Category: Deals

Find the original article on Oligofeed’s LinkedIn here.

 

Oligofeed, a young Lyon-based deeptech specializing in the research and development of revolutionary macronutrients for bees, has launched a €600,000 fund-raising campaign to bring its solutions to market. Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Océane Christmann and Clémence Bressolin) advised investor The Yield Lab Europe, and EY Ventury Avocats (Julien Tamagno and Margaux Noujarède) acted on behalf of Oligofeed in this transaction.

 

The decline of bees represents a major challenge to global food security. This disappearance is largely attributed to factors such as disease and the parasite Varroa Destructor, which are contributing to an alarming excess mortality of these essential pollinators. In order to counter the threat of extinction facing bees, Oligofeed intends to develop its revolutionary micronutrient, the fruit of nearly eight years’ research, in more than 5 countries. The product boosts the immune system of pollinating bees, reducing their mortality rate by up to 80%.

 

This round of financing was underwritten by The Yield Lab Europe and the following investors: CCI Capital Croissance, Frédéric Banzet, Jadeplat Limited Liability Company, Frédéric Robert and Etablissements Peugeot Frères.

 

To date, the company has been able to grow thanks to funding from friends and family, and subsidies obtained through competitions, notably by winning the I-Lab 2030 competition organized by Bpifrance. In order to move into the commercialization phase, Oligofeed finalized a first capital increase in April 2024, while keeping a certain amount of discretion regarding the amount sought and the investors mobilized. This capital increase is also intended to broaden the company’s product range.

 

Aneta Ozieranska, co-founder of the deepetch, explains in an official company statement, “With pollinator health declining, it’s crucial that the funding ecosystem supports innovative approaches to solving this problem. I’m delighted to welcome our new partners, who bring valuable expertise to improve our chances of success.”

 

Oligofeed is looking to expand its range of possibilities, with the aim of going to market in mid-2025.

Read the CfNews article here.

 

Adventys, a French manufacturer of induction cooking equipment, signs its acquisition by the Electrolux Professional group, world leader in the cookware market. Joffe & Associés (Christophe Joffe, Océane Christmann & Rémi Rodriguez) advised the sellers on this transaction.

 

Founded in 1999 in Seurre (Côte-d’Or), Adventys is a pioneer in the research, development and marketing of innovative induction equipment for professional kitchens. Seven years after welcoming Arkéa Capital and Ouest Croissance to its capital, the Burgundy manufacturer integrates Electrolux Professional, a subsidiary belonging to Electrolux, listed on Nasdaq in Stockholm since 2020. This acquisition is motivated by Electrolux Professional’s ability to support Adventys on larger-scale projects, and the development of new ranges aimed at strengthening its position in the induction cooking market.

 

Adventys Chairman Jean-Luc Pérot, his family and two financial investors, Arkéa Capital and Ouest Croissance, have sold their entire stake to Electrolux Professional for around €22 million. The Swedish group states that it expects to improve its Ebitda margin thanks to this acquisition.

 

Adventys distributes its products in over 50 countries, achieving sales of close to 7 million euros in 2023, with 40% coming from international markets, mainly in Europe and the USA. The company’s 40 employees join a Swedish group with 4,300 employees in 110 countries, with sales of SEK 2,974 million (around 250 million euros) in 2023.

 

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• Purchaser or Investor : ELECTROLUX PROFESSIONAL AB

 

• Seller : ACTIONNAIRES FAMILIAUX , Jean-Luc Perot , ARKEA CAPITAL , Kévin Chaigneau , OUEST CROISSANCE , Damien JouanneauPurchaser Corporate lawyer : ADVANT ALTANA , Fabien Pouchot , Théodore Sabot , Olivier Carmès

 

• Merchant Banker / M&A Advisor : MAZARS CF , Matthieu Boyé , Geoffrey Bailleul , Paul Faivre

 

• Corporate lawyer : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , Christophe Joffe , Océane Christmann , Rémi Rodriguez

Eres: find out more on CFNews here.

 

Eres has acquired Retraite.com, a retirement specialist offering French savers online information on retirement and savings products, comparisons and simulators of savings solutions, and online retirement assessments.

 

Joffe & Associés (Aymeric Dégremont, Alexia Guyot, Virginie Davion and Clément Peillet) advised the sellers of Retraite.com on this transaction.

 

Eres, the specialist in employee and retirement savings, is strengthening its online presence and rounding out its digital channels, in order to generate more leads and enhance the user experience

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OPERATIONS STAKEHOLDERS

Purchaser: Eres

Seller: Ludovic Herschlikovitz et autres

 

ADVISORS

Purchaser Corporate lawyer: Volt Associes , Hervé Bied-Charreton , Lucas d’Orgeval

Seller Investment banker: PWC Corporate Finance , Antoine Grenier , Adrien d’Alincourt , Quentin Duprez , Raphaël Donadieu

Seller’s Lawyer : Joffe & Associes , Aymeric Dégremont , Alexia Guyot , Virginie Davion , Clément Peillet

Read the original CFNews article here.

 

Objectif CRPE, specializing in preparation for the competitive examination to become a schoolteacher, is spinning off Cartesia Education with the assistance of Capza Transition, which is acquiring control and plans to value the company at between 20 and 30 million euros. Joffe & Associés (Emilie de Vaucresson) advised Cartesia Education, alongside 8 Advisory Avocats and Amala Partners.

 

CAPZA acquires a majority stake in Objectif CRPE, leader in online preparation for the school teacher recruitment exam. Objectif CRPE is recognized for its excellence in preparation for the Concours de Recrutement de Professeur des Écoles (CRPE), offering a comprehensive and flexible online platform, interactive teaching expertise and a CRPE pass rate of 80%, well above the national average of around 35%.

 

Cartesia Education, under the management of Benjamin Charignon and Aimery de Vaujuas, has established itself as a leader in the professional training market. As a result, 400 teachers and examiners deliver live and replay courses, offer practice for the written and oral exams, and mark papers, all via the internet. Founded in 2017 with the specific aim of training people in retraining for the competitive examination, this SME has recently expanded its offering with “Passion Pédagogie “designed to support young teachers in their first jobs, today recording sales in excess of 7 million euros.

 

“As Eugénié Hériard-Dubreuil and Martine Depas, respectively CEO of Objectif CRPE and associate lawyer at Amala Partners, explain, “In addition to strong growth in our core business, the company can fuel its development by positioning itself in other state examinations, accelerating its development in continuing education, and pushing ahead with a dedicated offering for students, once the reform has been ratified.

Read the original CFnews article here.

 

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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

 

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• 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.