11 June 2019

Ellcie Healthy raises funds from ACG Management and Turenne Capital

Fund raising

Ellcie Healthy, the Cote d'Azur-based designer of smartglasses

Customer Ellcie Healthy

Created in 2016, Ellcie-Healthy is a start-up developing smartglasses created under the direction of Philippe Peyrard, with 25 years of experience in the optics business. Technological innovation provides valuable information to each individual to best manage their health, well-being, and safety. Backed by research laboratories such as LAMHESS, LEAT and the Sleep Centre, our Algorithm team designs and enhances complex algorithms based on an array of indicators such as eye blinking, ambient temperature, and micro head nods. Based on machine learning, the software solution is perpetually improving on the subtlety of the algorithms' diagnosis as well as on the new functions continuously proposed to users through software updates over the air.

Counterparties ACG Management

Specialist in third party asset management dedicated to the financing of unlisted SMEs. ACG Management proposes solutions to individual investors to reduce their income tax, such as Proximity Investment Funds (FIP) and Innovation-focused mutual funds (FCPI). ACG Management also offers a range of funds dedicated to institutional investors.

Counterparties Turenne Capital

Founded in 1999, Turenne Capital, an independent asset management company approved by the AMF, is specialised in the equity financing of SMEs and middle-market companies supporting their growth to the next stage. The Turenne Capital Group has more than €930M in assets under management and advisory. The Group supports over 250 companies in their innovation, development, and transmission projects. The team is comprised of 55 people including 38 investment advisors spread between Paris and Lille, where Nord Capital is located, its joint subsidiary with Crédit Agricole Nord de France, Lyon, Marseilles, and Metz.

The Côte d’Azur-based designer of smartglasses dedicated to the prevention of falling asleep at the wheel and averting falls receives €2.5 million in its first financing round from ACG Management, Turenne Capital, and several business angels.

Smartglasses are able to prevent drivers from falling asleep and can inhibit the elderly from falling down. The technology of Ellcie Healthy has attracted early investors, who have injected €2.5 million. Supported by Pax Corporate Finance, the start-up was founded three years ago on the Côte d’Azur by Philippe Peyrard, the former Chief Operating Officer of the Atol network of opticians. The company is now opening its capital to ACG Management, Turenne Capital, via the fund Région Sud Investissement, and business angels. “Our solutions rapidly interested various players such as Generali, Optic 2000, and Valeo. This allowed us to wait for the product launch before raising funds”, says Philippe Peyrard, who was highly involved in the launch a few years ago of the Téou eyeglasses by Atol that can be geolocated by phone.

The marketing phase for Ellcie Healthy’s smart frames began in late March throughout the 1,200 Optic 2000 stores. Fifteen sensors measure the blinking and wide opening of the eyes, head movements, brightness and ambient temperature. The data thus collected is then sent by Bluetooth to a mobile phone and processed by an artificial intelligence algorithm. Even before the commercial launch, the company of 20 employees in Villeneuve-Loubet had achieved revenue of just under €1 million for service contracts in 2018.

The next application to be launched in the coming months will focus on detecting falls in the elderly. A version capable of anticipating falls will be ready by 2020, as well as new features such as activity tracking, for example. International development is part of the company’s on-going projects, especially in North America.