French foodtech startup Ma Bonne Etoile has raised €1.8 million namely from One Creation investment cooperative, and the Maif Social and Solidarity Investment fund.
Founded in 2014, Ma Bonne Etoile is a French ‘social enterprise’, a company that creates products to make families’ lives easier, in an environmentally friendly way. Their flagship product, ‘SQUIZ’ are reusable food pouches, and are one of the only of their kind worldwide sourcing over 60% of their product cost from local suppliers.
Since their commercial launch, SQUIZ has prevented the creation of over 50 tons of non-recyclable consumer waste. Ma Bonne Etoile is also one of the first companies to have obtained a B Corp certification in France, as well as being the company with the best French score in the “B Impact Assessment”, the B Corp measurement tool.
“Our goal is to have a net positive impact on society,” said co-founder Elizabeth Soubelet. How do they do this? In addition to offering their waste reduction solutions to as many people as possible, they also educate people about reducing waste and raise awareness of the issue.
Finding the right investor for a project with a social aim adds another level of difficulty, compared with a traditional tech startup. “We systematically invest 2% of our turnover in associative projects,” explained the co-founder Elizabeth Soubelet. With this in mind, the founders were well aware that this is not something all investors would agree too – they’d have to find an impact investor who also values social impact as an output.
The fresh funds will go towards launching new products, including a snack box under the Squiz brand. Soon the startup will launch a second brand, too, ‘Fillgood’, which will be a zero waste benchmark for families, including products like a bento-shaped lunch box made from plant material.
