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Founder’s Story - Safety First Scaling a Mobility Company from A to Z
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00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30How do you find investors? What kind of challenges will you meet along the way?
00:35Romain Afloulou, co-founder and CEO of Cosmo Connected, is going to tell us about his journey in this next
00:41story entitled Safety First, Scaling a Mobility Company from A to Z.
00:47Please give him a warm welcome.
01:17Romain Afloulou, co-founder and CEO of Cosmo Connected.
01:26So first I'm going to share a bit of my background.
01:29So I know that we are at VivaTech and I'm going to talk about technology, but I'm not an engineer.
01:35I didn't graduate from high school and I was stuck in finance.
01:40So when I was 19 years old, my dream was to become a DJ.
01:46I didn't have the talent, so I forget about it very, very fast.
01:50Also, I wanted to be an actor, but I was not that good and I end up in a TV
01:56commercial that ruins my career.
01:58So, but fortunately, I came from a family of entrepreneurs.
02:05My father was an optician.
02:07He started 50 years ago next to Bordeaux.
02:10And one day he had some ideas.
02:13He wanted to become, to develop the biggest chain in France.
02:17And so he got the envy.
02:21He also had some people to join in.
02:23And he created a company with 1,500 stores today.
02:28So when I was 20, he told me a good advice.
02:31He said, you should try to come and work in a company.
02:35So it was cool.
02:36I liked it.
02:37And one thing that I did is designing glasses.
02:41And I wanted to create my company.
02:43So at 23 years old, I launched my company, selling glasses.
02:47And I was going on the street every week with myself.
02:52It was amazing.
02:53But at the end of the day, I didn't manage to succeed.
02:58And I also see that in 2008, that virtual surround technology was going something very big.
03:05And I say, if we use virtual surround technology, we will be able to buy glasses online.
03:11And this is why I said, okay, we should do that at Aflelu because we were doing only TV, commercial,
03:17and radio.
03:19So I went to San Francisco, and I found this amazing company named Ditto.
03:24And at the time, it was scanning your face in 1,200 points.
03:29It was amazing.
03:31And while it's crazy, it's because an hour ago, I was using the Snapchat tool, and I could literally have
03:37some virtual glasses online.
03:39And it was amazing.
03:41And at the time, I met a friend from high school, Scott Burenbaum, who has an early stage VC based
03:48in New York.
03:49And he was explaining to me that he was investing in the early stage in new technology.
03:54And for me, the idea of startups was only reserved to elites, like if you only graduate from high school,
04:01big school, and have the chance to invest.
04:05So I came back to Paris, and I met a lot of entrepreneurs.
04:09I did a lot of accelerator incubators.
04:12And I realized that startup was super cool, was accessible, and I get a lot of passion.
04:18And I decided to become a business angel.
04:21But with one envy, I tried to diversify my investment and tried to be involved in the entrepreneur journey.
04:29So I did want to, like, 20 investments.
04:33Okay, it was amazing.
04:34But then, at Tato family, we should continue to invest because it's a great way to stay connected to the
04:41world.
04:41And also, we could use our skill, we could use our network, and try to help people the best way
04:49we can.
04:49And this is how we built the first family office called Aflelu & Sons.
04:55And the idea was to use my brothers who work in a company.
04:59One is the head of development.
05:01One is the head of product.
05:02One is now the CEO of the group.
05:04And we try to help founders the best way possible.
05:07And we built a team with an amazing woman who now helped all of our founders.
05:13We invest in 140 companies.
05:16And one is here, Hillary.
05:18And in 140 companies, 15 VCs, 50% are in France, 25% are in the U.S., also in
05:29Israel.
05:29And with the envy to make sure that we can help them the best way possible.
05:34So we have also Pauline, who's now trying to help the company to work with corporates.
05:40We have Lorine here, who tries to help the community to use our network.
05:44And Emmanuel to help also on the investment side.
05:48So this is what I've been doing on an investor as a family office.
05:54But I would like to tell you about my startup, Cosmo.
05:58So can I ask you something?
06:00Who came here today by bike or e-scooter to VivaTech?
06:06Not too many?
06:07One, two, three.
06:09Okay.
06:09And who already has an accident before?
06:12You had an accident?
06:14Yeah, many.
06:15Okay.
06:15So in 2016, I saw a press release in an article in the U.S.
06:21A guy got stuck for six days under his motorbike.
06:25Okay.
06:26And then he got alive.
06:27The rescue came.
