eFounders
TypePrivate
IndustryStartup studio
Founded2011 in France and Belgium
Founder
  • Thibaud Elziere
  • Quentin Nickmans
Headquarters
Belgium Edit this on Wikidata
Websiteefounders.com

eFounders is a startup studio that designs, builds, and launches startups.[1] It was founded in France and Belgium[2] in 2011 by Thibaud Elziere and Quentin Nickmans.[3][4][5] All startup ideas originate with the team, who then present to entrepreneurs and invite them to join eFounders in launching the startup.[1] The firms is dedicated to developing B2B SaaS startups. Since their launch, they have e helped build 27 software startups.[6]

History

eFounders was founded in 2011 by Thibaud Elziere, founder of Fotolia,[7] and Quentin Nickmans.[8] In 2015, the startup studio raised 6 million euros.[8][7] A second round of fundraising followed in 2016, with 5 million euros raised from investors.[8][9] eFounders had created 9 startups by the end of 2016, and had plans to launch another 8 with the funding.[8]

In 2018, six of the firm's startups had raised 100 million euros:[10] Spendesk, Aircall, Forest, Front, Slite, and Station;[1][3][4] other startups had joined the Y Combinator program.[11] In April 2018, the startup TextMaster became the firm's' first release when it sold to Technicis.[2][4][12] They later sold Hivy to Managed by Q and Mention to NewsDesk.[13][2] In 2019, theys bought out and replaced existing investors of startup Yousign. This approach was different in that eFounders did not design the company from scratch. Yousign was then treated the same as all its other startups.[14]

In 2019, eFounders' startups had post-money valuation of $541 million and generated a combined $67 million in annual recurring revenue.[15] By July 2020, the firms had launched 25 companies.[16][17] Those startups raised $148 million in 2020 and had a total valuation of $1.5 billion.[1][16] They generated around $10 million in monthly recurring revenue, or double that of 2019.[16]

In 2020, eFounders announced that they would no longer focus solely on Software as a Service (SaaS) startups.[17]

In January 2021, eFounders announced that it was launching a second startup studio that would be headed by Camille Tyan, founder of PayPlug.[18][19] The new studio, Logic Founders, is specifically for fintech companies and will focus on the B2B market;[18] it plans to launch 8 companies from 2021-2023.[18] The process will follow the same model as eFounders by recruiting co-founders and working with the fintech startup for the first 12 to 18 months.[19][20]

Method

The firm identifies a market opportunity and then recruit “co-founders,” a CEO and a CTO, to help promote and develop the project.[13] At this point, the firm owns 100% of the business.[4] The startup works with eFounders to hire 10-15 additional team members and build the first version of the product.[21] The team looks for outside investors and the startup is launched to stand on its own after 18 months.[13][3] eFounders retains a portion of the business.[4]

Initially, eFounders specialized in Software as a Service (SaaS) products,[1] but during 2020, co-founder Elziere shared that the company would expand its projects.[17] The company invests an average of 600,000 euros per project,[2] and has fundraised more than 130 million euros for its startups.[1][3]

Startups

eFounders has launched the following companies:
Startup Description Launched Amount of Funding Raised Notable Investors
Aircall Business phone system[1][22] 2015 $65 million[1] Balderton Capital[8]
Bonjour Commercial management platform[1][22] 2019
Briq Employee engagement platform[1][22] 2018 (Acquired by Swile)[23]
Canyon Document management for legal teams[24] 2020
Collective Product for freelancers[24] 2020
Crew Workflows and management for new hires and job applications[24] 2020
Cycle SaaS for product teams[3] 2019
Equify Equity management platform[3] 2018
Folk Contact management platform[3][22] 2019
Forest Universal back-office for developers[3][22] 2016
Foxintelligence Market intelligence platform[3][22] 2016
Front Collaborative platform for corporate email management[3][22] 2013 $79 million[13] Sequoia[11]
Hivy Office management platform[3][22] 2016 (Acquired by Managed by Q)
Illustrio Customizable image bank[3][22] 2015
Kairn Task-management platform[25][24] 2020
Mailjet Marketing and transactional email platform[3][22] 2010 $10 million[8] Alven Capital, Seventure Partners, Iris Capital[8] (Acquired by Mailgun)
Mention Social media monitoring tool[3][22] 2012 (Acquired by NewsDesk)
Multis B2B crypto-bank[3] 2018
Once Story creation platform for business communication[3] 2019
Slite Note taking application for companies[3][22] 2016 $4.5 million[2] Index Ventures[13]
Spendesk SaaS enterprise expense management[3][22] 2016 $60 million[13] Index Ventures[13]
Station Browser for professional use[3][22] 2017 $3.25 million[26] Accel[13]
Swan Banking-as-a-Service platform[3] 2019 $5.9 million[27] Creandum[27]
TextMaster Online translation service[3][22] 2011 $4.8 million[8] Serena Capital, Alven Capital[8] (Acquired by Technicis)
Upflow Management platform for unpaid invoices[3][22] 2018
Yousign Electronic signature management[3] 2013 $3.3 million[28]
Zenvest Club deal management platform[3] 2018

