‘Business in a box’ service Jeff raises €90 million

Valencia-based entrepreneurship-for-all startup Jeff has raised €90 million in a new funding round comprised of a mix of equity and debt. The new capital was provided by DXVentures, Clean Ventures, Stelac, Prism, and existing partners including Nalpa and Alcor, led by the company's chairman, Javier Rubió.

According to Jeff, the new cash will be used to further support its vision of ‘democratising entrepreneurship’, namely via its lineup of products that include Jeff Advisor, an AI-driven tool that helps and guides entrepreneurs, Jeff Suite, a business management software, or the Real Estate and Jeff Capital, projects aimed at breaking down what Jeff views as one of the main barriers of entrepreneurship: access to capital.

By offering would-be entrepreneurs a turnkey solution to get them up and running in no time flat, the aim of Jeff is to dramatically cut down on the time needed to source and assemble a number of the moving parts that make for a functioning business. 

Jeff started out life as Mr Jeff, a turnkey laundry and dry cleaning business, but has since expanded its offer into beauty, fitness, coworking, and a coffee-to-go service. Ultimately, the thinking behind Jeff is one that offers web, app, and physical PoS options in order to help upstarts contribute to the development of local communities.

Face-to-face oh f*ck

According to company representatives, like many businesses that relied on face-to-face interactions, the pandemic took its toll on Jeff’s bottom line, and this new financing round is aimed at a righting of the ship and a breath of fresh air in its sails.

"This investment operation not only solves our current situation but also allows us to have years of stability and sufficient capital to be able to continue developing our vision based on profitability," explained Jeff CEO and founder Eloi Gómez.

Perhaps aiming to help entrepreneurs operating under Jeff from the same trouble, another service on offer is Jeff Capital, an arm launched in April 2022 and aimed at specifically meeting their liquidity needs.

¿Que?

While Jeff’s services may be admirable, one has to ask a fundamental question, should everyone be an entrepreneur? And more, should entrepreneurs who've run aground in their own financing and need a new injection to stay afloat really be providing liquidity to those operating under them? In this writer's not-so-humble opinion, it’s a hard no. 

In a world full of bright-eyed talent entering the workforce, there are far too many who only see the pages splashed with headlines of the Head Chef when many who aim for the top would perhaps be better served, both professionally and personally, by assuming the role of a strong Sous Chef. 

Regular readers of Tech.eu are well-versed in the trials and tribulations that make for a successful founder; the vast majority of which start (and crash) one, two, three, etc. businesses before they get the mix right. And in some cases never at all.

Let’s hope for all our sakes that Jeff is either able to help course-correct would-be failing entrepreneurs back on track, or gracefully show them how to exit and find something else.