Marseille Innovation will finance its nuggets with its own fund
Posted Apr 5, 2022, 7:30 AM
The largest Marseille start-up support structure, Marseille Innovation, is launching its own investment fund this week to finance the companies it hosts. It will make it possible to deliver innovation honorary loans of 30,000 euros to holders of technological innovation projects at zero interest, guaranteed by Bpifrance. Twelve projects will be selected each year on the occasion of two calls for applications, the first of which is launched on Tuesday.
“This new tool is the missing link in the value chain of our support strategy to enable start-ups to quickly and without dilution obtain the cash essential to their start-up”, explains Laurence Olivier, Managing Director of Marseille Innovation.
At least ten years
This innovation fund has an envelope of 700,000 euros, contractually renewed every two years by CIC Lyonnaise de Banque and Banque Populaire Méditerranée for at least ten years. Several historic Marseille Innovation start-ups also participate: the Jump Venture fund created by Christophe Baralotto and Michel Féraud, co-founders of Provepharm Life Solutions, the IForce endowment fund of entrepreneur, investor and patron Denis Liotta, president of Marseille Innovation , as well as the co-founders of Enovacom, Renaud Luparia, Cyril Garde and Laurent Frigara, acquired in 2018 by Orange Business Services.
“It’s a fair return to the supervision of Marseille Innovation’s expertise which has been essential to our growth”, they explain. Thanks to its support model based on the provision of local advice for 25 years, Marseille Innovation has enabled nearly 900 start-ups to take off on one of its four campuses, of which nearly 90% are still in operation.
In addition to Provepharm and Enovacom, its honor roll includes successes such as Traxens which raised 23 million euros in February for its container tracking sensors, Mailinblack which has 14 million raised to internationalize its automatic spam control system, or Verified Reviews which has used 32 million to become a global standard for consumer feedback tracking. The association relies on a private board of directors, made up of a college of industrialists, financiers and alumni, which selects the eligible files.
initiative
Marseille innovation
Creation date : 1997
Executive Director : Laurence Olivier
Effective : 13 people
Sector: funding