Category: Deals

Naboo, a company specialising in the development and marketing of a seminar booking platform for businesses, announced on Monday 5 February that it had raised €7.5 million in funding. The funding will be used by the start-up to invest in AI and data management, with the aim of improving its platform. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Alexia Guyot) advised ISAI, Kima Ventures, Better Angle and its historical investors Cap Horn and Maif Avenir on this transaction.

With over fifty employees already working for Naboo, the fund-raising announced on 5 February will not result in any significant changes to the team. According to Maxime Eduardo, co-chairman of the company, the financial contribution is not intended to support a recruitment policy, as the teams are already solid. The current objective is to develop new functionalities based on artificial intelligence.

The founders of Naboo, who have already attracted customers such as Chanel, Google and Carrefour, recognise that to deliver on their promises, they need an extra dose of artificial intelligence. Faced with growing demand of two to three million euros a week, AI will become a major component of the product, with tests already under way internally by sales staff.

This round of funding will enable the company to accelerate its technological investments; the aim is to improve the user experience by simplifying the process through the use of data and AI. This will enable customers to compose and book their seminars autonomously and instantly. Naboo also plans to invest in customer service, offering companies personalised support for their first bookings.

This expansion is extending internationally, with a presence in the UK forecast for 2025. In just one year since the launch of its offering, Naboo has already surpassed the €1 million mark in monthly business volume and reached almost €18 million in annualised business volume.

“We’re delighted with the progress we’ve made since the creation of Naboo: more than half the companies in the CAC 40 have already called on us to organise their seminars. But what surprises us most is the speed with which Naboo spreads among its customers once a team books its seminar. What appeals to them is both the ultra-personalisation and the instantaneousness of the booking, an experience that we are the only ones to offer today. It’s a huge advantage made possible by AI and data, in which we have decided to invest massively with this round of funding,” explains Maxime Eduardo, speaking to Tourmag magazine.

Read the CFNews article here.

Deeptech company Aldoria, formerly known as Share My Space, has closed a round of financing of almost €10 million from Bpifrance, Starquest, Audacia, EIC, Space Founders France and Wind Capital. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel and Camille Malbezin) advised Starquest on this transaction.

Led by Starquest and its €5 million contribution, this fund-raising reflects the desire of Toulouse-based Aldoria, which, as part of the development of its space surveillance solutions, intends to double its network of optical stations by 2025, and to expand its catalogue of real-time tracking of space objects in orbit. It also highlights its achievements, including its international expansion. Thanks to contracts and strategic partnerships with major players in the space sector such as CNES and ESA, commercial satellite operators such as Airbus Defence & Space, and key partners such as Astroscale and Isar Aerospace, the company is currently present in nearly 17 countries.

“We have been working for half a decade to have Earth orbits recognised as part of our environment. More and more people in the space community and beyond have become aware of the problem of space debris. We are very pleased to see that the protection of the orbital environment is now supported by green finance, and we are therefore particularly proud of our partnership with Starquest Capital through their Protect Article 9 fund, with the support of our existing shareholder Expansion Ventures, as well as several public investors,” said Romain Lucken, Director of ALDORIA.

 

According to BPI France, by 2030 the number of active satellites in low earth orbit is expected to reach 40,000, compared with the current figure of almost 9,000. The implications of this growth are already significant. In 2023, ALDORIA’s orbital information system produced 230,000 independent measurements for 5,000 objects, with 30 million matches between space objects also forecast. Faced with growing insecurity resulting from the lack of regulation of space traffic, ALDORIA is regaining control by informing operators of threats in real time.

Lyon-based start-up Tenacy, which specialises in automated cybersecurity management solutions, has just successfully completed a €6 million round of funding from existing investors (Auriga Cyber Ventures, Teamwork, Kreaxi and Crédit Agricole Création) and a new entrant : Axeleo Capital. This round of financing is part of the development of its solutions across Europe. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rudy Diamant) advised Axeleo Capital on this transaction.

