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EXCLUSIVE // The CEO of this new tricolor unicorn explains to the "Echos" why he is banking on a strategy of hypercroissance and how he will deploy these funds. This lift is the biggest in the history of the French Tech.
With this investment round, Meero becomes the fifth French unicorn. Its founder, alone at the helm, denotes in French technology, as much by his boundless ambition as by the mission he pursues. Having started with a platform for connecting photographers and companies, he wants to increase services tenfold and invest heavily in building a community. By the end of the year, Meero is expected to employ 1,200 people in its five offices. The start-up claims 58,000 registered photographers.
Less than a year after your B series, you sign a record $ 230 million fundraising, why lift up so fast?
The market is huge and going fast limits the risk of competitors competing. What we did in three years would have taken us nine years without raising funds.
So you badume to burn a lot of money?
Yes, because we operate on three different aspects, all of which require a lot of resources. The first is the world of photography services, which we want to totally transform. The second is technological and we continue to develop it. And the third, which is closest to my heart, is community. I want to allow artists to generate income, so that they can devote themselves to their art in a more serene way. I believe in creativity, which is a quality that only a tiny part of the population retains as an adult. My vision for Meero is to create a company that takes artists out of precariousness.
This is an unusual speech in tech companies, which looks like "storytelling" …
No, because we are developing a lot of tools for artists. Projects that do not bring us one euro! For example, we created the Meero Foundation, which funds photojournalism reports. But also a magazine dedicated to photography, and the production of documentaries in which we follow famous photographers.
And investment funds agree to finance this at a loss?
These expenses are justified: for a company to be able to redeem us one day, we must develop and integrate a community, not only be the Uber of the photo. Our value lies in both revenue and our ability to generate engagement from our users. The goal is that when we send an e-mail, for example, everyone reads us and responds.
What is your economic model then?
We take a commission on the missions of the photographers. We also launched myMeero three months ago, a platform dedicated to photographers that allows them to manage their accounting, the relationship with customers with whom they work outside Meero, the production of quotes or invoices. For the moment it is available in beta, so free, but it will probably pay.
What part do you take on the photographers' mission?
I do not communicate it, but I can tell you that the 10,000 photographers who work with us earn on average $ 1,000 a month through 7 to 8 missions. And that increases very quickly: eighteen months ago, they earned $ 200 a month on average.
You started with real estate before opening the food, this fundraising will it allow you to tackle new verticals?
We will develop the e-commerce that we have just opened. Overall, professional photography is a market of 80 billion and nobody is on the world scale. We have not yet reached one billion in revenue but we have the ambition to generate 5 to 10 billion in five or seven years. It takes a lot of investment in tech, but also in the photographers: we have to make sure everybody is good all over the world at the same time.
Is opening up consumer services an option you are considering?
Yes, we are working on the marriage market, a service we will launch at the end of the year. Then we will fully open the BtoC: Meero will be the platform to use for event photos, portraits, family photos … Again, our goal is to provide an income for the photographers, and the BtoC is the best way to insure it locally.
You talk about investments in technology, what will they be?
Today, we are the only ones using artificial intelligence to postproduction photos, and we intend to keep this lead. Our tech team will grow from 90 to 300 by next year. And we are working on research partnerships with universities in France and the United States.
All the postproduction is automated?
On real estate, yes, we are 100% automation. On food, we are at 80% automation, and the rest is made by humans. Be careful, we're not just talking about applying a filter, but transforming the photo pixel by pixel. And despite this, we always operate a human control before sending the photos.
You're recruiting at a breakneck pace, but we know that tech talent is missing everywhere in the world …
It's complicated, it's true, but we're doing. We had huge problems six months ago, probably because we did not have enough people to deal with the subject. But this is no longer the case. On a human resources team of 15 people, 4 work exclusively on tech talent. And it's better.
You have strong ambitions internationally, your head office remains in Paris?
Yes ! I'm pretty chauvinistic, to be honest. I want us to stay a French company.
You had announced, during your last lift, that you would move to New York, this is no longer relevant?
Indeed, I changed my mind. I travel a lot, I am always everywhere, but I love Paris. And my girlfriend is here, it's a good reason to stay!
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