eFounders’ portfolio exceeds $100 million ARR, with over $1 billion valuation

The French-Belgian startup studio eFounders has announced new portfolio numbers that hit a couple significant milestones. The studio’s portfolio, which includes Front, Aircall, Spendesk, and Mailjet, has a combined revenue of over $100 million Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). The total valuation of its 23 software companies has surpassed $1 billion.

All 23 of these companies eFounders built from scratch. Founded in 2011 by Thibaud Elziere and Quentin Nickmans, the startup studio has spent eight years in opposition to traditional venture capital structures, operating as a SaaS think tank, incubator, and VC facilitator in one. The model of the business is like so:

Armed with an idea, eFounders partners with two entrepreneurs, one technical cofounder and one business cofounder. The group works together over 18 months to transform the idea into a viable business, building the first version of the product and hiring 10 to 15 team members. Formed into a company, the project is then presented to investors and can reach financial and operational independence from the studio. About four to five of these ventures launch each year.

“Our mission is to build the tools used by the next generation of people at work. We're creating software that solves business problems and adapts to employee's new ways of working: more distributed, more collaborative, and more creative,” said Elziere.