06:29And I said, how on earth is it possible that with all the existing technology,
06:33we're not able to identify an accident straight away and provide and bring the nearest rescue?
06:40And this is how the idea of Cosmo grew.
06:43Came back to Paris and with my friend, Frédéric Meij,
06:46we said we're going to develop some products to make sure that we will improve riders
06:51visibility and try to save their lives.
06:54So how do we do that?
06:56As you can see on my side, I have a helmet and I have a light.
07:00In this product, we miniaturize a lot of components and especially functionalities
07:06that come from the car industry.
07:08So we have an accelerometer here that can detect when you slow down.
07:14And as soon as you slow down, the light shines and works as a brake light.
07:17So you indicate to people behind you how you drive and let you know that you're slowing down.
07:22We also have technology to make sure that we can have a fault detector.
07:26So as soon as you have an accident in milliseconds, we can identify it and alert three people of your
07:33choice
07:33and know where you are.
07:35And also able to alert the nearest rescue.
07:39So you can say that it's a great idea, right?
07:42It's simple.
07:43But how to make from a simple idea something where you can scale it very strongly?
07:50So I believe that we're going to be able to scale in six months.
07:54It took me six years.
07:56So a bit less, but today I think we are ready to scale.
08:01Why?
08:02The challenges.
08:03First, we're talking about hardware.
08:05Launching a startup in hardware is very difficult.
08:08First, because it's not the best friend for investors.
08:12Bad valuation, a lot of risk, competition.
08:15You all know the story.
08:17And also, at the time, we needed to make sure that we developed a lot of apps
08:21because it's IoT, it's hardware, but we're connected to an app
08:25and we need to make sure that we were able to follow all the latest iPhone and Android phone.
08:33But more important, we say that this has an amazing promise.
08:37So we managed to raise a bit of money to launch the first production.
08:42We went to CES.
08:43We have three CES Innovation Awards.
08:47And from there, I said, okay, we need to make sure that we're going to put a lot of money,
08:52a lot of our time.
08:54And in 2020, the micromobility space was booming.
08:59You all see this share micromobility, e-scooter, e-bike coming.
09:03And at one moment, as a major shareholder and CEO of the company,
09:08I was wondering if I was the right person.
09:11And I found an amazing woman who was in charge of growing Bolt e-scooter in Europe.
09:18And I said, I took the decision that maybe she was better than me.
09:22And I stepped down as CEO.
09:24I led her CEO.
09:26She did an amazing job.
09:28I came back as a CEO of a family officer.
09:322021 and 2022, as you know, two years where I said valuation was very high.
09:39There was a lot of money in tech.
09:41Everybody was investing.
09:42And at one point, I said, okay, but why I'm not taking care?
09:47Why I'm not taking my responsibility and going back as CEO of Cosmo?
09:52Voila, it's my baby.
09:53I think it's my life project.
09:55And I get back as CEO.
09:58And 2022, 2023 is not the same.
10:01The market has changed.
10:03The market of the bike industry has changed.
10:06In 2021, everybody was going out from COVID.
10:09Buying bikes and doing outdoors activity.
10:14Today is a bit different.
10:16There's a lot of stock, inflation, a lot of competitors.
10:20And also, as you can see, the micro-mobility space is not that interesting for investors.
10:26The shared micro-mobility, the shared scooters, you saw the valuation kick down from Lime, Bird, etc.
10:35So, today, our goal is to say how we can make sure that we will provide something new.
10:40That we will save people's lives and make sure that we will get the interest from our customers.
10:45So, our idea today is to focus on consumer.
10:51People like to drive all year long, their bike and their scooter, in urban cities and everywhere.
10:58But, what, three years ago, they used to buy a helmet for safety.
11:03Today, they would like to have a helmet to look nice.
11:06They look cool.
11:06And this is how we invest in the style and the design of our latest helmets.
11:11So, the Cosmo Fusion.
11:13And we add another technology.
11:15We are able to also add turn signals.
11:21So, basically, we have a little remote that you can put on a helmet bar.
11:24And, like this, you can keep your hands and make sure that people know how you drive.
11:30And, for me, the idea is, okay, we have to make a very beautiful product, beautiful helmet,
11:36and make sure that it's not too tech.
11:38It looks like any lights, and that's the goal.
11:42So, for us, it was to make sure that to grow this kind of product in style.
11:49And, now, we are scaling up.
11:51We have more than 500 shops distribution.
11:55But, more important, product is one thing.
