Montpellier BIC is an effective springboard for startups. Four startups assisted by Montpellier BIC –
Adagio,
Axeptio,
Skwad, and
Sonup – are here to prove it. Founded in 2017,
Axeptio recently announced its first round of funding. Totaling 3.5 M€, the operation with investment funds
ISAI,
Evolem, and
Ovni Capital will help the company step up its international deployment.
Headed by Romain Bessuges-Meusy, Axeptio has designed a consent management tool which, in addition to offering a wide range of options to web users and being simple to implement, does not disrupt the user experience and preserves website performance. The company’s solution has already been adopted by 5,000 customers, including PMU, Jardiland, Aigle, Dorcel, Carrefour, and Opinel, and is deployed on over 50,000 sites. The funding will enable the company to assert itself as an international leader in its sector. Axeptio will expand its staff from 42 to 60 employees by 2024 to keep up with its growth.
A player in the AdTech sector, Adagio is on a similar path. Founded in 2016 in Montpellier, Adagio has developed the world’s first
Supply-Side Platform (SSP) powered entirely by algorithms. The advantage is that web content publishers can optimize their revenue by predicting the price and visibility of advertising spots relayed by their site.
The platform is already integrated on more than 20,000 sites in 80 countries, and handled 42 M€ in online advertising volume in 2022. And this is just the beginning, as
Adagio recently launched development work on a solution that will make all its own optimization tools available to other SSPs used by a given website. This new growth vector will help the company further stimulate its business by generating commissions on advertising captured by other SSPs thanks to its optimization tools.
The company plans to increase its workforce from 25 to 50 people by the end of 2023 to support its new projects. Adagio praises the support it has received from Montpellier BIC.
“Montpellier BIC is at the heart of the Montpellier metropolitan area’s innovation ecosystem. We wouldn’t have moved forward so quickly without their help,” says Anh-Tuan Gai, Adagio’s CEO and co-founder, alongside Nicolas Fouché and Frank Durousset.
Founded in March 2020,
Skwad is closely following suit. The young startup provides advertisers such as brands, boutiques, services, and agencies with software that allows them to turn their customers into ambassadors on social networks by compensating people who promote their products and/or services in proportion to their interactions.
“Internet users place far more trust in opinions and user feedback left by private individuals than in videos presented by professional testers,” remarks Pierre-Adrien Giroguy, CEO of Skwad.
Skwad, which now has ten employees, has over 22,000 users of its
Android and
iOS application, and has successfully run more than 250 product and service communication campaigns since 2020. The company is now in the process of finalizing an SaaS application for communication agencies, which will be able to provide its white-label solution to their customers.
Sonup, which specializes in the development of screening and diagnostic solutions for hearing disorders, is also in an upward phase.
Founded in 2019, the company secured a round of funding worth 3 M€ in 2022, notably with the aim of deploying a novel hearing assessment tool in pharmacies and optical stores.
Whenever potential hearing loss is detected, a Sonup hearing consultant contacts the patient, providing free support throughout the treatment process and, if necessary, referring the patient to a partner hearing aid specialist. Opticians and pharmacists earn a commission from the hearing aid specialist for their screening work. This unique business model, combined with its innovative technology, ensures that every player in the value chain is fairly rewarded, while guaranteeing free and easy access to screening for patients. In fact, this is a disruptive solution that offers a self-financing preventive health care service.
A spin-off from the
Montpellier University Hospital (CHU), University of Montpellier
Faculty of Pharmacy, and
University of Montpellier, Sonup developed a speech comprehensibility test embedded in noise, integrated into the screening solution, enabling early detection of hearing impairment. The solution is currently undergoing certification as a medical device, with 2A marking expected by the end of the year.
With its 38 employees,
Sonup is already working with 400 partner hearing aid practitioners, with another 100 on the waiting list.
The company is looking to increase the number of equipped pharmacies and opticians from around 500 to 1,500 by 2025.
Maxime Balcon, CEO and one of the company’s co-founders, is extremely satisfied with the support provided by Montpellier BIC: “The Montpellier BIC incubator helped us organize our project and focus on bringing it up to speed. In addition, its seal of approval is a major benefit when we’re looking for funding.”
Montpellier BIC continues to prove itself as a success booster for startups!
