Califrais has just raised 1.5 million euros [1.69 million USD] from STEF, specialist in temperature-controlled transport and logistics, which has therefore acquired a stake in the capital of the French start-up. Califrais and STEF constitute, with Webhelp, the grouping recently selected following a call for tenders to operate the e-commerce site of the Rungis market: rungismarket.com.
The operation will allow Califrais to acquire the financial resources necessary to support the accelerated digitalization of the Rungis market, which will benefit all actors of the value chain, especially the wholesalers, but also the marketing, IT, customer relations, artificial intelligence… The objective of Califrais is then to reinforce its teams and develop its expertise and know-how in terms of intelligent supply, key to its success since 2014. Califrais plans to go from approximately 30 employers in 2021 to 50 by the end of 2022, therefore opening new positions before the month of January.
This consolidation of the teams is part of the start-up’s always renewed desire to innovate by putting technology at the service of supply to restaurant professionals.
Pure player of the food supply chain, STEF will offer wholesalers its recognized expertise in the transport of food merchandise from -25°C to +15°C, as part of the new version of the Rungis marketplace.
“This fundraising will allow us to better meet the challenges awaiting us in 2022 and beyond. We take this new step together with STEF, with which we’ve already been working on rungismarket.com. Together, we want to continue the digitalization of the Rungis market and more generally, the supply to food professionals, a subject that still leaves room for many innovations!,” explains Pierre Levy, CEO and co-founder of Califrais.
“We are very happy to support Califrais in this new step of its development,” explains Stanislas Lemor, chairman and CEO of STEF. “We are convinced that the collaboration between our European Group and this high potential French start-up will be very rewarding and it will bring further added value to our clients. This partnership is fully in line with the Group’s approach of opening up to its start-up ecosystem and with its innovation program already in place for more than three years.”
For more information:
califrais.fr
stef.com