[Funding alert] Paris-based The Mobile-First Company Secures €3.5 Million in Pre-Seed Funding

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Emblem led this pre-seed round, with participation from angel investors Thibaud Elzière (eFounders), Jean-Baptiste Hironde (MWM), Rodolphe Ardant (Spendesk), and Xavier Niel (Kima Ventures).

Leaders from AppTweak, Pennylane, Spendesk, PhotoRoom, Lemlist, BlaBlaCar, Homa Games, Mojo-App, Melio Payments, and Apple are among the other pre-seed investors.

After assisting the European expenditure management software firm in growing to 5,000 clients worldwide, Goillot has advised more than 50 entrepreneurs and established the Kara.Ventures investment fund, which is specifically devoted to African startups.

Siel oversaw teams at NaranjaX and had previously managed mobile engineering teams at MercadoLibre and Uber's Cornershop. He grew the engineering team at financial infrastructure provider Pomelo from zero to 200 engineers spread across six continents.

CEO Jérémy Goillot said, “Our goal is ambitious: to replace outdated spreadsheets and processes with mobile-first solutions that are simple, modern and accessible to every business, anywhere, We firmly believe that smartphones are the future of software interfaces, and we’re committed to enable businesses across the globe to harness that power.”C

Fifty percent of smartphone users' sessions last less than three minutes, and the average user checks their device 150 times a day. The Mobile-First Company will create consumer-grade applications that bridge the gap between consumer simplicity and business efficiency, allowing users to do crucial business tasks quickly—often in less than three minutes—under the guiding premise of "One problem, One App."

Antoine Moyroud, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners said, “The Mobile-First Company is targeting a strategic gap in the market for robust, user-friendly mobile software that supports SMBs anywhere in the world, The future of business software is global, as SMBs everywhere need powerful mobile-first tools to fuel growth. Jeremy and Ignacio have a proven track record of creating incredibly valuable mobile products that merge business efficiency with consumer simplicity and are the right team to tackle this opportunity.”

The Mobile-First Company focuses on an underserved market segment: small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who struggle with the lack of accessible and affordable ERP systems. The need for more efficient mobile solutions is evident given that "non-desk workers" account for 65% of the worldwide population and are particularly common in industries like retail, professional services, and logistics.

Their target market's centre is the United States, which is home to more than 33 million SMBs and about half of the workforce in the private sector. The predicted rise in micro-SMEs in emerging economies, which is being fueled by rising middle-class populations and economic growth, further emphasises how ideal the time is for The Mobile-First Company to go worldwide.

About The Mobile-First Company

In 2023, mobile veterans CEO Jérémy Goillot (formerly Head of Growth at French unicorn Spendesk) and CTO Ignacio Siel Brunet (formerly VP of Engineering at Latam scale-up Pomelo) founded The Mobile-First Company. The company creates a suite of mobile applications specifically designed for SMBs to accelerate business on mobile devices, an underutilised and preferred tool for many employees.