now, particularly in Scandinavian countries and Germany.”

Founded by Arnaud Bayle (E15), Klineo is raising €2 million for its platform that enables patients to find the nearest clinical trial for their pathology. The idea was inspired by his own experience as a medical oncologist at Gustave Roussy, Europe's leading cancer center.

Launched by Jean-Michel Chalayer (BBA 09) and based in the UK, Jena is raising £1.2 million for its platform, which centralizes all the functionalities that self-employed beauty and wellness professionals need to run their business: reservation system, payment solution, CRM tool... The aim is to conquer the British market and its 5 million potential professional customers.

Co-founded by Geoffroy Morin (M21), WeSur raises €1 million for its artificial intelligence-based tool for recommending personalized insurance offers. With already more than 25 partner brands and 12,000 customers, the insurtech plans to launch a mobile application to aggregate all its contracts on a single platform.

Awards

13 alumni are included in the Impact 40/120, a new index launched by the Mouvement Impact France to highlight the 40 social and ecological impact companies most likely to become impact unicorns (less than 10 years in existence and 50 million euros in costs avoided for society per year) and the 120 companies that closely follow them. Congratulations to Maxime Baffert (E99), founder of Bluedigo, a supplier of second-hand furniture for businesses; Florian Blanc (E08), co-founder of Geev, an app for private individuals to donate items; Arnaud Delubac (M20), co-founder of Greenly (cf. above); Augustin Derville (E19), co-founder of Electra, operator of fast-charging stations for electric vehicles (Read our article in French); Pierre-François Dumont Saint Priest (M16), co-founder of EcoTree, a B-Corp pioneering carbon certification that enables individuals and companies to support projects for the protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems in France and Europe. Ludovic de Gromard (E11), co-founder of Chance, an augmented coaching and skills assessment solution that (re)gives meaning to one's professional life; Nicolas Guinebretière (E17), co-founder of Vestack, a digital design (BIM) and industrialized construction (modular 3D wood-frame) technology platform that reconciles carbon imperatives and the profitability of real estate projects (also winner of the ESSEC Founders Day 2022); François Jacob (M10), co-founder of Hiboo (see above); Arnaud Le Rodallec (E17), co-founder of the Fifteen group, which specializes in self-service bicycle fleets. above); Arnaud Le Rodallec (E17), co-founder of the Fifteen group specializing in self-service bicycle fleets, the result of the merger of his start-up Zoov with its counterpart Smoove ; Charles Lottmann (E11), co-founder of Nous anti-gaspi, a network of grocery stores specializing in the reuse of unsold goods; Jean Moreau (E07), co-founder of anti-gaspi solution Phénix; Julia Néel Biz (E12) and Nicolas Merlaud (E12), co-founders of mental health support platform teale.

4 alumni feature in Challenges' Top 100 startups to invest in in 2024: Quentin Amaudry (E24) and Alexandre Pinon-Jacques (E19), co-founders of Mendo, a virtual assistant for training employees in digital tools such as ChatGPT; Sébastien Prot (E07), co-founder of Vasco, a financing solution for comprehensive energy renovation work; and Chloé Roubach (E14), co-founder of Zilo Energies, a photovoltaic equipment installation and solar self-consumption subscription service.  

Launched by Jeimila Donty (E17), Koraï is one of the 10 startups of the year 2024 according to La Tribune, which awarded it the Impact prize at Tech for Future 2024, France's biggest startup competition. The start-up offers companies the chance to reduce their carbon credits by financing the development of coral nurseries, mangroves and seagrass beds, now threatened by human maritime activities, pollution and rising temperatures.

Mergers & acquisitions

Co-founded by Jonathan Livescault (E09), Braineet has been acquired by its German counterpart Itonics. A means of scaling up for this already profitable and fast-growing publisher of innovation management software, which now aims to conquer the international market, particularly in North America. 

Co-founded by Baptiste Bonnichon (M20), hotel chain Inspire Villages acquires Slow Village, joining the top 10 in its category in France. “We now have 11 open-air establishments in popular natural locations, from Île de Ré to Biscarrosse, from Brittany to the Loire Valley, from Périgord to the Gard, with total sales of €20 million and over 350 employees during summer.

