Category: Deals

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To expand its activities across Europe, agro-meteorological data provider Weenat concludes an 8.5 million euro Series C financing round with investors including Germany’s ECBF, the Netherlands’ Pymwymic, and historical investor Idia Capital Investissement. Joffe & Associés (Océane Christmann and Clémence Bressolin) advised the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) and Pymwymic on this transaction.

Founded in 2014, the Nantes-based start-up initially caused a stir with its mini-sensors designed to simplify the monitoring of water content in agricultural soils. Looking to accelerate its ambition, the weather data specialist aims to turn its vision into reality with an €8.5 million funding round.

The deal sees the entry of Germany’s European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), a fund formed following a European Commission call for tender to finance industrial projects in the field of the advanced circular and ecological economy, as well as Holland’s Pymwymic and Liberset, while long-standing investor Idia Capital Investissement renews its financial support. The latter had led the previous round of 4 million euros in 2021, and previously, the start-up had secured 2 million euros in regional funds in 2019.

“We need to enable farmers to make a living from their work,” explains Weenat founder Jérôme Le Roy for Les Echos magazine. “In addition to further product development, the funds raised will mainly be used to meet our ambitions for European expansion, particularly in Eastern Europe, and may also be used to make further small acquisitions. We’re going to have to come out of this crisis on top,” he concludes.

• Target company : WEENAT
• 29/02/2024
• Purchaser or Investor : EUROPEAN CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY FUND (ECBF) , PYMWYMIC , LIBERSET , IDIA CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT , Céline Arsac , Faora Narayanan , Sandrine Vieux-Rochas
• Company Corporate Lawyer  : HARLAY AVOCATS , Thibault Chareton , Salim Bencheikh , Bruno Bernery
• Purchaser Corporate lawyer : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , VEIL JOURDE , Laurent Jobert

Read the full article on the BOYDSense website here.

Medical device company BOYDSense has carried out a €7 million capital increase to support the development of its non-invasive glucose monitoring solutions. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rémi Rodriguez) advised BOYDSense and its historical investors, Jolt Capital and Ambrosia Investments Group, on this transaction.

Alpha MOS’s medical technology (‘medtech’) division closes a seven million euro capital increase, including 1.5 million euros from the conversion of convertible bonds, and 5.5 million euros in additional cash. The capital increase was carried out by a group of investors led by the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund and Bioserenity, with the participation of the European Innovation Council’s EIC Fund. Alpha MOS’s two long-standing shareholders, Jolt Capital and Ambrosia Investments, are also participating in this transaction, through the conversion of convertible bonds they subscribed to in 2023.

With this capital increase, BOYDSense aims to accelerate the development of its non-invasive glucose measurement device for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. The funds raised will enable the company to launch new clinical studies, set up the quality procedures needed to obtain the certifications required – notably ISO 13485 – for future market authorization, pursue miniaturization and recruit key positions, while ensuring financial autonomy until 2025.

In the Boydsense press release, company director Ben Delhey explains that; “These new investors bring BOYDSense both significant financial resources and valuable new skills and expertise. They complement the know-how and immense contribution of the BOYDSense team, whom I would like to congratulate on all the milestones we have already achieved”.

 

According to Fortuneo Banque, after this operation, Alpha MOS will remain the majority shareholder with over 60% of BOYDSense’s capital.

Read the original CFnews article here.

Elixir Aircraft, a manufacturer of aircraft for airline pilot training with sales of €2 million, has raised a further €13 million in its second round of financing. The deal was led by Innovacom, Bpifrance and Naco, in collaboration with family offices and industrial players in the sector, valuing the company at just under €50 million. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rudy Diamant) advised Innovacom and BPIFrance on this transaction.

This round of financing is aimed at developing the company’s solutions on the market; the plan includes the construction of a new 15,000 m2 factory adjacent to the runway at La Rochelle airfield, with the aim of producing 400 aircraft by 2030 and increasing the number of employees from 150 to over 500. The company is currently planning to fill 50 available positions through its recruitment process. The demand is for over 200,000 units to be replaced. This demand stems from the need to train 600,000 pilots by 2036.

After obtaining certification for its aircraft in 2020 with the support of Ouest Croissance and Océan Participations, the start-up called on Linkers at the end of 2022 for this new round of financing. In the space of a year, it managed to raise €13m from around ten investors, including Innovacom and Bpifrance, as well as Naco, its historic investor, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional fund, family offices and industry professionals. This new funding comes on top of a €13m subsidy obtained at the 2023 Paris Air Show, as well as €5m in research programmes and industrial financing. Combined with bank debt, the total financing package amounts to €40m.