Founded in 2019, the Lyon-based start-up (formerly AugmentedCISO) positions itself as a SaaS platform dedicated to managing corporate cybersecurity. The platform provides companies with the ability to assess their level of compliance, draw up security policies, supervise day-to-day operations and generate reports in an efficient way when it comes to IT security.

“We provide an all-in-one cybersecurity solution for decision-makers,” says Cyril Guillet (Lyon Décideurs), CEO and co-founder of start-up Tenacy.

 

All the historical stakeholders, notably Auriga Cyber Ventures, Kreaxi, Teamwork and Crédit Agricole Innovation, are renewing their confidence by participating in this round of financing. A new investor, Axeleo Capital, has joined this second round of financing. The total amount of the transaction is €6 million.

According to CFNews, the company aims to maintain sustained growth and achieve Recurring Annual Revenue (ARR) of between €10 and €15 million within three years. The recruitment plan calls for doubling the current workforce of 50 over the next year, with 40% for the marketing and sales teams and 60% for Research and Development.

Doctibike, a Lyon-based company specialising in the reconditioning of electric bicycle batteries, has reorganised its capital by raising €1 million from its founders and Demeter and UI Investissement in order to expand its reconditioning capacity. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Océane Christmann & Clémence Bressolin) advised Demeter and UI Investissement on this transaction.

Doctibike has in fact replaced its previous majority shareholder, PatCom Group (known as Green Riders Group), in favour of investment funds. Most of the company’s capital had been acquired in 2021, as part of a project to build a production site.

However, as a result of the financial difficulties encountered by PatCom Group, the latter was placed under receivership last April. As a result, the founders, Anne-Sophie Caistiker and Pierre Francisco, with the support of the merchant bank Further Finance, sought partners to buy out the company’s shares, thereby freeing themselves from this influence. This led to UI Investissement acquiring a stake in September 2023 through the Opportunités Régions 3 fund, followed by Demeter through the Fonds d’Amorçage Industriel Métropolitain (FAIM).

Anne-Sophie Caistiker, President of Doctibike, explains that the company has a 500 m² workshop that reconditioned 15,000 batteries last year, employing five technicians among its twenty-strong workforce. The company achieved sales of more than €2m last year, and its total workforce is set to double over the next two years. Doctibike is also aiming to expand the variety of batteries it can handle, with currently more than 400 brands and 8,000 references.

Anne-Sophie Caistiker, President of Doctibike, explains that the company has a 500 m² workshop that reconditioned 15,000 batteries last year, employing five technicians among its twenty-strong workforce. The company achieved sales of more than €2m last year, and its total workforce is set to double over the next two years. Doctibike is also aiming to expand the variety of batteries it can handle, with currently over 400 brands and 8,000 part numbers.

Click here to read the original CFNews article.

Hygie 31, leader in the pharmaceutical market, is continuing its development strategy and strengthening its presence in the local pharmacy market. The company is taking control of Magdaléon, a young Strasbourg-based player in the sector, which now has more than 100 pharmacies in eastern France, with combined sales of some €250 million. Joffe & Associés (Christophe Joffe, Camille Malbezin & Alexia Guyot) advised Hygie31 on this transaction.

Hygie31 is continuing its expansion by extending its territorial presence through the gradual acquisition of existing networks. Already established in the south-west following the purchase of 520 traditional pharmacies from Pharmacorp, and in the Hauts de France after taking control of 135 pharmacies from Pharmacyal (Elsker Group), the group is now extending its influence by acquiring a majority stake in Magdaléon. The deal was carried out in partnership with Magdaléon’s co-founders, Jean-Marc Gauche and Christian Zimmermann, as well as its managing director, Constant Kuder, and their six pharmacist partners.

Hervé Jouves, Chairman of Hygie31, comments in a press release: “Following the successful mergers with Pharmacorp (more than 520 traditional local pharmacies) and Pharmacyal (135 pharmacies in the Hauts de France region), this transaction with Magdaléon marks a new stage in the Hygie31 Group’s development policy, while preserving the identity and specificity of each network. Our approach aims to consolidate the market by supporting regional initiatives to guarantee optimum access to healthcare, whatever the area (urban, peri-urban, rural, neighbourhood)”.

