The Olympic Games, a golden springboard for French start-ups – L’Express

On the fronts of shops, refreshment stands or on television, their names are displayed in big letters: Coca-Cola, Visa, Samsung… These official partners of the Olympic Games, giants well known to the general public, intend to take advantage of the moment. They are not the only ones. In the shadows, a host of French start-ups are busy on the international sporting event. Kinomap is piloting the online part of the Marathon for All, organized this Saturday, August 10. And several young shoots in security, transport or housing see in the global event a way to glean a gold medal in their respective markets. Overview.

Wintics wants to democratize algorithmic video surveillance

Thanks to artificial intelligence analysis software, cameras located in public spaces can now alert on specific phenomena: abandoned luggage, fires, crowd movements, etc. Obviously, VSA (for “algorithmic video surveillance”) is of interest to major events such as the Olympic Games, where security measures are at their maximum. Wintics, a start-up in this still-nascent sector, took advantage of this, winning two of the four lots in the call for tenders for the competition. The most critical: the Ile-de-France region, where the bulk of the events take place, and the highly monitored railway sector. “It’s a showcase for us to win a market like this, because there were a lot of candidates and a very selective call for tenders process,” says Quentin Barenne, co-founder of the company. Also at stake is a nest egg of up to two million euros, depending on the services used by security services and law enforcement.

And if all goes well, a larger sum in the coming years. Because this test phase, conducted beyond the Games until March 2025, could lead to a law definitively regulating the practice in France. Until now, the “VSA” was deployed quietly in municipalities that operated in gray areas. The activity would thus generate around 50 million euros of turnover per year in France. But it should grow once legalized. In addition to Wintics, start-ups like Videtics or Chapsvision, which share the other lots of the Olympic Games, are lying in wait. It remains to be convinced. Online rights defense associations like Quadrature du Net are concerned about the intrusive nature of the technology – a gateway according to them to the use of facial and biometric recognition – and are increasing the number of appeals against its deployment. Quentin Barenne assures that these techniques are not used, neither at the Olympic Games nor elsewhere. “Our solution is a good way to promote French AI, ethical and reliable,” he boasts. Feedback from the Olympic Games is expected by next year.

The Kinomap marathon runner… and the others

As with the outdoor opening ceremony, the system is unique in its kind during an Olympic fortnight. On the night of Saturday, August 10, the Marathon for All will bring together 24,024 amateur runners, who will follow the same circuit as the official athletes in slow strides. Faced with the number of disappointed people – more than 650,000 registration requests – the organization wanted to extend the experience online. A start-up has stepped into the breach: the indoor training specialist Kinomap. “Via our application, it will be possible to participate remotely at home on your own equipment, such as a treadmill, a rowing machine or an exercise bike, or by going to a Fitness Park gym where this type of equipment is located. The entire journey was filmed, annotated and even commented with historical explanations on the buildings you pass,” says Philippe Moity, the company’s boss. The latter hopes for a million participants behind the screens. And why not, in the lot, a few new members of his app, which has 2.5 million worldwide? “Hard to say,” he tempers. The training indoor [NDLR : en intérieur] works best in the fall and winter, and not in the summer season. On the other hand, we expect great benefits in terms of notoriety with our partners and sports equipment manufacturers. We gain a prestigious status here by being affiliated with the Olympic Games.” Philippe Moity invested for this. It is the only French start-up in the field of sports under official license. A cost that the entrepreneur keeps to himself.

In addition to Kinomap, “no fewer than 16 other French start-ups are operating behind the scenes,” says Omar El Zayat, director of innovation for Paris 2024. Some offer audio-description solutions, guides to understand the rules of each sport, or even touchscreen tablets so that the visually impaired can follow a football or rugby match live. But silence is imposed on them for the moment. “We are not official partners, nor a licensed product. Therefore, even if we would very much like to communicate, we cannot say more about our participation. The promotion of our company can only take place after the competition,” confirms the founder of a start-up, interviewed by L’Express. Without regrets, however. “It is an event that requires a lot of rigor, which is prepared in a very professional manner, and which requires significant technical maturity. For a very young company, it is a gap of enormous professionalism,” he says.

