A round-up of recent events and highlights from the world of ESSEC entrepreneurs.

Awards

Station F included 2 ESSEC projects among its 2024 Futur 40 ranking of the 40 best start-ups (out of 1,000!) on its campus. Co-founded by Eliott Reilhac (E09), Formality is barely a few months old but has already raised €8 million for its contract management platform. Co-founded by Dany El Oubari (E18) and member of the ESSEC incubator at Station F, Comin is shaking up the vehicle-for-hire sector with its service combining affordable fares and fair remuneration for drivers. 

Capital raising & funding

Founded by Thomas Laurent (E07), Micropep Technologies is scaling up and has raised $40 million in France and the USA to produce and sell its organic inputs for farming, an environmentally friendly alternative to weedkillers and fungicides. This is a noteworthy performance, given the 50% drop in AgriTech investments between 2023 and 2024. 

Launched by Henri Bong (E07) in Japan and currently operating throughout Asia,  UnaBiz raised $25 million in Series C for its suite of IoT services in the fields of security, logistics, supply chain and water and energy supply. This round will enable the company to consolidate its position as market leader, with some 13.5 million devices connected to date.  

Co-founded by Jérémy Pinto (E22) and Benjamin Cohen Aloro (E21) and supported by the ESSEC Ventures incubator, JUST has raised €8 million in Seed for its payment system which simplifies the checkout process and boosts the conversion rate of online sales platforms.  

Founded by Arnaud Sliwa-Biset (E05), WeGrow has raised €7 million in Series A for its software to simplify sharing good practices in large companies. WeGrow aims to expand its tools beyond the marketing & sales field and into finance, distribution, R&D and HR. 

Launched by Yuma Sasaki (MBA 16), Dodai, the electric scooter brand, has raised $4 million in Series A to break into the Ethiopian market. Already the fastest-growing company in the country’s sector, its medium-term plans are to operate in African metropolises such as Kinshasa, Dakar and Abidjan.  

Founded by Martin Hacpille (E14), EverEver has received €3.8 million in funding from Bpifrance to open a manufacturing plant in Vannes and produce sustainable and repairable dishwashers. See also our article 

Co-founded by Alexandre Pinon-Jacques (E19) and Quentin Amaudry (E24), Mendo has raised €3.5 million for its virtual assistant to train users of generative artificial intelligence. ‘We are determined to offset the ever-growing deficit of skills in this field, particularly in large companies whose vast workforces represent just 8% of LLM users at present.’   

Launched by Michaël Elalouf (E09) and based in the UK, Tranched has raised $3.4 million to automate complex debt financing transactions. ‘We want to simplify access to funding for fintech players in Europe and worldwide.’  

Co-founded by Sébastien Prot (E07), Vasco has raised €2 million to finance the energy renovation of 100 households by 2025. ‘We offer an innovative solution when grants, savings and bank loans are not sufficient, in the form of an inclusive property agreement which fully finances the works in exchange for a share in the asset. More than 200 customers, ranging from first-time buyers to pensioners, modest households or multi-owners, have already called on our services.’  

Co-founded by Marin Champenois (BBA 21), Up & Charge has raised €1.5 million in Seed for the pre-industrialisation and market launch of its induction charging solution for electric vehicles. ‘Our aim is to become the sector leader in Europe, which represents a potential B2B market of €2 billion.’  

Run by François Perrot (E05), 14Trees closed its Series A round with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Holcim Invest and British International Investment, a UK-based institution specialised in impact investment. 14Trees hopes to revolutionise the building sector with 3D-printing technology which will substantially reduce the carbon footprint of worksites.  

The MBO+ fund has acquired majority shares in Dayuse, the world’s leading hospitality experience platform, which manages some 2 million bookings per year in 30 countries for a turnover of almost €25 million. Barbara Steinert (E96), Chief Revenue Officer of the nugget, was actively involved in this large-scale operation.  

Co-founded by Lucas Bouyoux (E16), the video game publisher Kafi closed its Seed round with some ten partners. ‘We want to bring friends together around memorable and highly-amusing experiences. Our latest creation is Headliners, in which you play journalists who will stop at nothing to get that front-page photo scoop.’   

Launched by Camille Lugol (M19), La Mie successfully closed its first capital raising to boost the development of its craft beers, brewed from unsold bread to prevent food waste. ‘As a solo founder and woman entrepreneur, it took a great deal of boldness, resilience and energy to get this far. We have now reached a decisive milestone in democratising our production method and responsible consumption!’ 

Crowdequity

Launched by Sandrine Zhang Ferron (E07) in London, Vinterior has exceeded its target and raised almost £890,000 with 375 investors for its marketplace devoted to vintage and design furniture or objects. Already the sector leader in the UK, the platform is banking on these funds and its new £3-million ‘media-for-equity’ partnership with Channel 4 to become a key mass distribution player.  

Created by Simon Bestel (EXEC PROG 04), the inclusive property fund FEVE has raised €18 million from the public to help young, responsible farmers using soil and ecosystem regenerating processes to set up their activity. ‘Our future target is 200 farms per year, i.e. a surface of 12,000 ha, the equivalent of Toulouse or Paris!’ The campaign is open online until 4 December.  

Co-founded by Sébastien de Hulster (BBA 04), Bellevilles is offering private investors €1M in 7% bonds over 4 years to expand its real estate portfolio, which includes CSR-compliant residential and commercial assets, as well as third places dedicated to the Social and Solidarity Economy. "We are currently managing 26 active projects all around France. We have already carried out an initial crowdequity campaing of €2M with 728 citizen investors, and an additional fundraising round of €10.6M with institutional investors. We have also created our own construction and development subsidiary, Atelier Bellevilles." Campaign is underway on Lita until December 31.

Taken over by Matthieu Bimbenet (M00), 727 Sailbags is opening its capital to individual investors, for a minimum ticket of €1,000 and a maximum amount of €500,000. The Brittany-based company collects more than 60,000m² of used sails annually, and transforms them into luggage, ready-to-wear and decorative items. With already 7 retail outlets in France and 1 in the USA, the firm hopes to open 30 outlets by 2030. More information at GwenneG.

Crowdfunding

Created by Marine Foulon (E09), Pépites de Famille has already doubled its crowdfunding campaign target on Ulule, with the aim of opening of a ‘resource venue to share family moments’, with offers such as a workshop and play areas for under 3s, parental support, pre-school solutions, snack-time and school holiday activities, a toy shop and birthday events. The campaign is ongoing; you have until 13 December to help the project go further by contributing online. 

Co-founded by Antoine Sfeir (BBA 14), the food brand Ooochie Mama is running a crowdfunding campaign on KissKissBankBank to launch its first product, a harissa paste made from Tunisian sun-dried peppers. You have until 13 December to contribute online.

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