K-Ryole

The designer of electric trailers for the last mile logistics and construction markets is raising €10.5m from Quadia, BPI France Investissement, IFPEN, Edify, Aquiti, and Ardev to finance an ambitious industrial and commercial plan.

K-RYOLE, founded in 2016 by Nicolas DUVAUT and Gilles VALLIER, both graduates of Centrale Supelec, develops load traction applications based on real-time force cancellation technology. The company’s ambition is not only to respond to the challenges of decarbonization of last-mile logistics but also to become a key player in the reduction of drudgery at work.

Based on Kaptor technology, which detects and responds in real-time to the traction exerted by the user, the K-Ryole (logistics) and Kross (construction) product lines allow users to effortlessly pull up to 500 kg of payload, by bike or by hand.

This ability to carry a large load with unrivaled flexibility makes it possible to multiply the uses of cyclo-logistics and thus to meet the major and growing challenges of last-mile delivery while reducing the impact in terms of cost, air pollution, and road traffic saturation. On the strength of this use case and the significant gains in profitability that its customers have made in comparison with conventional motorized use, the company has more recently tackled the problems of arduous work. This is particularly the case on construction sites, where the electric trailer solutions proposed to make it possible to optimize the handling of heavy loads over short distances, which are still mostly done manually.

The company, based in Paris and now in the South-West of France, employs around fifty people and intends to continue its R&D work, which already enables K-Ryole’s customers to make use of a multitude of applications dedicated to their activities (controlled temperature, organic waste collection, asphalt worksites, etc.), most of which have been developed jointly with its customers and partners.

The fundraising, initiated before the summer with the support of PAX CORPORATE FINANCE, aims to finance the acceleration of marketing in France and abroad, to allow the ramp-up of the production tool inaugurated in Tonneins (Lot et Garonne) at the beginning of 2021, to continue the R&D work and to follow the needs in working capital induced by the strong progression of sales. The funds will be supplemented by bank financing in a second phase.

After several weeks of discussions, the QUADIA impact fund and BPI FRANCE INVESTISSEMENT came to the fore in the autumn of 2021, and the last few months have been devoted to completing the financing round. Initially joined by Aquitaine-based AQUITI GESTION and the entrepreneurs’ fund ARDEV, the lead investors were also able to count on the interest of EDIFY, an industrial holding company already very involved in electric mobility, which completed the round with a significant amount. The latter intends to contribute its knowledge of the markets and problems encountered by its holdings, and in particular by LIGIER (electric vehicles, €143m turnover).

The company’s management will thus be able to count on the complementary profiles of their investors, each of whom will bring their knowledge of industrial issues, impact, and the local environment, and who will strengthen a round of financing in which business angels and IFP Energies Nouvelles, through its subsidiary IFP Investissement, were already present.