Industrial Start-Up Auum Raises €7 Million to Eliminate Single-Use Cups in the Workplace
For comparable use, Auum’s patented technology uses 76 times less water than a dishwasher and generates 58 times less CO₂ than a paper cup, while guaranteeing complete disinfection without any chemicals.
The French industrial start-up is experiencing extremely rapid commercial growth among customers of all sizes and across every sector.
Beyond this first machine, Auum is already working on solutions to eliminate single-use products in many other situations.
Auum, an impact-driven industrial start-up, announces a €7 million fundraising round led by Starquest and Founders Future, with continued participation from its historical investor MAIF Impact. Strategic Business Angels, including the founders of Foodles, also participated in the round. The objective is to capitalise on very strong commercial traction by financing a production facility designed to support this growth.
Founded in 2019, Auum — an acronym for “Arrêtons l’Usage Unique Maintenant” (“Let’s Stop Single Use Now”) — has set itself the mission of helping companies eliminate the 5 billion disposable cups still consumed every year in France.
After three years of R&D, Auum launched mass production of the auum-S last August. This cleaning solution is now one of the most environmentally friendly on the market. It cleans, disinfects and dries a glass in 20 seconds using only 10 cl of water and no chemicals. Reusing is now as simple and quick as throwing away.
Beyond the simplicity of this technology, Auum also wanted to offer an accessible solution that is economically equivalent to the disposable model, which has been increasingly challenged since the introduction of France’s Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy (AGEC Law).
The solution has already attracted around one hundred B2B customers, including nearly one third of CAC 40 companies such as Kering, L’Oréal, ENGIE, Saint-Gobain, Boursorama and Air Liquide.
To date, the total value of contracts signed during the company’s first full year of operation exceeds €4 million, representing nearly 500 auum-S machines.
Thanks to this fundraising round, Auum aims to further accelerate the commercial rollout of auum-S, reaching 1,000 signed machines by the end of 2022 before targeting twice that number in 2023.
The start-up does not intend to limit itself to the French market. After an initial expansion into Europe through Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, it plans to continue growing by entering new markets from 2023 onwards.
To support this strong growth, Auum will invest in its industrial capabilities with a new 1,300 m² production centre in the Paris region and significant investment in its assembly line.
This fully integrated, 100% Made in France industrial model is a decisive advantage in ensuring optimised delivery times during a period of rapid growth.
Auum, which employs around fifty people, provides a complete service that includes rental financing, installation, maintenance and even refurbishment of its Origine France Garantie-certified machines at the end of the contract.
“Auum wants to transform our society by making reuse universal through this patented cleaning technology. This fundraising round was necessary to align our vision with our ambitious objectives,” says Clément Houllier, Co-founder and CEO of Auum.
“At Starquest, we believe that reuse will be the winning strategy for reducing excessive consumption of non-recyclable materials and energy. That is why we have chosen to support the Auum team in the next stage of its development. They understood before anyone else that successful reuse in the workplace would depend on hygiene efficiency and simplicity,” says Chloé Cohen-Aknine, Climate VC at Starquest.
“At Founders Future, we are convinced that the new generation of mission-driven entrepreneurs committed to the ecological transition is a source of value creation, employment and social impact. By supporting Auum, we are contributing to ending waste and single-use products in companies, facilitating reuse and helping create a new sustainable French industrial sector,” says Sarah Corne, Impact Partner at Founders Future.
“MAIF Impact, the MAIF Group’s social innovation fund, is committed to supporting projects with a strong environmental impact that address society’s challenges, particularly by enabling changes in everyday practices. This ambition convinced us when we first invested in 2020, and today, given Auum’s impressive development under the leadership of a dynamic founding team, we have chosen to increase our investment,” says Annick Valette, Vice-President of MAIF and President of MAIF Impact.
About Auum:
Founded in 2019, the industrial company Auum — an acronym for “Arrêtons l’Usage Unique Maintenant” (“Let’s Stop Single Use Now”) — has a mission to prevent billions of disposable cups from being thrown away in France every year.
To achieve this, it helps companies replace disposable products with reusable and environmentally friendly solutions.
Aware of the challenges associated with cleaning, Auum developed the patented and connected auum-S technology. With a single action, this solution can clean, disinfect and dry a glass in just a few seconds, using only a small amount of water and no chemicals.
Certified Origine France Garantie, auum-S is available as a rental solution with integrated maintenance and installation services.
Since 2021, Auum has been the cleaning solution chosen by major international companies.
More information: https://www.auum.com/presse
About MAIF Impact:
Having become a mission-driven company in 2020, MAIF conducts its activities in the service of the common good.
This is the purpose of MAIF Impact, an investment fund dedicated to social and societal innovation whose ambition is to invest in companies that contribute to equal opportunities, develop new forms of mutual assistance, support the circular and solidarity economy, or contribute to the development of solidarity finance.
With €40 million under management, MAIF Impact has supported the development of around thirty organisations since its creation.
More information: entreprise.maif.fr/maif-impact
About Starquest:
Founded in 2008 by Arnaud Delattre and Emmanuel Gaudé, Starquest is a French pioneer in private equity.
Since its creation, Starquest has supported around one hundred innovative companies, with 70% of its core portfolio focused on a strategy of protecting the planet from global warming and resource depletion, as well as protecting economic activity from digital threats such as cyberattacks, brand misuse and online hate.
Its ambition is to finance and support companies that have developed disruptive technologies whose mission is clearly to protect society from the negative externalities of progress.
Its preferred sectors include renewable energy — preferably non-intermittent, storable and profitable without subsidies — energy efficiency, food security, protection of physical and digital assets, the circular economy, and process and material traceability.
More information: http://www.starquest-capital.com/
About Founders Future:Founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Marc Menasé, Founders Future is an investment fund operating from seed stage through Series A in France and across Europe.
Designed as a “super-Angel” structure, it combines the benefits of an investment fund with the operational support of a start-up studio to finance the emergence of a new generation of tech entrepreneurs.
Founders Future has invested in companies including Lydia, Yuka, Alma, Waterdrop (Austria), La Fourche, Roof, 900 Care, Ezra (US) and Taster (UK).
Founders Future’s mission is to develop entrepreneurship in order to address the future challenges facing our society in an ambitious and responsible way.
Find out more at www.foundersfuture.com