The company aims to play a major role in the French and European markets, developing certified and innovative aircraft, while consolidating its position through further fund-raising, strategic partnerships and a significant expansion of its production capacity over the coming years.

• Acquéreur(s) ou Investisseur(s)INNOVACOM , Jérôme Faul , BPIFRANCE INVESTISSEMENT , Raphael Didier , NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE CO-INVESTISSEMENT (NACO) , FAMILY OFFICES , INVESTISSEUR(S) PRIVÉ(S)
• Société Banquier d’Affaires / Conseil M&A : LINKERS , Philippe Laurent , Florent Coudray
• Société Avocat d’Affaires Corporate : FIDAL , Jacques Darbois , Anaïs Abchar
• Acq. DD Financière : CROWE HAF , Julien Latrubesse , Alexis Duchêne , Léonard Bourgeais

Read more about the deal on CFNews here.

Composable, the developer of a platform that facilitates the integration of LLMs into the work processes of major accounts, has completed a $4 million seed round with Elaia Partners and Illuminate Financial of the UK, co-lead investors followed by the family office Motier Ventures (Lafayette), Kima Ventures, the business angel network m-ai club, Super Capital and other business angels. Joffe & Associés (Virginie Belle and Antoine Lamy) is advising Composable on this transaction.

With the arrival of new and increasingly advanced language models (LLMs) (OpenAI and their CHATGPT4 solution to name but one), companies’ interest in this type of solution continues to grow. Eric Barroca, former head of Nuxeo and an expert in enterprise content management with almost two decades’ experience, decided to make his contribution by creating Composable six months ago, to meet the expectations of companies in this area. The solution is dedicated to the management of vast artificial intelligence language models.

“Generative AI changes everything because the machine can read the content of all documents. It completely changes the way we imagine processes around documents and how to use them. They become sources of data almost in real time. I’ve played with quite a few models to understand how they work”, explains Eric Barroca, co-founder of Composable, to Maddyness magazine.

 

To propel this initiative forward, the French entrepreneur recently completed an initial round of funding of $4 million, led by Elaia Partners and Illuminate Financial. Kima Ventures, Super Capital, M.AI, Motier Ventures and other business angels also participated in the round.

With this initial funding, Composable aims to become a trusted player, acting as an intermediary between suppliers of vast generative AI language models and companies looking for solutions to optimise their operations.

• Acquéreur(s) ou Investisseur(s) : ELAIA PARTNERS , ILLUMINATE FINANCIAL , MOTIER VENTURES , KIMA VENTURES , M-AI CLUB (M.AI CLUB) , SUPER CAPITAL , BUSINESS ANGEL(S)
• Société Avocat d’Affaires Corporate : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , Virginie Belle , Antoine Lamy
• Acquéreur Avocat Corporate : JONES DAY

The merger between Hello Syndic and Flatlooker represents a major turning point in the property services sector. These two pioneers, specialising respectively in “new generation” co-ownership management and digital rental management, are combining their skills to create Manda. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel and Antoine Lamy) acted as advisors to Flatlooker and its historic partners (in particular its founder, Nicolas Goyet, and the funds managed by Partech Partners (Paris Saclay) and Bpifrance Investissement (F3A)) in this transaction.

Manda will be able to draw on the €43 million provided by Naxicap Partners for this investment. As recently as May 2023, this fund took part in the €21 million funding round of start-up Hello Syndic. With the bold ambition of serving more than one million people in France by 2029, Manda is reinventing traditional property services, and is now positioned among the top fifteen players in the sector, serving 40,000 customers, including co-owners, landlords and tenants. Backed financially by Naxicap Partners, Manda aims to offer a credible and innovative alternative to conventional methods, thereby redefining the property services landscape.

To further strengthen its position as a leading group in the property market, Manda has developed an external growth strategy. In February, the company already acquired two co-ownership trustees in the Île-de-France region, and three further acquisitions are planned for the first half of 2024. In addition to the Paris region, Manda is targeting the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Clermont-Ferrand. With this approach, the group aims to reach one million French people within five years. During this period, the company’s workforce is expected to grow from 200 to 1,300.

“Real estate players are facing a bottleneck and are finding it difficult to deal with all their customers’ requests in a timely manner. Manda is transforming this business by adopting a speciality-based approach and processing all incoming requests with the support of artificial intelligence”, the group explained to Maddyness magazine.

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.