11:58We really want to make sure, also, that as Cosmo and me as a CEO,
12:02I make sure that people, that we will reduce the numbers of accidents.
12:07I'm not sure if everybody is using a helmet when they drive.
12:11But, I want to make sure that it will become mandatory in France.
12:15Why I'm saying that?
12:16If you want to reduce the numbers of accidents and casualties, wear a helmet.
12:22Wear a helmet is good.
12:23But, with our technology, you can let people know the way you drive,
12:27and make sure they will reduce the numbers of accidents.
12:30We also want to work with authorities.
12:33So, we want to work with Marys.
12:35I don't believe that taking off the scooters in Paris is the right solution.
12:43We have 2 million rides every month on shared mobility.
12:48What does that mean?
12:49That means that they're not going to disappear the 1st of September.
12:53I think the most important is to make sure that we work with companies like us
12:58and try to improve riders' visibility.
13:01So, this is why we'll try to talk with all the ministers, all the Marys,
13:07and make sure that we can improve their safety.
13:11Also, we want to work with corporates.
13:14Why are we here at VivaTech?
13:15Because we want to encourage each employee to use macromobility,
13:20to use decarbonized mobility,
13:22and to reduce the carbon footprint of the company.
13:26We believe that safety is really the key important thing
13:30to make sure that people can drive.
13:31And, this is why we also think of how we can optimize rider safety.
13:38Having a helmet is good,
13:39but today, you are multimodal in your mobility.
13:43You use a scooter, you can use a bike,
13:45and at any moment, you can have a serious accident,
13:48for you or for people in front of you.
13:51And, we are thinking of integrating an offer of insurance
13:55inside this helmet for you and for the people around,
13:59on a subscription model,
14:01because 200 euros is a bit of money.
14:03I'm sure it is.
14:04And, for the HR department,
14:06nobody can necessarily buy 1,000 helmets
14:09for all of the fleets.
14:12On the other hand,
14:13we believe that if you spend 50 euros per month
14:16on a velib, on a dance, on a moto,
14:19any kind of vehicles,
14:21you might be able to use an extra euros
14:24to improve your visibility,
14:26to improve your safety,
14:27and make sure that you get the right cover of insurance
14:30in case you have an accident.
14:33So, this is why we're here at Divatech.
14:36We have a booth next door,
14:38and we really encourage all of you
14:40to come and try our product.
14:45What can I say now?
14:47I'm a bit lost, because it's a lot of...
14:51Yeah, I'm sorry.
15:00Okay.
15:01So, voilà.
15:03On our side,
15:04we also believe that we need to be close to authorities.
15:07We will try to work with insurance.
15:11Our first partner was also the Code Russo.
15:13So, the first time we were selling our product,
15:16the teacher was saying,
15:18this product is a life-saving product.
15:19And it's also important
15:21that now we try to get all the feedback as possible.
15:26And, voilà.
15:27So, this is also the way we want to raise money.
15:30We want to accelerate.
15:33And, we are now also launching,
15:36integrating other kind of technology.
15:38So, basically,
15:39we do technology you have from cars.
15:41The latest technology that you use
15:43is heads-up display.
15:44You know, the technology you have
15:46when you have the speed that goes on your windscreen.
15:48But, we're going to use it now
15:50inside our helmets,
15:51and make sure that you're not looking at your phone.
15:54Because, studies say that
15:56if you're driving with your phone in front of you,
15:58you're crippled the risk of accidents.
16:01So, this is how,
16:02now, today,
16:03we want to accelerate.
16:08And, now,
16:09I think I'm done with Kosovo.
16:11Voilà.
16:12So, the free challenge for me
16:14was how to succeed
16:16and get back as CEO.
16:19It's very challenging.
16:20So, I take my responsibility
16:22for my team,
16:23my shareholders,
16:24my investors.
16:24and, now,
16:28the only,
16:29I would say,
16:30comment and tips
16:31I could say,
16:32well,
16:32that network
16:33was very important for me
16:34to build.
16:35It helped me a lot
16:36to stay connected
16:37with entrepreneurs.
16:39It helped me a lot
16:40to make sure
16:41that our team
16:42can grow some specific partnership
16:44with corporate,
16:45with VCs,
16:46with business angels.
16:48And,
16:48I think everyone
16:50can handle
16:51his own network.
16:52And, voilà.
16:54So, thank you very much
16:56for your time.
16:57It's difficult to speak.
17:00Voilà.
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