Hexa (company)

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Hexa
Company typePrivate
Industrystartup studio
Founded2011 in France and Belgium
FounderThibaud Elzière
Quentin Nickmans
Amaury Sepulchre
Websitehexa.com

Hexa, named eFounders until 2022, is a startup studio created in 2011 in Brussels and Paris, by Thibaud Elzière and Quentin Nickmans. The concept of the company, which initially specialized in software as a service (SaaS), is to start startups by partnering with founders and providing them, at project launch, with the idea, seed money and strategic advice.

Hexa's business model is based on identifying and solving specific problems encountered by the studio's founders or startups, from which it launches each new project with an average investment of 800,000 euros. The studio then recruits two co-founders, a CEO and a CTO, and sets up a team dedicated to initial product development.

The studio raises its first funds in 2015 and 2016, of five million euros each. In 2018, eFounders reaches a significant milestone with six of its startups raising a total of 100 million euros and proceeds with the sale of its first company, TextMaster. In 2022, eFounders launches a new studio, 3founders, dedicated to the Web3, and begins its restructuring. It then takes the name Hexa, while the eFounders brand is maintained for the historic SaaS studio. The studios thus become verticals dedicated to their own themes.

By the end of 2022, Hexa manages a portfolio of forty startups with a collective valuation of five billion dollars, having created around 2,800 for jobs and raised 700 million euros. In 2023, the studio announces a further fundraising round of 20 million euros, to support the launch of thirty new startups a year. In the same year, Hexa introduces Hexa Scale, a program designed to support mature startups in their development.

History[edit]

eFounders then Hexa[edit]

Hexa was founded in Brussels and Paris in 2011 under the name eFounders, by French Thibaud Elzière and the Belgian Quentin Nickmans.[1] It is a startup studio: the principle is to launch a startup by providing the founders, recruited directly by the studio, with the idea, initial funding and strategic and operational support.[2] Its activity is therefore similar to that of a business incubator, with the notable difference that the founders are provided with a turnkey project.[2] eFouders raised five million euros on two occasions, in 2015 and 2016.[3] The first time with Oleg Tscheltzoff, co-founder of Fotolia with Thibaud Elzière in 2004, the second time with forty angel investors and European family offices.[3]

The startup studio crossed a symbolic threshold in 2018 with a total sum of 100 million euros raised by six of its startups: Spendesk, Aircall, Forest, Front, Slite and Station.[4] These capital increases were dealt with well-established venture capital firms, such as Index Ventures, Accel Partners or Sequoia Capital.[5] It was also that year, in April, that eFounders sold its first startup, TextMaster, to Technicis.[6] Other startups, such as Front, also joined the Y Combinator program.[7] The following year, eFounders replaced Yousign's existing investors.[8] This was the first time the startup studio had invested in a startup it had not launched itself.[8] The valuation of the twenty-five startups eFounders had launched reached 1.5 billion euros in 2020, up from 1 billion the previous year.[9]

Opening of new verticals and name change[edit]

In 2022, eFounders ratified its reorganization into several studios, renamed “verticals”, and changed its name to Hexa, in reference to the hexadecimal system, which is understandable by both humans and machines.[10] Thibaud Elzière and Quentin Nickmans were joined by Amaury Sepulchre, who became co-founder of Hexa.[11] The eFounders brand was retained for one of its components, the historic vertical dedicated to softwares as a service, while a second vertical, named 3founders and dedicated to Web3, was created.[10]

By then, the startup studio had launched some forty startups and had a portfolio valued at five billion dollars, with around 2,800 jobs created and 700 million euros raised.[2] Hexa's aim is to launch several verticals capable of scaling several startups a year, where eFounders alone could only scale one or two per quarter.[10] Hexa raised a further 20 million euros in 2023, to launch thirty new startups a year by the end of the decade.[12] Like the first in 2011, it was done with entrepreneurs and family offices.[12] On this occasion, Hexa also announced the opening of its Parisian office, named la Cristallerie.[12]

Hexa Scale, an initiative to support mature startups financially, strategically and operationally, was launched in 2023.[13] Its function is similar to that of growth capital or private equity funds, but on a smaller scale.[13] Hexa takes a minority or majority stake, and intervenes directly in the startup's day-to-day operations.[14] The aim is then to trigger a new phase of growth, with support over twelve to eighteen months, during which the startup's founders can sell part of their shares and a new CEO be appointed.[14]

