These 5 startups that will benefit from the Paris Olympics boom

Wintics: video surveillance without facial recognition

Launched in 2017, the Wintics software has already won two calls for tenders from the Ministry of the Interior for communities and in transport in order to “transforming videos into statistical data”says Matthias Houllier, CEO of Wintics, citing the example of counting bicycles on cycle paths. With the Olympic Games, the purpose will be new, but the technology already exists, is reliable and certified by Cerema. This software solution is indeed moving into another dimension: it will now be able to send alerts in real time to security operators, if predefined thresholds and standards are exceeded.

“Wintics relies on its ability to precisely detect everything that is present in a public space: a person, an object, a situation, and then be able to give an alert to video protection operators if a threshold is exceeded.”continues the co-founder of Wintics, who specifies that eight types of events are concerned: failure to respect the direction of traffic, crossing a prohibited zone, the presence or use of a weapon, the outbreak of fire, a crowd movement, a person on the ground, excessive density and an abandoned package.

Sport Heroes: in support of Paris 2024 for the “Marathon for all”

Sport Heroes is best known for its United Heroes application dedicated to companies (more than 350 use it, under the name of United Heroes or in its own name such as Danone, Toyota, EDF, Orange…). The startup’s involvement in the Olympic Games dates back to 2016, when Paris was a candidate. With this idea of ​​encouraging as many people as possible to take up sports. “The COJO (Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, editor’s note) wanted to create popular enthusiasm for sport and the candidacy, and called on us to create digital challenges. By doing sport, users were showing their support for Paris’s candidacy.”explains Paul-Emile Saab, CEO of SportHeroes. “This created a relationship of trust and when Paris then won the bid, we won a call for tenders.”

Concretely, Sport Heroes collaborates on two aspects. “For the Paris 2024 Club, we are the tracking brick for sports activities, which contributes to a digital loyalty program managed by Paris 2024 that will associate loyalty points with these activities to participate in events.”

The other part is the “Marathon for All”, created by Paris 2024. Launched in 2022, the app was intended to help win 20,024 bibs, all of which were allocated on January 1, 2024. “For the lucky winners, the “Marathon pour tous” app will help them with their training. And those who did not get a bib will be able to participate in this race on August 10 virtually because the app will offer a parallel and connected version, designed in particular with the startup Kinomap which recorded the actual course of the race.”explains Paul-Emile Saab. Usable by everyone and working with any type of connected watch or sports application, the “Marathon for All” application thus helps to create an international community and unite as many people as possible around this major event.

Inpulse: predictive AI at the service of Foodtech

Launched in 2018, Inpulse is a Foodtech startup, based on predictive AI to better manage restaurant owners’ stocks and orders. With a portfolio of 200 leading restaurant brands (Columbus Café, Pitaya, Côté Sushi, Basilic&Co…), or more than 2,000 points of sale, Inpulse is a solution that is unique in France to date. For the Olympic Games, with 15 million visitors expected, the challenge will be huge for restaurant owners, faced with an unprecedented peak in activity and logistics management.

“We have been developing Inpulse’s artificial intelligence for 6 years to accurately predict restaurant sales, taking into account external factors that influence their turnover. We help them optimize their stocks and effectively anticipate their staffing needs, in order to successfully face the Olympic Games.”explains Brice Konda, CEO of Inpulse, which he co-founded with Valentin Pignolet. Deliveries, order planning, inventory management (to avoid stockouts and waste): thanks to its AI solution specializing in order automation, Inpulse’s SaaS software helps optimize material costs, predict sales and therefore orders. All factors that ensure “very good profitability because restaurateurs gain between 2 and 5 points of margin”specifies Brice Konda.

The principle ? “Our tool is connected to past sales data from restaurateurs and external data flows such as weather data, attendance flows for major sporting events and calendar events. We cross-reference this data with that of customers (sales and turnover) to understand the impact of an external event on past sales and therefore to be able to anticipate that of the Olympic Games.”continues the CEO of Inpulse, who has already created an Olympic event stream directly in the application.

FlexLiving: the ally of Parisian owners during and after the Olympic Games

Created in 2021, FlexLiving is a Proptech startup specializing in the flexible and turnkey management of housing dedicated to companies and their employees. An interesting solution for Parisian owners since the minimum rental period is one month and “that corporate rates are 20% higher than with traditional customers”notes Caué Brioli, co-founder of the startup. With a portfolio of 350 homes in Paris, he is banking on the Olympics to offer individuals the chance to maximize the return on their property during, and even more so after, the Olympics.

“Our challenge is to encourage owners to rent their property now to companies via our platform in order to generate up to 200% additional revenue during the Olympic Games. And to avoid rental vacancy after August 11 thanks to our private circle of companies that rent on a long-term basis.”explains Caué Brioli. “During the Olympics, we offer a management contract where Flexliving does renovation work on the apartment if necessary and manages the apartment on behalf of the owner. We define the best prices, broadcast the apartment on our channels and manage rental requests from companies that relocate their employees to Paris during the period. After this sporting event, our historic partner companies rent the apartments on a long-term basis, offering stability and continuity to the owners.”

Native Spaces: events at the service of brand communication

Specializing in events, Native Spaces, founded in 2019 by Tanya Bencheva-Vigier, is a platform that provides atypical locations and its rich network of partners (mixology, DJ, catering service, photographer, stage manager, transport, equipment rental, etc.) for a turnkey event. Offering its services on the Côte d’Azur, the startup launched on the Parisian market six months ago, wanting to seize the opportunity of the Olympic Games for its business.

“There is a very strong demand for events and since we have been developing our business in Paris, we have been reaching between 50 and 100 venues each month.”underlines Tanya Bencheva-Vigier. A godsend for the owners and for the startup which fills its order book a little more each day from large national and international groups, media, brands and private individuals.

“The strength of our platform is to bring together the whole range of necessary services, both for the client and for the owner of the premises. From the quote to the finalization, the client can organize his event in a few clicks. For the owner, we offer the management of reservations, rental contracts, insurance and a secure payment”, says the CEO of Native Spaces, who sees a clear interest for brands and companies in organizing an event during the Olympic Games. “Brands need to differentiate themselves to take full advantage of this visibility. Some of them booked advertising space in Paris as soon as the bid for the Olympic Games was approved. Organizing an event gives them another option, and above all, to capitalize on the aura of the event to create a unique experience for its community, thus increasing their notoriety.”