Toulouse. Image: © SergiyN/Stock.adobe.com
From transport and leisure to learning to code, we look at some of the most interesting start-ups based in Toulouse’s ‘IoT Valley’.
With a population of around 470,000, Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France. It’s a city with plenty of talent — as a significant number of these people are students — and plenty of resources for founders and start-ups that want to get an idea off the ground.
There are numerous accelerators in the city, including Nubbo, which hosts dozens of start-ups working in biotech, environmental technology and telecommunications. Then there’s the Airbus BizLab, which is an accelerator for businesses in the aerospace industry.
While Toulouse boasts a diverse start-up community, the city stands out in particular when it comes to IoT start-ups. Many of the region’s IoT start-ups are concentrated in the IoT Valley, which is a specialised accelerator that supports companies in identifying and solving problems in their business and field.
In this list, we have gathered up some of the most interesting emerging tech companies operating in Toulouse’s IoT Valley.
EyeLights
EyeLights was founded in 2016 in Toulouse. The start-up has developed car and motorcycle accessories that project information about guidance, danger zones and traffic directly into the driver’s field of vision, using augmented reality. It also features audio functions.
Allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road rather than a phone or other navigational device, the EyeLights device can warn them when they are approaching a dangerous bend or are above the speed limit. It can be installed on the windshield of a car or a motorcycle helmet.
Nouvelle vidéo en ligne! @AlexisMASBOU a pu découvrir le EyeLights dans des conditions…extrêmes! Découvrez son impression #EyeLightsOnTrack pic.twitter.com/FLQUoG9OLZ
— EyeLights (@EyelightsFR) July 8, 2019
The founders of this start-up are Romain Duflot and Thomas de Saintignon. According to Crunchbase, the start-up has raised €2.5m in funding from Techstars, angel investors and Paris-based VC Breega.
Connit
Founded in 2012, Connit is a company that describes itself as a pioneer of autonomous IoT solutions. It offers connected solutions to help clients accelerate their transformation as they develop smart buildings and other smart solutions.
Using next-generation long-range networks, such as SigFox and LoRa, it creates solutions that adhere to the economical, technical and security constraints associated with different environments. Connit’s team of 15 employees come together with skills in electronics, embedded computing, web and project management.
Morio
Morio is a solution for tracking fleets of bicycles to prevent theft and to collect data on each bicycle. The start-up was founded by CEO Jean Venet, who has a background in the world of cycling, and CTO Adrien Rambaud, who is a telecommunications engineer specialising in IoT.
[? PORTRAIT D’EQUIPE – Notre super team ?]
Cette semaine marque la fin de notre tour des 5 ninjas de Morio. Les aviez-vous tous vus ? ?
On vous rafraichit la mémoire (de gauche à droite) : Felicia (@felici_art), Jean (@jean_venet), Sophie, Aude, Adrien (@adrien_rambaud)? pic.twitter.com/jqkJUzoknl
— Morio_bike (@Morio_bike) April 26, 2019
With Morio’s web platform, a company, group or individual who owns a fleet of bikes can manage the fleet at a glance. It can be used by bike rental companies, local authorities or businesses that want to encourage their employees to cycle to work.
Donecle
Founded in Toulouse in 2015, Donecle is led by Yann Bruner, Matthieu Claybrough, Josselin Bequet and Alban Deruaz-Pepin. The start-up manufactures drones that can be used in aircraft inspection.
In 4 days we will be at @DubaiAirshow! You want to know how our automated #drone can help optimize your #aircraft inspection process? Contact us to plan a meeting! https://t.co/kE3pEOeLpD#DubaiAirshow #DAS19 #MRO #aircraftinspection #aircraftmaintenance pic.twitter.com/2fYNcnLpIF
— Donecle (@Donecle) November 14, 2019
From image acquisition to providing maintenance insights to optimise the aircraft inspection process, Donecle says it offers an end-to-end solution for inspection and analysis. In 2016, Donecle received €1m in funding from Delta Drone Invest.
Capturs
Capturs is a French start-up co-founded by Ludovic Lesieur (CEO) and Arnaud Loulier (COO). Founded in 2016, Capturs has developed a live-tracking system of reference for sport and outdoor recreation activities, which allows friends and family members to monitor an individual who is out hiking or jogging, for example.
Petit récap : La balise Capturs, qu’est-ce que c’est ? ? pic.twitter.com/EVl5iFgbaK
— Capturs (@capturssystems) October 15, 2019
It uses a standalone GPS tracker that connects to an app, and in the event of an emergency or if a problem arises, the friends and family of the individual are notified immediately.
Ubleam
Ubleam has developed a mobile solution, Fusion, that can be used to track industrial manufacturing products and access information using augmented reality. As explained by the company, the Fusion solution consists of a mobile application to access information in the field, interactive codes (which are called bleams) that are affixed to objects, and a web platform to configure the data on each of these items.
La réalité augmentée au service de la maintenance industrielle avec @ubleam #smartindustries #augmentedreality #GIParis2018 #maintenance #demo pic.twitter.com/QTdYURGNvv
— Ubleam (@ubleam) March 28, 2018
Ubleam’s product has a number of use cases, such as in industry and maintenance, the management of a fleet of equipment and production monitoring. The technology can be used to train new staff on a particular job and share information between teams.
Since the start-up was founded in 2011, Ubleam has raised €1.8m, according to Crunchbase. The company was founded by Olivier Mezzarobba and Samuel Boury.
Thingz
Founded by Cyril Loucif-Durouge, Thingz is a start-up that has developed electronic bricks and a learning platform that helps kids understand technology, learn to code and write programs.
Thingz has a range of kits with different themes or specific uses, like music or home automation, for instance. As well as offering solutions for kids, the start-up has adapted its technology to help teenagers and adults in their workplaces get a better handle on programming.
Cenareo
Founded in France in 2012, Cenareo develops intuitive and collaborative solutions for managing digital signage. The company enables users to create, schedule and disseminate messages on all of their screens, regardless of how big or small they are.
Last month, we were at the new #samsung showroom in Paris to release our partnership. ?Our common goal ? Accelerate the adoption of retail screens across Europe.#partnership #digitalsignage pic.twitter.com/yaBpcy2SAR
— Cenareo (@Cenareo) November 11, 2019
To date, the company has raised €2.6m in funding, with CapHorn Invest leading its Series A round in 2018. The company was co-founded by James Packer, Josselyn Hermitte, Antoine Lubineau and David Keribin.
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