Jean-Christophe Agobert, owner of Bleu Jour, from Toulouse, is setting out to conquer the world with his multicolored Kubb mini-computers.
Par André Trentin
Miniatures. Jean-Christophe Agobert, CEO of Bleu Jour, presents his Kubb mini-PCs.
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Fto manufacture computers in France? Faced with the Asian surge, it is a priori mission impossible. Well almost. Because Jean-Christophe Agobert, 55, living in Toulouse for thirty years, took up the challenge. ” I know, he said, smirking, you have to be a bit crazy for that. » His company Bleu Jour offers the Kubb, a PC that comes in the form of a small cube of all colors. Of course, Bleu Jour does not compete with the giants Lenovo, HP or Dell, which produce millions. Specializing in mini-PCs, the company sees its orders numbering in the tens of thousands of units only. But the bet remains no less audacious.
“I started with a blank sheet and I totally thought about miniaturization”, explains the CEO. As a kid, this early geek had fun coding on the computers given to him by his father, a banker. “I remember the first one. I was 10 years old, it was a ZX80 from Sinclair, a British brand,” he says After skipping the baccalaureate, Jean-Christophe Agobert lived by designing software for small game publishers. “I was the acrobat of the family”, he laughs. In 2002, he set up on his own and created Bleu Jour with friends. The adventure is cut short. “We haven’t lost anything. he assures. But we haven’t won anything either. »
Dressed in leather. In 2014, Agobert, who had a lot of ideas, found new partners, negotiated loans from the BPI and the Occitanie region and launched his famous Kubb, which played heavily on design. When it is not in color, its small iconic cube (12 centimeters by 12) can be dressed in leather or wood. It is in fact the central unit, in other words the brain of the computer, on which accessories are connected (screen, USB key, hard drive, etc.) that Bleu Jour offers, even if, apart from a keyboard, it does not produce them. Minicomputers are a little more expensive (20 to 30%) than classic ones. But they have a small footprint, consume between three and four times less electricity and are perfectly silent. performance issues, “they compare to a laptop computer”.
Alongside the Kubb, the manufacturer has developed a whole range with Octo, another best-seller, but also Move, Ridg, Wave, Meta… Products that are not 100% made in France: all the components, in particular the Intel processor, come from overseas. Around Toulouse, only the chassis and shells are made and the motherboard is produced, using the services of an Esat, a subsidized center which employs people with disabilities, in Colomiers. A way to reduce labor costs.
Fundraising. To accelerate its growth, the Toulouse company signed in March, “for a good million euros”, the acquisition of the equipment part of Schneider, manufacturer of computers for SMEs, and of MGG Millenium, known for its gaming devices. With these new brands, Bleu Jour plans to sell through its network of resellers some 50,000 computers, 70% of which abroad (Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, etc.). With its ten employees and its 30 million euros in turnover expected this year, the company remains a small player in the niche market of mini-computers (5 to 6% of the total market). The leader, Intel, sold 164,800 devices in 2021 for a turnover of 256 million euros. Not enough to discourage Jean-Christophe Agobert. He believes in his star. To move up a gear, he is looking to raise 15 million euros. Bravado, he announces a turnover of 100 million euros soon. Without specifying the year… §
21,3 %
This is the market share reached in 2021 by the world’s four largest producers of minicomputers, Intel, Apple, HP and Dell, which leaves a lot of room for the others…
Where to find them?
Bleu Jour mini-PCs are distributed by resellers primarily targeting professionals and secondarily private individuals. Online sales represent barely 5% of the total. To expand his clientele, Jean-Christophe Agobert, already present at Fnac, is negotiating with Boulanger to give more visibility to the Kubb and the gaming computer of his other brand, MGG Millenium.
Lydie LECARPENTIER/REA FOR “LE POINT”