Date: April 27, 2021
Country: FR
Periodicity: Daily
OJD: 124580
Journalist: Geneviève VAN LEDE
OPTIMUM-MDIS 6044890600524 All rights reserved to the publisher
The Aix-based specialist in the management of connected fleets has just signed some nice partnerships
Things are going quite well for Optimum Automotive, which has made a name for itself over the past fifteen years on the market for innovative connected solutions, dedicated to the financial and environmental optimization of the car fleets of companies and public authorities.
This Aix-based company even bought the luxury of changing its name at the end of 2018:
“We had been asking ourselves the question for a while, explains Daniel Vassallucci, the managing director, to become Optimum Automotive.
In 2006, when we created the company, our products were essentially geolocation of vehicles and route optimization, and the name Mapping Control suited to what we were doing.”
Fundraising attempt
And to add:
“We have evolved our catalog, especially in everything related to vehicle fleet management, with technical and financial monitoring, cost management, optimization of ownership costs...
We introduced carsharing and carpooling, in fact our platform has been enormously enriched with new services and the name that had served as a base until now was not appropriate for certain situations.”
The SME began raising 14 million euros in November 2019 to accelerate its growth.
“But everything stopped in March 2020, laments the founder.
On the other hand, we were pleasantly surprised to see that, as early as the end of May, everything was not at a standstill in our businesses, even though we had made the most pessimistic forecasts possible, as well as the most optimistic ones.
And finally, we are in the middle of the ford, we did not implement the plan we wanted in terms of raising funds. On the other hand, we are not complaining and we recorded growth compared to 2019, despite three lockdowns.”
The Optimum Automotive team is taking advantage of this break to prepare for the future:
“We worked a lot on marketing and image, we renewed our graphic charters.
And we looked internationally with Bpifrance and Business France in order to set up a distribution network, especially in Africa, to create subsidiaries in Spain and Portugal, to acquire other companies in Germany or to open a few offices in Canada and potentially in Brazil.”
“We have three growth vectors, adds Daniel Vassallucci:
— Historically, the organic vector with our sales teams deployed in France and abroad;
— But also partnerships with increased distribution capacity.”
The company also won Renault's global tender for the provision of its white label platform, in order to manage the fleets of the car manufacturer's customers.
“This partnership actually allows us to accelerate and reach more customers quickly, assures the boss.
Our third vector is that of external growth. We are on three issues: one is finalized — it's Germany — and another is under way in Spain and Italy.”
The last three years have been key for the company, which now has just over 120 employees to €15 million in turnover.
“The only way to exist is to be both innovative and agile.
In the next 4-5 years, hundreds of millions of vehicles will be connected.
We started with a few dozen vehicles in 2006; if we take care of two million, we will do a good job.”
Genevieve Van Lede
#gestion_de_flotte, #géolocalisation, #covoiturage, #IA, #plateforme