The following year, after Hexa AI, a vertical focused on artificial intelligence, Hexa launches Hexa Health, a vertical dedicated to improving the healthcare system.[15] Julien Méraud, a former Doctolib board member, joins the studio to create it.[16] The organization of this vertical differs from the previous ones: a physician is recruited to become its full-time medical director, while each startup is launched equally by an experienced doctor and a future CEO.[16]

Method[edit]

Hexa is a startup studio, a company that creates startups by relying on founders recruited at the launch of a project, to whom the studio provides funds and advice.[2] Hexa's business model is based on the creation of startups aimed at solving the problems encountered by previous ones.[4] Thus, the studio was created by launching several companies working on problems encountered by Thibaud Elzière himself, while he was running Fotolia.[4] Once an idea emerges, Hexa submits the project to entrepreneurs with whom it partners.[9] Four or five startups are launched each year.[1]

On average, up to 800,000 euros are invested in each project.[17] This investment is particularly used to recruit two founders, a CEO and a CTO, and to set up a team of ten to fifteen employees to build the first version of the product, generally a software as a service.[18] After around eighteen months, the startup is officially launched and becomes independent, notably to go in search of investors.[9] Hexa then takes a 30% stake in the startup's capital, the majority being retained by the founders.[17]

Hexa records around one exit per year, as was the case with the buyout of Briq by the unicorn Swile or that of Mailjet by its American competitor Mailgun, for sums reaching several tens of millions of euros.[1] The startup studio has a 6% failure rate, with projects such as Bonjour, a platform to boost sales performance, and Station, a web browser for businesses, having ceased.[1] This compares with the average survival rate of a startup, estimated at between 10 and 20%.[1]

Startups launched[edit]

Hexa has launched forty-one startups since 2011, all specializing in softwares as a service.[1] Most of these are affiliated with the historic eFounders vertical, as is the case, for example, with Folk, a contact management application,[19] or Tengo, which aims to democratize access to invitations to tender from government procurements.[20] The first startups in the other verticals were recently launched, like Numeral, which facilitates the automation of bank transfers and direct debits for companies[21] or Cohort, focused on user account management, linked to Web3.[22]

Hexa startups have raised a total of 700 million euros, mostly from venture capital funds such as Index Ventures[5] or Sequoia Capital,[7] and from angel investors, individual investors betting on fledgling projects. Since 2018 and the first acquisition of a startup from the studio, Textmaster, by Technicis,[6] six of them have been acquired by competitors, such as Mailjet, taken over in 2019 by the American Mailgun.[23] Canyon and Okko also became the first two startups to be acquired by another company that had itself grown out of the studio, the former in 2022 by Yousign[24] and the latter in 2024 by Spendesk.[25]

The studio is behind the creation of three unicorns, startups valued at over a billion dollars:[1] Front, which enables centralized management of incoming flows such as emails or private messages, became a unicorn in 2022;[26] Spendesk, in the same year, specialized in managing means of payment for businesses;[27] Aircall, a telephony solution company, has been a unicorn since 2021.[28] The latter has also become a centaur, a term qualifying startups with annual recurring revenues exceeding one hundred million dollars.[29]

