eFounders

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]

eFounders
TypePrivate
IndustryStartup studio
Founded2011 in France and Belgium
Founder
  • Thibaud Elziere
  • Quentin Nickmans
Websiteefounders.com

History

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

In 2018, six of eFounders' startups had raised 100 million euros:[9] Spendesk, Aircall, Forest, Front, Slite, and Station;[1][3][4] other startups had joined the Y Combinator program.[10] In April 2018, the startup TextMaster became eFounders' first release when it sold to Technicis.[2][4][11] eFounders later sold Hivy to Managed by Q and Mention to NewsDesk.[12][2] In 2019, eFounders 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 other eFounders’ startups.[13]

In 2019, eFounders' startups had post-money valuation of $541 million and generated a combined $67 million in annual recurring revenue.[14] By July 2020, eFounders had launched 25 companies.[15][16] Those startups raised $148 million in 2020 and had a total valuation of $1.5 billion.[1][15] They generated around $10 million in monthly recurring revenue, or double that of 2019.[15]

In 2020, eFounders announced that they would no longer focus solely on Software as a Service (SaaS) startups.[16]

Method

Founders Elziere and Nickmans identify a market opportunity and then recruit “co-founders,” a CEO and a CTO, to help promote and grow the project.[12] At this point, eFounders 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.[17] The team looks for outside investors and the startup is launched to stand on its own after 18 months.[12][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.[16] 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:

  • Aircall: business phone system[1][18]
  • Bonjour: commercial management platform[1][18]
  • Briq: employee engagement platform[1][18]
  • Canyon: document management for legal teams[19]
  • Collective: product for freelancers[19]
  • Crew: workflows and management for new hires and job applications[19]
  • Cycle: SaaS for product teams[3]
  • Equify: equity management platform[3]
  • Folk: contact management platform[3][18]
  • Forest: universal back-office for developers[3][18]
  • Foxintelligence: market intelligence platform[3][18]
  • Front: collaborative platform for corporate email management[3][18]
  • Hivy: office management platform[3][18]
  • Illustrio: customizable image bank[3][18]
  • Kairn: task-management platform[20][19]
  • Mailjet: marketing and transactional email platform[3][18]
  • Mention: social media monitoring tool[3][18]
  • Multis: B2B crypto-bank[3]
  • Once: story creation platform for business communication[3]
  • Slite: note taking application for companies[3][18]
  • Spendesk: SaaS enterprise expense management[3][18]
  • Station: browser for professional use[3][18]
  • Swan: Banking-as-a-Service platform[3]
  • TextMaster: online translation service[3][18]
  • Upflow: management platform for unpaid invoices[3][18]
  • Yousign: electronic signature management[3]
  • Zenvest: club deal management platform[3]

References
  1. Augusto, Hadrien (2020-07-02). "Le " Startup studio " eFounders s'envole au premier semestre". Presse-citron (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  2. "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. "8 ans après sa création, quel bilan pour eFounders ?". FrenchWeb.fr (in French). 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  4. 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. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  6. Guerrier, Philippe (2015-06-23). "La "startup studio" eFounders lève six millions auprès Oleg Tscheltzoff (Fotolia)". ITespresso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  7. "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.
  8. "Startup studio eFounders raises $5.3 million because it can't get enough of SaaS". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  9. "Les entreprises d'Efounders ont levé 100 millions d'euros depuis janvier". Le Soir Plus (in French). 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  10. Boogar, Liam (2018-09-04). "The hottest startups in Paris in 2018". Wired UK. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  11. Bregeras, Guillaume (2018-05-30). "Efounders franchit les 100 millions d'euros levés en 2018". Les Echos Executives (in French). Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  12. Charlot, C. (2019-10-08). "Où va eFounders, le start-up studio belge devenu "milliardaire"?". Site-Trends-FR. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  13. "EFounders backs Yousign to build a European e-signature company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  14. "Meet eFounders' next batch of startups that want to redefine the future of work". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  15. "Portfolio companies of startup studio eFounders have raised $148M this year". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  16. 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.
  17. "eFounders' portfolio exceeds $100 million ARR, with over $1 billion valuation". Tech.eu. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  18. "Startup studio eFounders is gaining some serious traction". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  19. "eFounders unveils its next batch of enterprise SaaS startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  20. "Kairn is a new task manager focused on speed". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
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