Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
French digital marketing company MIRANE has just announced spectacular results for the financial year ended June 2008. Turnover leapt from €1.2m in fiscal 2007 up to €6.6m, a rise of some 550% …!
The company now claims to be the N° 1 integrator in France, providing a full service with hardware (screens & players), its own proprietary ASP software (‘Highview’) as well as full marketing services, supplying both content and advertising. To date, the company has rolled out almost 8,000 screens for around a hundred active clients, including the biggest names in the supermarket and banking sectors.
Not bad for a 30 man operation based near Bordeaux, far away from the bright lights of the capital… but in fact, being based regionally is also one of its strengths, having benefited from regional investment funds orientated towards new technologies.
The company was created in 1997, and since 2001 has been supported by the OSEO, a French government institution set up to help small & medium size businesses, both by direct investment and by guaranteeing loans from banks & institutional investors. It reports to both the Ministry for Economy, Finance and Industry, and Ministry for Higher Education and Research. Funding has also come from Regional investors such as Galai Gestion, Bordeaux, IRDI in nearby Toulouse, SOCRI from Vence, near Nice, as well as the Paris based ELIAIA Venture , all of whom own shares in the company. Mirane has made good use of these funds by investing on average €1m per year on R&D over the last 2 years.
Continuing on the regional theme, Mirane has installed over 500 screens in 100 sites in the Quiksilver & Roxy chain internationally over the last 3 years (Quiksilver is also based near Bordeaux). However the company can now claim to be truly international, being present in 25 countries, helped in part by a deal with the Mexican affiliate of BBVA Bancomer bank, for whom they have installed some 4000 screens in 500 branches, with a plan to equip a total of 1700 branches within 3 years.
But the big bump in turnover last year came from new deals in France with the Casino Group (Hypermarkets – 1 700 screens) Société Générale (Bank – 600 screens) and Castorama (DYI Store Chain – 133 outlets).
The company is anticipating continued growth in the coming year, projecting a further rise to €8m for fiscal 2009.
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