Supli, one of the first French platforms for catering professionals and their suppliers, has raised €2 million in funding. The round was led by Axeleo, accompanied by Kima Ventures, Marc Ménasé, Christophe Courtin, as well as the founders of Meilleur Agents and Ruche qui dit Oui. The fresh funds will allow Supli to strengthen its position as the benchmark French platform for B2B food distribution.
Founded in 2017, Supli simplifies order management and communication between suppliers and restaurateurs. For the latter (independent, collective catering, snacking and local shops), Supli offers management and purchasing management tools, as well as direct access to a large selection of suppliers covering all their needs, including organic products, circuit-courts and specialists delivering everywhere in France. As for the suppliers, they benefit from a personalized interface to quickly digitize their operations (order processing, customer management) and develop online sales with the promise of receiving their first online orders in 48 hours.
With a 24/7 customer service based in Paris, the company currently supports more than 200 food wholesalers delivering to more than 10,000 restaurants across France. It onboards around ten new suppliers each week who want to accelerate their digitalization and offer a new customer experience, which is particularly key in this tense context. With Antoine Gutierrez (ex-BNP in the US), Glenn Allogho (Polytech, ex IBM) and Romain Rousselet (ex-Groupe Bocuse) at its head, Supli addresses a significant market which is so far not completely digitized. The events of recent months have accelerated this change, giving pride of place to technological solutions capable of supporting this transition while understanding the challenges and complexity of the market.
“Market participants agree that restaurant shopping habits have changed, especially during this time. Buying online is one of them. Food suppliers must take advantage of the current context to reinvent themselves and implement digital solutions to support their customers and simplify their operations. It is in this dynamic that our 2021 strategy fits”, explained Romain Rousselet, co-founder and CEO of Supli.
This financing round will serve to consolidate Supli’s position on the French market, as well as continue to support suppliers and restaurateurs in the face of market instabilities and to co-create with them food purchasing of tomorrow.
Eugenie Martinez, Account Manager at Axeleo Capital concluded: “For the past year, all suppliers have been facing drops in turnover ranging from 50% to 90%. Those who had online sales solutions were able to deal more quickly with topics such as acquiring new online customers and agile cash management. This shows that suppliers must take the step of digitization now, especially with the uncertainty about the date of resumption of catering to the table. We are convinced that Supli – through its technological footprint, its central position in the ecosystem, and the human quality of its teams – will be able to support the transformation of a heckled market in recent months “.