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Augusto, Hadrien (2020-07-02). "Le " Startup studio " eFounders s'envole au premier semestre". Presse-citron (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dans les coulisses d'eFounders, la fabrique à pépites". Maddyness - Le Magazine sur l’actualité des Startups Françaises (in French). 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 "8 ans après sa création, quel bilan pour eFounders ?". FrenchWeb.fr (in French). 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Chabal, Audrey (2018-07-16). "EFounders : " La Boîte Qui Crée Des Boîtes " Construit Sa Galaxie". Forbes France (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  5. ↑ "eFounders' portfolio exceeds $100 million ARR, with over $1 billion valuation". Tech.eu. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  6. ↑ Kronenberger, Craig (2021-03-24). "Startup Studio Spotlight: eFounders". Medium. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  7. 1 2 Guerrier, Philippe (2015-06-23). "La "startup studio" eFounders lève six millions auprès Oleg Tscheltzoff (Fotolia)". ITespresso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "eFounders lève 5 millions d'euros pour créer 8 nouveaux champions des logiciels BtoB". Maddyness - Le Magazine sur l’actualité des Startups Françaises (in French). 2016-12-06. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  9. ↑ "Startup studio eFounders raises $5.3 million because it can't get enough of SaaS". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  10. ↑ "Les entreprises d'Efounders ont levé 100 millions d'euros depuis janvier". Le Soir Plus (in French). 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  11. 1 2 Boogar, Liam (2018-09-04). "The hottest startups in Paris in 2018". Wired UK. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  12. ↑ Bregeras, Guillaume (2018-05-30). "Efounders franchit les 100 millions d'euros levés en 2018". Les Echos Executives (in French). Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Charlot, C. (2019-10-08). "Où va eFounders, le start-up studio belge devenu "milliardaire"?". Site-Trends-FR. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  14. ↑ "EFounders backs Yousign to build a European e-signature company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  15. ↑ "Meet eFounders' next batch of startups that want to redefine the future of work". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  16. 1 2 3 "Portfolio companies of startup studio eFounders have raised $148M this year". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  17. 1 2 3 Bregeras, Guillaume (2020-07-01). "Start-up studio : EFounders dopé par l'accélération de la digitalisation du travail". Les Echos Executives (in French). Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  18. 1 2 3 "Brusselse start-upfabriek gooit zich op fintech". De Tijd (in Dutch). 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  19. 1 2 "eFounders misera sur les fintechs". L'Echo (in French). 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  20. ↑ "SaaS startup studio eFounders launches a fintech startup studio". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  21. ↑ "eFounders' portfolio exceeds $100 million ARR, with over $1 billion valuation". Tech.eu. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Startup studio eFounders is gaining some serious traction". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  23. ↑ "La start-up belge Briq rachetée par le français Swile". L'Echo (in French). 2020-11-17.
  24. 1 2 3 4 "eFounders unveils its next batch of enterprise SaaS startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  25. ↑ "Kairn is a new task manager focused on speed". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  26. ↑ "France's Station raises $3.25 million for 'workplace browser' that unifies all your web apps". VentureBeat. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  27. 1 2 "Bank-as-a-service startup Swan helps other companies issue cards, accounts and IBANs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  28. ↑ "eFounders and Yousign Join Forces". TechRound. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
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