e.ventures’ first steps in France, proudly supporting Jow
If you are French, you probably never heard of e.ventures before. Fair enough. Why would you know about those 4 German guys who moved to the US two decades ago to enter the — back then, not so “hot” — world of Venture Capital? In fact, it got pretty freezing cold in the early 2000s… And yet, here we are, 20 years later, with an established presence in 4 regions across the globe with offices in San Francisco, Berlin, São Paulo, Tokyo and Beijing, having backed more than 130 companies at early and growth stages (amongst which 36 exited, the most recent ones incl. Shipt, Sonos, and Farfetch), and built a fantastic team of investors worldwide. We have even been developing our own startup discovery engine over the last 10 years. 🤖
When it comes to Europe, we have been lucky to endorse fantastic founders across the UK, Sweden, Spain and Germany. France had been a white spot until now... But fear no more, it no longer is! 🇫🇷
We are incredibly proud and excited to be supporting Jow in redefining how people do their grocery shopping.
We led Jow’s 1.5M€ Seed round alongside renown investors — Aglae Ventures, Kima Ventures— and Business Angels — Tom Stafford (MD at DST Global), and 3 other stellar individuals.
We could not think of a better way to enter this vibrant and promising scene that is France.
WHAT IS JOW?
Jow is a mobile app that is radically revisiting the way people experience their grocery shopping, in partnership with the biggest retailers.
Within 1 minute:
(1) Jow creates your weekly menu with simple daily recipes that fit your tastes and profile;
(2) It automatically fills in your cart with the right ingredients (in the right quantities!) according to the recipes you picked;
(3) It lets you add others items from your favourite brands (e.g. that thick kitchen roll with the dancing elephants that you love so much);
(4) Payment is integrated in the app, and so is your supermarket’s loyalty card if you have one;
(5) Your order gets delivered to your door from your preferred retailer (today, Monoprix only);
(6) In-app videos give you detailed guidance on how to cook your feast.
Jow offers a consolidated integrated approach that is both inspiration and engagement driven. They position themselves as a content creator (which Amazon hasn’t cracked yet) by developing a proprietary catalog of light-proof recipes adapted to one’s daily life, that their proprietary technology then translates into shoppable content. Their disruptive service relies on a rapid and straightforward ordering process, for which Jow does not operate logistics as they rely on the retailers’ delivery services. Et voilà!
IF YOU WERE STILL WONDERING, THESE ARE THE KEY REASONS WHY WE INVESTED IN JOW:
1 — A PRODUCT-DRIVEN TEAM, LIKE WE HAVE RARELY SEEN
What struck us first and foremost was how incredibly smooth, slick and intuitive the app was, while being only a few weeks old and completely bootstrapped. One might think (rightly so) that eGrocery shopping is a very crowded space that many startups tried (and failed) to crack. Yet, within a couple of taps on the Jow app, the magic operates and there you are, wondering whether you would rather have Aubergines à la Parmigiana or Sauté de Veau Printanier for dinner tomorrow.
This amazing product was built by a team of 4 co-founders: Jacques-Edouard, Antoine, Brice, and Franck. The 4 of them perfectly complement each other while they all have a product sensitivity. They also have the advantage of having worked together in their previous professional lives, and you can feel it!
What also amazed us is that they had already managed to secure a non-exclusive launch partnership with one of the biggest French retailers, Monoprix.
2 — THE GUIDING HAND
On top of their sales skills, we were impressed by Jacques-Edouard (CEO)’s strategic vision and his comprehension of the challenges lying ahead of them. It is no secret that Jow operates in a competitive and low margin industry, which on the other hand also offers a massive potential for growing viral and unlocking various revenue channels if approached in the right way (think Ocado for instance).
Currently, Jow’s monetisation model relies on a small cut on the retailer’s side. In the long-run though, untapped revenue channels can be activated. In France, eCommerce only represents 4% of supermarkets’ revenues. Globally, the eGrocery market was of $110bn in 2017 and is expected to reach $260bn in 2022. We trust Jacques-Edouard has the right vision to trigger both virality and profitability.
3— E.VENTURES’ GLOBAL EXPERTISE IN THE FOODTECH SECTOR...
e.ventures typically doesn’t invest at Seed stage; our sweat spot is Series A and beyond, once the startup has found its product-market fit. The story with Jow was slightly different though; for the reasons exposed above but also because of our long-lasting expertise in the FoodTech sector. We have supported very successful and less successful cases in that space as we invested in Shipt (grocery delivery startup that got acquired for $550M by Target last December), Karma, Plated, and Munchery. Plus, our LPs include some of the leading retailers. Lessons were learnt and shared, and reinforced our thesis on eGrocery delivery.
… AND IN MOBILE BUSINESSES.
2018 further reinforced our take on mobile models with initial and follow on investments in Asana Rebel, Blinkist, Natural Cycles, Staffbase, and Karma.
4 — ONE BIG FAMILY
Lastly, Jow happens to be part of The Family, in which we have invested on two occasions. 💖 We are very excited about the future of such distinctive and ambitious players of the French (and European) ecosystem.
FRENCH PRIDE
Our diverse portfolio inspires us with pride and humbleness. Having the privilege to welcome Jow in the e.ventures’ family makes us prouder than a Parisian would ever be ;)
France has a unique pool of tech talent and a favourable political environment which fosters the creation of disruptive global-thinking startups. We look forward to spending more time on the ground and doing more in this effervescent country!
If you want to learn more about our positioning in France, explore deals together, are intrigued by how we help our portfolio companies scale and expand abroad, or discuss your business, please feel free to ping me on marguerite@eventures.vc. I cover France for e.ventures and spend a lot of time eating croissants in the hood, I would love to share one with you :)
PS(1): Jow is available on iOS and Android — go download the app!
PS(2): Yes, the “e” of “e.ventures” stands for “electronic”. Remember, we are the cool kids of the late 90s..! 🔮