At the same time, each pharmacy owner will benefit from new technological and digital services, personalised support thanks to new day-to-day management tools, and a wide range of training courses. In addition, this collaboration aims to strengthen the presence of pharmacists in the Magdaléon network in the field of medical equipment and home care, by offering privileged access to products distributed by Distrimed, recently acquired by the Hygie31 Group at the beginning of December.

Click here for the CFNews press release.

The Toulouse-based healthcare group Hygie 31, advised by Joffe & Associés (Christophe Joffe, Camille Malbezin and Oriana Castelli), is acquiring Distrimed, an online retailer of medical equipment and medical devices, in order to complete and consolidate its offerings on the market.

In 2023, Hygie31 will continue its expansion with the acquisition of Distrimed, a subsidiary of Bastide le Confort médical. This move reflects the determination of the group that owns the Lafayette chain to anticipate demographic trends and meet the growing need for home care.

“We are going to strengthen Distrimed and support its development. The company will continue to develop its BtoB activities and will become our online distribution base for medical equipment”. – Hervé Jouves, Chairman of Hygie 31.

With the integration of Distrimed, Hygie31’s digital offering will be enhanced by more than 6,000 references, including 20 new product families. This expansion will also open up access to healthcare professionals such as doctors and nurses.

Hygie 31 is acquiring all the shares in Distrimed, carrying out the transaction entirely in cash. This strategic takeover has generated enthusiasm within the network of brands, including pharmacies, parapharmacies, opticians and medical devices, which sees this transaction as a major opportunity. With this acquisition, the group headed by Hervé Jouve consolidates its presence while strengthening its digital activities, led by Dhygietal, the leader in online parapharmacy with sales of €80 million, as emphasised by Hervé Jouve, Chairman of Hygie 31.

Find all the official information on CFNews here.

Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rudy Diamant) is advising BPI France and 360 Capital on the fundraising of Callyope, a company offering solutions combining voice and AI for the detection of mental disorders and illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and severe depression.

In a world where one person in eight – some 970 million people – has a severe mental disorder, the issue of mental health is more important than ever. It was against this backdrop that Callyope managed to raise €2.2 million this summer from investors including 360 Capital, Bpifrance Investissement with the support of the Digital Venture Fund, No Label Ventures (an Anglo-Saxon venture capital fund set up this year by Ramzi Rafih, formerly of KKR), and business angels such as Thomas Clozel (Owkin) and Adrien Montfort (Sorare). This fund-raising enabled the company to reach a valuation of €6.55 million.

“Nearly 1% of the population suffers from schizophrenia and 2 to 3% from bipolar disorder. These illnesses are very often chronic, and almost half of patients hospitalised relapse within twelve months”, explains Martin Denais, co-director of Callyope.

 

Callyope is now working in collaboration with well-known hospitals to develop its solutions and expand its database. The company, which has positioned itself in the mental health market representing a cost of around €600 billion a year in the European Union according to the Court of Auditors, intends to test its software on several hundred patients from the beginning of next year to demonstrate its effectiveness. Designed for monitoring rather than diagnosis, the tool is intended to be marketed to Centres Médico-Psychologiques (CMP). The start-up currently has nine employees, and plans at least a year of R&D before reaching the stage of marketing its analysis solutions.

Read the official press release from NCI here.

Flatsy, a company specialising in digital professional property, has announced that it has raised €3.5 million from Banque des Territoires and NCI, along with eight other business angels, to strengthen its service offering. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rudy Diamant) advised Banque des Territoires and NCI on this transaction.

Flatsy already benefited from the support of NCI in its previous financing round, which reached the €3 million threshold in 2021. Flatsy now welcomes a new French investor: the publisher of a property visit management software for professionals in the sector has raised €3.5 million, with Banque des Territoires as a major new investor.

It should be noted that around eight additional business angels, including Didier Le Menestrel (Weber Investissement), already present in the company’s capital, are also participating in this new operation. Since it was founded in 2016 by Alexis Chauffert-Yvart, Thomas Patouillaud and Pierre Lanvin, Flatsy has raised a total of €7.7 million to enhance its solutions and services.

