Collectif Energie raises 1.6 million to optimize the purchase of gas

“Offering SMEs the same purchasing conditions as large accounts “. This promise from the Nantes-based company Collectif Energie resonates more than ever in the current context of soaring gas and electricity prices. “A company that consumes one gigawatt hour will have the same conditions with us as a company that consumes 100”, assures Stephane Sorinfounder of the company, who has just collected 1.6 million euros from Bpifrance and its banking partners.

This energy efficiency engineer started with a brokerage activity before realizing its limits. Because the conditions of purchase depend on the size of the buyers, therefore on the volumes, but also on the moment and the method of purchase.

“You have to work on consumer profiles to get attractive prices,” explains the entrepreneur, who worked on price engineering based on a library of around a hundred profiles. With regard to seasonality, “we cannot, for example, combine a campsite and an industrialist”, deciphers Stéphane Sorin, who has enriched this sectoral expertise with professional organizations such as bakers.

From caterer to ETI

Collectif Energie has also designed a SaaS solution so that companies can translate market conditions specific to their profile in real time. They can thus trigger the purchase or delegate this function. The group purchase also allows you to sequence, not to buy all at once.

“Purchasing methods switch to risk management”, he contextualizes. “Making a shot, depending on the opportunity of the moment, is a thing of the past. “Collectif Energie has 6,000 customers, from dyers and caterers to ETIs such as Alltub, an aluminum tube specialist, and communities of municipalities.

Stéphane Sorin has not identified strictly comparable competing tools, companies being able to use brokers, consultants or temporary groups, “where everyone signs the same offer”. This financing should allow the company to extend its national coverage and expand its teams of traders, IT engineers, customer advisors and its agencies. The workforce will increase from 60 to 100 employees within two years and turnover should almost double to 4 million in 2022, then increase to 10 million in 2025.