Bordeaux startup, Hello RSE, recently announced a €1.3 million fundraising round from Banque des Territories and Baize. The company, which is experiencing strong growth, has launched its marketplace to help local authorities and schools make their purchases in a more ecological and social way.
hello csr in brief
Founded in 2018 by Olivier Perron, Hello RSE aims to be the first e-commerce platform to help public sector companies make purchases based on CSR principles. Target ? Allow for choice that is not based solely on price or availability. The company is thus positioned unlike most markets. Its action is mainly on over-the-counter orders that do not require complex calls for tenders (therefore less than 40,000 euros).
With over 100,000 digital products (tablets, mobile classrooms, etc.), software and IT services (outsourcing, etc.), referenced and ranked according to their social and environmental impact, the company has two main missions: to facilitate local and responsible shopping for customers and “Development of income and social and ecological commitment” to their associates. Its purpose: to ensure that the time of purchase “At face value and availability has run out!” ,
Above all a CSR mission
To be successful in carrying out this mission, it refers to a great deal of educational solutions, whether we are talking about educational or computer equipment. Thus its algorithm is based more on the ecological or social impact of products and suppliers than on other high-performance criteria. It seeks to make mindful purchases that short circuit, respect for the environment, support diversity and ethics. In doing so, it develops the local economy by highlighting local players. Thus it seeks to help thousands of small French companies to access public procurement. That is why, along with geolocation, the level of CSR is used, which highlights companies, for example, labels. Data such as energy or repairability can also be accessed with a simple click.
Objective: To accelerate development.
If Hello RSE decides to do this fundraising, it is first to support its development, even to accelerate it by recruiting. Thanks to this, Hello RSE wants to encourage public companies to approach their purchases more responsibly and extend its research to all companies, especially those that participate in sustainable procurement. It must be said that over-the-counter purchases represent approximately 40 billion euros per year.
The stakes are high, with the company already staking a claim to be part of the 2022 selection of the NA20 program carried out by French tech Nouvel-Aquitaine. An occasion when you know that La French Tec Bordeaux brings together “Entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and developers of the sector as well as investors, large conglomerates, associations, media, public operators, research institutes, educational establishments and the community” and helps the development of start-ups in Bordeaux and their international influence. The entire ecosystem was labeled in November 2014.
Fundraising Reminders
According to the BPI France definition, “Fundfunding involves investors or institutions likely to invest in a company’s capital with predetermined exit conditions. This method of financing is mainly concerned with innovative companies and start-ups with high growth potential. The objective for the investors is to A substantial capital gain is to be realized when reselling the securities. »
The main purpose of fundraising is to allow recruiting, improving offers or communicating during start-up, the launch and development of a new service or product. The amount usually varies according to the degree of maturity of the company and can reach several million euros.