Ellipsys, a young Luxembourgish fintech company, just raised 150.000 euros to “accelarate” its development. We met with Theophile Gros, one of the start-up partners, to get to know more about their journey.
Nyuko: How did Ellipsys start?
T.G.: Ellipsys is the idea of Samuel Morin, who founded the company in 2013. His goal was to help companies to optimize their information systems whatever the activity area. Our software allows to easily take strategic decisions by showcasing the relevant information. I joined Samuel a few months later.
N: What makes your software an innovative solution?
T.G.: Ellipsys has two main advantages: it can be used by any company saving data – banks and financial institutions of course – but also by retailers, health structures, etc; and it is much more efficient than any solutions currently used by consulting or IT services companies.
At this time, I realized the entrepreneur’s life can be very demanding but much more rewarding!
N: What convinced you to quit your previous job and become an entrepreneur?
T.G.: My previous job as a Regional Director in an important Sportswear group in France was offering several advantages, but I choose to give a try to spontaneity and jumped into the unknown. I joined Samuel Morin in order to grow the company on an economic and human level in a start-up spirit. At this time, I realized the entrepreneur’s life can be very demanding but much more rewarding!
N: What was your approach to this first fund rising?
T.G.: Once the need was identified, we looked for support, finding it within nyuko and especially Nicolas Valaize, in charge of nyuko funding. We worked together on the content and the form of our pitch-deck and got help check of the intention letter. The next step was to convince the 3 investors; which we did thanks to the team we are forming with Samuel. Besides the technology we offer, the investors bet on our team built around our common values and this is what guarantees a reliable long-term project.
Finally, to definitely convince the investors, we had to present a technical and visionary pitch, attractive and understandable. The fact that we already signed with a big client brought an added value to our project. In total, two presentations for each investor were necessary to sign the deal.
N: One pitch, one finger snap and it’s done?
T.G.: It as not that easy! The work on the pitch-deck included something like twenty different versions before Nicolas Valaize and I were happy with it. Then there was the creation of a term-sheet which frames the juridical terms of the transaction. Several meetings with the stakeholders followed, before a lawyer came in to set up the shareholders agreement, which concludes a win-win agreement between the founders and investors.
We want to give the opportunity to our future team members to work on forefront technologies.
N: What do you think of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Luxembourg?
T.G.: What I enjoy the most is the human side of helping structures such as nyuko. Being able to discuss with a real person about your project is very satisfying for a young leader. It is one of the reasons why I became a mentee in the Business Mentoring program (ndlr: an initiative hosted by nyuko). My mentor, recognized in the IT sector, shares his knowledge on the B2B sector, on strategic decisions and more. This program represents an important step in my career and I’m very pleased with it.
On a general point of view, Luxembourg is active in the entrepreneurial environment and it’s a good point. The fact that it)s a small country is a huge advantage to build a network and have a direct access to influent people.
The fund raising marks an important step for your development. What is coming next?
T.G.: Now our software is a concrete project, so we are in a recruiting phase and look for developers/integrators (see the job offer in french). We want to give the opportunity to our future team members to work on forefront technologies, with extremely rich missions.
On a commercial side, the Luxembourg market is our main target. We are signing an agreement with the BEI and are in negotiation with other big groups.
Leave a Reply