Felix Capital et al. in €8m series-B round for La Ruche Qui Dit Oui

According to Felix Capital, the firm co-led the series-B round alongside New York-based USV, for whom La Ruche Qui Dit Oui represents the second investment in the European market and the first in a French company. Both firms contributed equally to the capital increase.

Information on the stake to be held by each of the four firms remains confidential, but market sources place their combined shareholding at less than 50%.

Felix Capital has yet to disclose its contribution for the round. The firm's maiden fund, however, which was used to finance the transaction, typically seeks $2-5m investments in e-commerce, digital media and lifestyle-related digital services. According to the VC, its investment in La Ruche Qui Dit Oui fell closer to the upper end of that bracket. 

Having launched the vehicle in September 2014, the VC announced in early June that Felix Capital Fund I had reached its $120m hard-cap upon final close, in excess of its $80m target.

Drawing commitments from strategic backers Unilever Ventures and Galeries Lafayette, as well as university endowments, funds-of-funds, pension funds and family offices, the vehicle has already been used to back UK-based online retailer Farfetch, fashion media service Business of Fashion and streetwear brand Rad. La Ruche Qui Dit Oui represents the funds fourth investment to date.

The round, negotiated without intermediaries, will be used by the company to strengthen its technological processes with 15 new hires for its technical and network teams. There are also plans to develop new measurement tools allowing the company to maximise the social and environmental impact of its business model.

Previous funding
The first funding round for La Ruche Qui Dit Oui took place months after its inception in 2010, when Kima Ventures backed the company alongside business angels Marc Simoncini and Christophe Duhamel.

The company was later the recipient of a €1.5m second round from XAnge Private Equity and Solid. Investing via its FCPI retail funds, XAnge provided €1m for the capital increase, while Solid, a social enterprise fund managed by Siparex, contributed the remaining €500,000, according to unquote" data.

Company
Founded in 2010, La Ruche Qui Dit Oui is an online marketplace that brings together consumers and local producers of fresh food products. Headquartered in Paris, the company has since inception expanded into Belgium, the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy, where it operates through the brands Boeren & Buren, The Food Assembly, ¡La Colmena que dice Sí! and L 'Alveare che dice Si, respectively.

According to the company, 100,000 members use its online services to place food orders from a group of 4,500 producers, with physical markets organised on a weekly basis. It currently employs 70 professionals.

People
Partner Cyril Bertrand and Rodolphe Menegaux led the deal on behalf of XAnge Private Equity, while Union Square Ventures was represented by managing partner Fred Wilson, Felix Capital by founder and managing partner Frédéric Court and Quadia by Aymeric Jung. CEO Guilhem Chéron and managing director Marc-David Choukroun founded La Ruche Qui Dit Oui. 

Advisers

Equity – Jones Day (Legal); Grant Thornton (Financial due diligence).

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• Topics
• France
• Expansion
• Consumer
• France
• Felix Capital
• XAnge Private Equity