Crowdequity

Co-founded by Edouard Alexandre (M14), Ideel is raising €1 million on the Tudigo platform to accelerate the development of its platform, which helps individuals identify and optimize household bills and subscriptions. The service already has 120,000 users, who give it an average rating of 4.9/5, and more than 30 partner companies.

Launched by Kamel Naït-Outaleb (EXEC PROG 15), the neobank OnlyOne For Business is raising €850,000 on the Sowefund platform to help companies reduce the environmental footprint associated with their financial activities. “Our offer: an ethically managed business account and environmental impact tracking on every transaction with the support of Mastercard, PwC and Google.” 

Co-founded by Dany El Oubari (E18) and a member of the ESSEC incubator at Station F created by ESSEC and ESSEC Alumni (apply here), Comin is raising €600,000 on the Tudigo platform for its VTC service, which aims to combine affordable prices with fair remuneration for drivers. “4,000 drivers have already joined us, i.e. 14% of Parisian drivers. And we're counting on the Olympic Games to speed things up.”

Co-founded by Morgan Hilmi (E12), Beebs has raised over €545,000 on the Crowdcube platform. A new milestone for this mobile second-hand buying and reselling application dedicated to 0-14 year-olds, which already boasts over 2 million downloads and more than 3 million items available.

Co-founded by Clément Serio (E11) and Anna Orosz (E11), Collock has raised over €380,000 on the MyOptions platform for its “serious games” for businesses. “Learning through games allows for more active participation and greater concentration on the part of learners, as well as fostering team spirit. Another advantage is the format, which can be customized on demand, and the lower cost.” A fun way to train employees in the new challenges facing their profession or sector, to raise awareness of issues of inclusion and discrimination in the workplace, and to combat employee disengagement, the program has already won over 100,000 digital players and 200,000 face-to-face participants, many of them from the CAC 40.

Co-founded by Paul Salvanès (E06), Voxeurop is raising €250,000 from its readers. “Rather than let your bank invest your money in fossil fuel projects, we're offering to invest (part of) it in Europe's leading press cooperative to finance a year's worth of research - including research, editing, translation, illustration, computer graphics and legal fees (!) - by buying our shares. What about your profitability? All our profits are reinvested in our work. In a maximum of 3 years (5 if you benefit from the 50% deduction for French tax residents) you can recoup your investment... unless you want to continue supporting independent journalism of general interest.”

Crowdfunding

Created by Jean-Paul Moulin (E87), Carnets d'ailleurs magazine has quadrupled the target of its pre-sale campaign on KissKissBankBank. This quarterly publication proposes to show you “the world as you've never seen it”, through the eyes of notebook artists who “bring together travel and drawing as an art of living, at the end of the world or on the corner of the street”, and who invite you to take the time “to contemplate, to exchange”.   

Founded by Hugo Andrin (E24), the Yalgo brand of vegetable patties has more than doubled the target of its pre-sale campaign on Ulule. “This funding will enable us to prototype and manufacture our first seaweed-based products, in partnership with the marine and aquatic animal defense and protection association C'est Assez!” 

Launched by Orsane Ribault (BBA 22 & M23), Sacre Paris exceeds the target of its presale campaign on Ulule for its “first leotards suitable for women from size 34 to 48, customizable, recycled, with technically avant-garde materials”.

Founded by Juan Mendez Gomez (EXEC M22), Nutrikood reaches the target of its pre-sale campaign on Ulule to produce its first range of made-in-France dog and cat food, with a veterinary formulation and an environmentally responsible approach integrated into all aspects of the project: ingredients, packaging, logistics...  

Founded by Victor Magaud (E25), Phytopolis has reached the target of its crowdfunding campaign on Ulule to develop its project to green concrete urban spaces using biowaste. “We grow fruit trees where they're not supposed to be able to grow thanks to arboricompositing, which is inspired by agricultural methods from the Sahel-Saharan strip and allows the plant to grow even though it's in a confined or above-ground space.”

Launched by Johanna Minvielle-Sebastia (M16) with the support of ESSEC Alumni's Mentorat Entrepreneur program, Hyléria successfully closes its pre-sales campaign for its first range of organic cosmetics featuring French heritage know-how. Read our article (in French) 

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