Never had Exotec, the French manufacturer of robots for warehouses, experienced such media exposure. Monday, January 17, barely announced its fundraising of 335 million dollars (295 million euros), which allowed it to reach a valuation of 2 billion dollars, and therefore the prestigious status of unicorn – young shoot valued to more than 1 billion dollars – the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, split an online video to salute this step. The executive had bet that France would not acquire its 25e unicorn than in 2025; with Exotec, it reached this milestone three years ahead of schedule.
On Wednesday January 19, it was up to members of the government Cédric O (digital) and Agnès Pannier-Runacher (industry) to move to the Exotec factory, in Croix (Nord), to greet this promising start-up, which fulfills all the objectives set by the executive for the future of French Tech. After having managed to develop successful digital companies (Doctolib, Back Market, ManoMano, among the best known to the general public), the government sees in Exotec the “symbol”, according to Cédric O, young shoots capable of launching into industry and creating jobs in the territories.
With its latest fundraising, the company founded in 2015 intends to hire 500 engineers in addition to the 360 employees it has today, and at least as many in other functions (support, sales, production). It has managed to expand overseas, especially in Japan, where Uniqlo is its largest customer to date. It has also attracted major international investment funds, such as Goldman Sachs Asset Management and 83North. Above all, it is the first industrial unicorn on the French scene, with a turnover of 126 million euros in 2021, and a target of 1.2 billion in 2025.
Difficulty of financing, administrative heaviness
For the government, this success embodies a form of consecration, and the success of the shift taken in March 2019, when it launched the Deep Tech plan. Provided with 2.5 billion euros, it aimed to promote the creation of companies resulting from research, with the prospect, for some of them, of creating industrial tools in the territory. Initial successes were born with companies such as InnovaFeed, specialized in food proteins, or Tissium, expert in the repair of human tissues. Both were also present, Wednesday, at Croix, in order to testify to the complexity of bringing out such projects: difficulty of financing, administrative heaviness to create industrial sites, etc.
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