Alumni Start-Uppers in a Fundraising Rush

Start-ups launched by ESSEC alumni have been raising funds like crazy in areas as diverse as accounting, interior design in East Africa, human resources and art - proof of the excellent state of health of entrepreneurship at ESSEC! With a special mention for Ynsect, a start-up specializing in beetle farming for animal feed.

Ynsect, founded by Alexis Angot (E09), who has already raised 35 million euros, has appointed Jefferies bank to raise an additional 100 million euros to create its first beetle production facility for large-scale animal feeding. Ynsect is one of the prize-winners of Global Cleantech 100 2018.

ContentSquare, founded by Jonathan Cherki (E12), through the ESSEC Ventures incubator, has raised 42 million dollars with the investment fund Canaan Partners. The start-up publishes a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for analyzing, testing and personalizing the customer journey to optimize user experience and increase performance on retail websites.

Micropep Technologies, created in 2016 by Thomas Laurent (E07), has raised 4 million euros. The start-up is working to find a natural herbicide equivalent to glyphosate, banned in the European Union.

Monbanquet, founded by Maxime Renault (E17), has raised 2.5 million euros. The online catering service works with local artisans and delivers buffets to companies, associations and individuals starting from 3 euros per person. The funding round will enable the start-up to reinforce its technical team and expand into new regions in France and Europe.

TheCareVoice, created by Sébastien Gaudin (E04), has raised 2 million euros. The start-up offers a broad spectrum of services to Chinese private insurance firms to help them develop member loyalty by providing personalized, transparent access to quality medical services and facilitating their use of insurance benefits. The investment round will allow the start-up to improve management of refund procedures, develop services using artificial intelligence, offer preventive medicine services and become established in a key market in South-East Asia.

Haussmann Group, founded by Grégoire Schwebig (E10), has raised 1.6 million euros to pursue its expansion in Africa and become leader in its sector before 2020. Specialists in the interior design of business premises in East Africa, the group is growing fast (cf. interview in Reflets ESSEC Magazine #122).

Boost.rs, created by Vincent Lebunetel (C01), has raised a million euros with several business angels. The funding round will enable the start-up - specialized in employee skills mapping - to further develop its solution by adding new modules. This year five additional employees will join the team of six already in place.

Georges, the accountant robot designed by Como Fouques (E13), to computerize the tax returns of people in the liberal professions, has raised a million euros with Kerala ventures and Fast Forward. Georges enables clients to produce their annual accounts and tax returns in less than an hour. 

Kazoart, an on-line art platform launched by Mathilde Le Roy (E99), has raised 600,000 euros to expand in France and Europe. In the last three years, KAZoArt has tripled its growth and reached 100,000 visitors a month. The gallery does not disclose its turnover but sells between 5 and 10 artworks a day.