Startup Industry Launched Fundings raised Notable investors Ref.
Aircall Business phone system 2015 $226 million Balderton Capital, Goldman Sachs [28]
Bonjour Commercial management platform 2019 [30]
Briq Employee engagement platform 2018 Swile (acquisition) [31]
Canyon Document management for legal teams 2020 Yousign (acquisition) [24]
Catalog B2B multi-channel sales management 2022 $3.2 million LocalGlobe [32]
Cohort User account management 2021 €3.2 million
Collective Product for freelancers 2020 €7 million Blossom Capital [33]
Crew Workflows and management for new hires and job applications 2020 €2.3 million [34]
Cycle SaaS for product teams 2019 €6 million Boldstart Ventures [35]
Dialog Artificial Intelligence for e-commerce 2022
Dotfile Automated anti-money laundering procedures 2020 €2.5 million Serena Capital [36]
Elba Employee cybersecurity 2020 €2.5 million XAnge, Kima Ventures [37]
Equify Equity management platform 2018
Fleex Teleworking equipment management 2019 [38]
Folk Contact management platform 2019 €3.3 million [19]
Forest Universal back-office for developers 2016 €3 million Kima Ventures, Connect Ventures [39]
Foxintelligence Market intelligence platform 2016 LielsenlQ (acquisition) [40]
Front Collaborative platform for corporate email management 2013 €79 million Sequoia Capital [7]
Hivy Office management platform 2016 Managed by Q (acquisition) [9]
Illustrio Customizable image bank 2015 [41]
Kairn Task-management platform 2020 [34]
Kiosk Marketing on WhatsApp 2022 [20]
Mailjet Marketing and transactional email platform 2010 $10 million Alven Capital, Seventure Partners, Iris Capital
Mailgun (acquisition) 		[23]
Marble Fraud monitoring and compliance 2021
Mention Social media monitoring tool 2012 NewsDesk (acquisition) [9]
Multis B2B crypto-bank 2018 €7 million
Nextstore Website design for e-commerce 2018
Numeral Payment solutions for banks and fintechs 2020 €13 million Balderton Capital [21]
Okko Purchasing management 2022 Spendesk (acquisition) [25]
Once Story creation platform for business communication 2019 [30]
Riverflow Blockchain data processing 2022 [42]
Roundtable Private investment 2021 €3 million [43]
Slite Note taking application for companies 2016 €4.5 million Index Ventures [5]
Spendesk SaaS enterprise expense management 2016 $60 million Index Ventures [5]
Station Browser for professional use 2017 $3.25 million Accel Partners [44]
Swan Banking-as-a-Service platform 2019 $5.9 million Creandum [45]
Tengo Access to public procurement tenders 2023 [20]
TextMaster Online translation service 2011 $4.8 million Serena Capital, Alven Capital
Technicis (acquisition) 		[6]
Upflow Management platform for unpaid invoices 2018 €17.7 million 9yards Capital [46][47]
Yousign Electronic signature management 2013 $36.6 million Lead Edge Capital, Hexa [48]
Zenvest Club deal management platform 2018 [30]