Urbanloop and its futuristic capsules

Small blue capsules, which can accommodate up to two people, and connect a parking lot and the fan zone of the Olympic velodrome. In Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, where the track cycling events have been taking place since Monday, August 5, spectators can take a unique mode of public transport: the Urbanloop. From a distance, the Urbanloop looks like a kind of tram, a small capsule running on rails. But there are fundamental differences. “The capsules are autonomous: there is no driver, no battery, they operate 100% electrically, and since they are very light, we have the world record for the lowest electricity consumption on transport,” explains Noémie Bercoff, the general manager of Urbanloop, contacted by L’Express.

The list of advantages does not end there: the Urbanloop is “a silent, light, easy to install, and inexpensive transport.” The company’s ambition is great: to convince people that these capsules represent the future of public transport, on local routes, or for the last few kilometers. And thanks to the Olympic Games and the 2 km of tracks installed, it benefits from a boost and undeniable exposure. “We have very positive feedback from a large number of users,” says the director. Since the start of the competition, between five and ten new potential customers have contacted the company, she specifies. Conclusion? “The Olympic Games, for us, are entirely positive.”

Inpulse, AI at the service of restaurants

It is not only the transport, surveillance and sports equipment sectors that are benefiting from the Olympic Games: foodtechthis sector that wants to revolutionize catering with technology, is also experiencing an intense summer. Inpulse, which develops tools to help restaurant chains better manage their stocks and reduce food waste with artificial intelligence, can confirm this. “We predict the attendance of points of sale thanks to a large amount of external data,” explains Brice Konda, CEO and co-founder of Inpulse. The software thus takes into account weather conditions, days of the week, or, particularly interesting at the moment, the proximity of sports competitions.

“There was anxiety among restaurateurs before the Olympics, particularly about the arrival of tourists and stock management: they wanted to avoid stockouts, but also to avoid overfilling their fridges,” says Brice Konda. The latter specifies that Inpulse received many requests from Parisian restaurateurs before the Games. “In particular, for a tool to forecast attendance based on all these external phenomena.” Result? “Customers gained 2 to 5 points of margin and greatly reduced food waste,” the director proudly assures, mentioning a 70% reduction in waste on seafood products for some sushi restaurants.

Host & Fly, the digital concierge service that benefits from the Airbnb boom

What about those expected to be the big winners of these Olympics: Airbnb and the entire short-term rental sector? For Host & Fly, the results are mixed. The company, which specializes in concierge services, manages apartments rented out by their owners. Creating ads, making cleaning appointments, collecting keys from travelers… Host & Fly concierges take care of everything, summarizes Quentin Brackers de Hugo, CEO of the start-up. “We manage 3,000 homes in France, including 1,500 in Paris or the Paris region. Last year, we had 800 in Paris, and 1,200 in the rest of France,” he lists. A significant increase that he attributes to the Olympic Games: “Historically, we had 200 requests from owners per month, who wanted to put their accommodation in Paris. We went to 1,000 per month between October 2023 and April of this year.”

The famous “Olympic Games effect”, boosted by “noisy press articles on the rental prices envisaged”, perfectly astronomical, according to the CEO. However, these forecasts have not quite come true. “It was problematic to rent certain apartments, there were so many offers that the occupancy rates are below forecasts, and the prices too”, he points out. In Paris, the occupancy rate of these apartments is finally 55%, compared to 65% last year. The same goes for prices: “many people were counting on a doubling”. In the end, prices have “only” jumped 40% compared to 2023. Is the result for these Olympic Games mixed for the sector? “There is still around 30% growth in turnover in Paris during the Olympic dates”, observes Quentin Brackers of Hugo, who judges the result in fine balanced and the outlook for the future is good. “A lot of owners have jumped in. We hope they will continue. The Olympics have advertised Paris, this could have a positive impact over the next 24 months, as was the case after the London Olympics.”