Groot Bijgaarden / BE. (pnv) Belgium’s Puratos Group, an international manufacturer of ingredients for the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors, acquires the French start-up Rapidle, a provider of personalized e-commerce solutions. Four years after its acquisition of the Belgian start-up Bakeronline, focused on the digital transformation of craftsmen, Puratos is thus further accelerating its development of disruptive services. This new operation allows it to support the digital transformation of its customers even more effectively and strengthen its offer in France. The objective is to merge the two start-ups, Bakeronline and Rapidle, to meet the growing demand from local shops in terms of digitization and visibility to increase their turnover, and also develop the French market for Bakeronline. The common development objective of Rapidle, Bakeronline and Puratos is to increase the amount of artisans in France with a personalized webshop from 750 to 5000 in the next 3 years.
«The merger of Bakeronline with Rapidle reinforces the Puratos Group’s promise to encourage and support bakery, patisserie and chocolate professionals in their digital transformation. We want to be the technological partner of their choice in our industry thanks to innovative, effective and simple solutions,» says Sophie Blum, Chief Marketing + Channels Officer of Puratos.
A Merger Full Of Promise
Rapidle, a French company founded in 2015 by Steeve Broutin and Yann Browaeys has become the French market leader in Food+Collect solutions. Like Bakeronline, Rapidle supports local artisans in their digitalization by providing them with personalized e-commerce solutions. The merger with Rapidle will allow Bakeronline to strengthen its presence, already well established, on the French market.
«France has many dynamic artisans. Through the combined efforts of Rapidle, Bakeronline and Puratos, we will enable them to focus on product creation and innovation while growing their business. We want to be vectors of innovation,» analyzes Maxim Sergeant, founder and CEO of Bakeronline.
«As a shareholder and co-founder of Rapidle, I am very pleased with this acquisition by Puratos, which will allow Rapidle to continue to develop and innovate for the benefit of current and future customers,» says Steeve Broutin, co-founder of Rapidle.
The Digitization Of Craftsmen: A Major Challenge For Their Development
The digitization of local shops has become a major challenge for the development of artisans. Today, 100 percent of companies, according to «Sondage du Monde des Artisans et de l’AFNIC | Survey of the World of Artisans and AFNIC», are convinced that it is essential to be present online. The global pandemic has caused a real awareness among artisans of the importance of their rapid digital transformation and has accelerated their need for digitalization. But this need to digitize has also confronted them with many obstacles: budgetary, technical and availability. While the investment in time devoted to digitization strongly conditions its success and the development of turnover.
«Over the past two decades, online presence has become a strategic pillar for many companies in multiple sectors to maintain and grow their business. It is from this need that Bakeronline was born, almost 10 years ago now. Bakeronline thus allows local businesses to easily create their personalized online store, website and mobile application so that they can deliver their products to a greater number of customers in the most convenient and simple way,» explains Maxim Sergeant, founder and CEO of Bakeronline.