Références[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Perreau, Charlie (20 July 2022). "3 licornes, 7 sorties, 2 échecs : le bilan d'eFounders en chiffres". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Lovens, Pierre-François (13 June 2023). "Hexa est à la recherche d'entrepreneurs pour créer de nouveaux start-up studios". La Libre Belgique (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b Rauline, Nicolas (7 December 2016). "Le start-up studio eFounders lève 5 millions d'euros". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Bregeras, Guillaume (31 May 2018). "EFounders franchit les 100 millions d'euros levés en 2018". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Charlot, Christophe (8 October 2019). "Où va eFounders, le start-up studio belge devenu "milliardaire"?". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Bregeras, Guillaume (6 April 2018). "TextMaster, le traducteur digital racheté par Technicis". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Boogar, Liam (4 September 2018). "The hottest startups in Paris in 2018". Wired. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  8. ^ a b Dillet, Romain (23 May 2019). "eFounders backs Yousign to build a European e-signature company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e Bregeras, Guillaume (1 July 2020). "Start-up studio : EFounders dopé par l'accélération de la digitalisation du travail". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Perreau, Charlie (30 November 2022). "Avec Hexa, Thibaud Elzière industrialise sa machine à créer des start-up". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  11. ^ Rolland, Sylvain (30 November 2022). "Les fondateurs d'eFounders créent Hexa pour déployer de nouveaux startup studios en France". La Tribune (in French). Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Poitiers, Mélicia (28 November 2023). "Le start-up studio parisien Hexa lève 20 millions d'euros pour lancer 30 pépites par an d'ici 2030". L'Usine digitale (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  13. ^ a b Charlot, Christophe (14 December 2023). "Hexa à la rescousse des start-up qui veulent grandir". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  14. ^ a b Perreau, Charlie (13 December 2023). "Après avoir créé plus de 40 sociétés, Hexa veut relancer des start-up". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  15. ^ Lelièvre, Adrien (5 February 2024). "French Tech : le retour en force des start-up studio". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  16. ^ a b Dillet, Romain (29 January 2024). "Startup studio Hexa hires former Doctolib exec to launch its health vertical". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  17. ^ a b Lovens, Pierre-François (30 November 2022). "Avec Hexa, les fondateurs d'eFounders veulent démultiplier la création de start-up à succès". La Libre Belgique (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  18. ^ Rauline, Nicolas (20 April 2015). "EFounders tente d'imposer le concept en France". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  19. ^ a b Perreau, Charlie (15 September 2021). "Folk, le nouveau bébé de Thibaud Elzière". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  20. ^ a b c Perreau, Charlie (31 October 2023). "Tengo, la start-up qui veut démocratiser les appels d'offres". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  21. ^ a b Dillet, Romain (4 February 2022). "Numeral wants to turn bank accounts into microservices". TechCrunch. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  22. ^ Perreau, Charlie (16 May 2022). "Crypto, fintech, deeptech… les start-up studio spécialisés fleurissent dans la French Tech". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  23. ^ a b Loye, Déborah (22 October 2019). "La pépite française Mailjet rachetée par son concurrent américain". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  24. ^ a b Seramour, Célia (20 January 2022). "Avec le rachat de Canyon, Yousign cible les PME européennes". Le Monde informatique (in French). Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  25. ^ a b Perreau, Charlie (9 April 2024). "French Tech : Spendesk réalise sa première acquisition". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  26. ^ Seramour, Célia (4 July 2022). "La start-up Front devient une licorne après sa levée de 65M$". Le Monde informatique (in French). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  27. ^ Manens, François (18 January 2022). "Spendesk lève 100 millions d'euros et devient la 7ème licorne fintech française". La Tribune (in French). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  28. ^ a b Bregeras, Guillaume (23 June 2021). "Aircall, l'aventure américaine de la nouvelle licorne made in FrenchTech". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  29. ^ Delannois, Camille (3 August 2022). "eFounders compte trois licornes et un centaure". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  30. ^ a b c Dillet, Romain (30 May 2018). "Startup studio eFounders is gaining some serious traction". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  31. ^ "La start-up belge Briq rachetée par le français Swile". L'Écho (in French). 17 November 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  32. ^ Charlot, Christophe (5 March 2024). "Trois millions pour Catalog, une start-up qui facilite l'e-commerce B2B". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  33. ^ Bys, Christophe (22 December 2021). "Collective.work lève 7 millions pour accélérer une nouvelle organisation du travail". L'Usine nouvelle (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  34. ^ a b Dillet, Romain (30 September 2020). "eFounders unveils its next batch of enterprise SaaS startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  35. ^ "Cycle raises 6 million euros thanks to 60 business angels from Google, Meta & co". L'Écho. February 28, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  36. ^ Dillet, Romain (6 February 2023). "Dotfile is a one-stop identity verification API for compliance purposes". TechCrunch. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  37. ^ Marin, Jérôme (6 June 2023). "Elba lève 2,5 millions d'euros pour sa plateforme de cybersécurité centrée sur les employés". L'Usine digitale (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  38. ^ Bregeras, Guillaume (4 May 2021). "Fleex, l'équipementier des télétravailleurs". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  39. ^ Lovens, Pierre-François (15 January 2018). "A young man from Liège raises 3 million euros with the help of Xavier Niel". La Libre Belgique (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  40. ^ Chardenon, Aude (27 January 2021). "eFounders launches a startup studio, Logic Founders, dedicated to fintech". L'Usine digitale (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  41. ^ Dillet, Romain (8 December 2016). "Startup studio eFounders raises $5.3 million because it can't get enough of SaaS". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  42. ^ Charlot, Christophe (2 November 2023). "The six startups from Hexa to watch". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  43. ^ "Roundtable lève 3 millions pour aider d'autres start-ups à lever des fonds privés". L'Écho (in French). 21 March 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  44. ^ Sawers, Paul (2 May 2018). "France's Station raises $3.25 million for 'workplace browser' that unifies all your web apps". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  45. ^ Dillet, Romain (15 September 2020). "Bank-as-a-service startup Swan helps other companies issue cards, accounts and IBANs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  46. ^ Dillet, Romain (June 14, 2021). "Upflow raises $15 million to manage your outstanding invoices". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  47. ^ Dillet, Romain (September 5, 2019). "Upflow grabs $2.7 million to streamline payment processes". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  48. ^ Dillet, Romain (10 June 2021). "Yousign raises $36.6 million to build a European alternative to DocuSign". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
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