“The aim is to enhance existing technology by offering new service components, such as inventory of fixtures and photography, to save real estate professionals time and travel and enable them to concentrate on finding mandates and clients”, says Alexis Chauffert-Yvart, Director and CEO of Flatsy.

 

About Flatsy:

Flatsy, founded in 2016, aims to provide real estate professionals with an efficient visit management tool. In addition, the company offers to delegate property visits to its qualified staff, aiming to simplify the process and lighten the workload of professionals.

Over the years, Flatsy has enjoyed a number of fund-raising successes. In 2018, it successfully raised €1 million for its visit delegation concept. In 2021, it continued this momentum by raising €3 million to strengthen the digitalisation of the property viewing process.

Read the original news on CFNews here.

European Digital Group, an acquisition platform owned by Montefiore, through its conversational data analysis arm Semantiweb, has acquired Social Wire, a social network data analysis agency with twenty employees. Joffe & Associés (Romain Soiron, Virginie Belle and Paddy Pascot) advised Social Wire and its founders on this transaction.

European Digital Group is strengthening its Data & AI division, which includes Equancy, a data strategy and management consultancy acquired a few months ago, and previously formed through the acquisition of a majority stake in Semantiweb, a conversational data analysis agency. It was through this latter company that the Montefiore-owned group acquired Social Wire, an agency specialising in the analysis of content and comments on social networks.

Virginie Barbieri, co-founder of Semantiweb, explains: “We work closely with EDG’s M&A department, particularly in identifying potential targets to strengthen or diversify our expertise. EDG also benefits from a flow of opportunities, particularly from investment bankers. This is the case with Social Wire, which has also received several bids. To manage a competitive sales process, the target called in Astero Partners, an investment bank founded in 2016 by Alexis Nohen, former General Secretary Europe and Africa at Lagardère Sports.

This integration into the EDG group consolidates the decryption capabilities of the Meta, YouTube and TikTok platforms, with a major addition focused on video analysis. With a team of over 10 different nationalities based in Paris, Social Wire has been working with clients such as LVMH, Givaudan, Sanofi, Nestlé and Nespresso for 7 years.

Read the official press release on the Kardham Group website here.

The Kardham Group, an independent and integrated French leader in the professional property sector, announces that GENEO Capital Entrepreneur and Bpifrance have strengthened their positions in its capital. These partners have been working alongside management since 2020 for GENEO Capital Entrepreneur and 2016 for Bpifrance. Joffe & Associés (Aymeric Dégremont, Romain Soiron & Paddy Pascot) acted as advisor to GENEO Capital Entrepreneur.

This transaction gives the group the human and financial resources it needs to support the acceleration of the major changes underway in the global property industry, namely decarbonisation and digitalisation.

Kardham’s objective is clear: to consolidate its position as an independent market leader, while strengthening its areas of expertise through a targeted external growth strategy. The company also wants to accelerate its international expansion. With more than 600 employees in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and working with more than 50 European countries, the group will have sales of nearly €150 million by 2023.

Kardham anticipates strong growth in the decarbonisation of buildings, a major trend for the coming years, with a focus on optimising workspaces and creating intelligent buildings. They have already completed some landmark developments, such as BPCE’s headquarters in the Duo towers in Austerlitz (Paris 13th) and the Well22 tower in Luxembourg, which focuses on employee well-being and energy efficiency.

To support this growth, Kardham is strengthening its governance under the leadership of Jean-François Couëc, extending the responsibilities of David Habrias and Roman Coste on the management committee, and appointing new managing directors.

STAKEHOLDERS

Investors

GENEO Capital Entrepreneur (François Picarle, Marie Kirch), Bpifrance Investissement (Axel Piriou, Vincent Charles),

Legal advice for managers

Bolze et Associés (Eric Bolze) – Conseil financier Dirigeants : G2 Invest (Guillaume Somekh)

Investor legal advice

Joffe & Associés (Romain Soiron, Aymeric Dégremont, Paddy Pascot) – Due Diligence financière : Advolis (Damien Bourg, Marion Bernadou).