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Sodexo Ventures builds close partnerships with startups to drive shared value through collaboration. We choose partners that will help us build breakthrough products and solutions and enhance Sodexo's services around the globe. Our partners choose us for the personalized support we provide to accelerate their growth.

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Sodexo Ventures provides partners with more than just capital. We provide them with decades of industry knowledge and the opportunity to leverage our international footprint, including 425,000 employees and 100 million consumers. We’re not focused on an exit strategy. We’re focused on building a long-lasting, and mutually-beneficial relationship. 

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We have priority investment targets but don't limit the scope of opportunities to those criteria.

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Sodexo Ventures only engages in minority investments to preserve start-up agility. We do not ask for exclusivity or voting rights.  We simply support growth: start-ups are free to work with relevant clients and a dedicated business partner is appointed for each investment to advise and share expertise as often as needed. 


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We’re looking for new technology and business models to change the food ordering and delivery landscape. 

Food Delivery

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We want to partner with startups that take a high-tech approach to tailoring diet advice to individual characteristics. 

Personalized Nutrition

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Does your startup use technologies like blockchain to track food through all stages of production, processing and distribution?

Food Traceability

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New Food Business Models

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Has your startup found a new way to leverage technology to track consumer’s health and fitness goals?

Health & Physical Activity Monitoring

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Does your personal coaching startup have what it takes to positively impact the health and wellness of consumers around the globe? 

Personal Coaching

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As employee habits change, we’re looking to partner with startups that help employees collaborate and share ideas, inside and outside the office. 

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Does your startup help make the commute as painless as possible? 

Smart Parking Solutions

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Has your startup developed a new way to leverage shared resources to facilitate employee mobility? 

Sharing Economy

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Has your startup developed a new way to capture and leverage data to optimize facility management services?

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Does your solution use automation and robotics to make facilities safer, more comfortable, and easier to use?

Smart FM Services - Robotics

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Does your startup use technology to improve the workplace experience by making it easier to use and enjoy spaces?

Workspace Optimization

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Talent is the lifeblood of any business, that’s why we’re looking to partner with startups that propose cutting-edge solutions to sourcing talent. 

New Recruitment Models

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Has your startup developed innovative ways to deal with scheduling issues to help businesses manage their most valuable assets?

Human Resources Scheduling

Is your startup breaking new ground with emerging RPA technology?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

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Does your solution allow businesses to predict how consumers will react to a price point?

Pricing Optimization

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We’re looking to partner with the technology and knowhow to track, predict, and optimize on-site traffic for our clients. 

Traffic Optimization

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Has your startup developed a solution that helps businesses spot market trends sooner?

Demand Forecasting

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Sodexo Ventures only engages in minority investments to preserve start-up agility. We don't ask for exclusivity or voting rights.  We simply support growth. Start-ups are free to work with relevant clients and a dedicated business partner is appointed for each investment to advise and share expertise as often as needed. 

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Your startup needs more than just funding to grow. It needs a powerful investment partner like Sodexo Ventures with decades of experience, a wealth of industry knowledge, and a global consumer base. We don’t just invest. We build close, long-lasting partnerships with our portfolio companies. Working hand-in-hand, we succeed in improving the Quality of Life of millions of consumers around the globe.

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Welcome to Sodexo Ventures Newsroom

In line with the company’s initiatives to accelerate the advancement of women and spark progress towards gender equality globally, Sodexo Ventures is proud to have become <a href="https://www.wearesista.com/home">SISTA</a> Investor Ally.



As Investor Ally, we are actively involved in the diversification of our portfolio, always with the same objective in mind:



<ul><li>Finance 25% of start-ups founded or co-founded by women by 2025</li></ul>



We are thus participating in the common effort to promote equality between women and men who create innovative businesses.



SISTA is a French non-profit collective that aims to bring out a generation of diversified leaders by reducing funding inequalities between men and women entrepreneurs.



Learn more about the SISTA chart we signed last year and our commitments alongside 20 French Corporate Venture Capital funds <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/post/sodexo-ventures-is-proud-to-announce-the-signature-of-the-sista-act-to-accelerate-investment-in-women-entrepreneurs">here</a>.

Sodexo Ventures becomes a SISTA Investor Ally

Sodexo is proud to join forces with the Scale-Up Europe community to unify as one force to accelerate the rise of the tech ecosystem across Europe. 



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The <a href="https://scaleupeurope.tech/">Scale-Up Europe initiative</a> was launched in March 2021 to bring together Europe’s leading tech founders, investors, researchers, corporate leaders and government officials around the same goal: accelerate the rise of global tech leaders born in Europe, in the service of both progress and technological sovereignty.&nbsp; Initiated by President Emmanuel Macron, it has focused on four key drivers: talent, investment, startup-corporate collaboration and deep tech.



Belen Mosocoso del Prado, Sodexo Chief Digital &amp; Innovation Officer and Sodexo Ventures Board Member, has taken an active role in the initiative as co-sponsor leading the workstream on strengthening partnerships between startups and corporations.&nbsp; &nbsp;



“We are proud to join forces with the political leaders, startups and European corporations to work as one force accelerate the rise of the tech ecosystem across Europe.&nbsp; This is a unique opportunity to support and encourage innovation in Europe and support the journey of start-ups as they represent the economies of our countries tomorrow.”&nbsp; Belen Moscoso del Prado,Sodexo Chief Digital &amp; Innovation Officer and Sodexo Ventures Board Member.



After three months of consultations, 21 concrete and actionable recommendations have been identified in the <a href="https://sifted.eu/intelligence/reports/scale-up-europe-report">Scale-Up Europe: How to Build Global Tech Leaders in Europe report</a>that will be unveiled on June 16th at Vivatech. &nbsp;Together, the tech community will define an actionable strategy and roadmap to be presented to European heads of state later this year on scaling the tech ecosystem to the next level.



Founded in 1966 with as a start-up catering company in Marseille, France, which now has grown to be a global leader in the service industry, Sodexo has a key role to play to strengthen the collaboration between large corporations and startups.&nbsp; For Sodexo Ventures, this is embedded in <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/investment-approach">our investment philosophy</a>. We always combine our minority investment with a partnership agreement to drive shared value through collaboration.

Sodexo joins Scale-up Europe to take action in strengthening the startup ecosystem in Europe

After 8 years of work, Klaxit, a company in which Sodexo Ventures invested in February 2018 is now profitable.



<a href="https://isahit.com/">Klaxit</a>, is a platform that revolutionizes the daily commute of employees thanks to their car sharing program enabling employees to go from their place of residence to work.&nbsp;Today Klaxit boasts a 70% market share in regional areas (through public subsidies since the adoption of the Mobility Orientation law) and 80% in large companies.



You may ask yourself how Klaxit was able to achieve profitability during the worst year for the transport sector:



<ul><li>Klaxit was able during the past year to sign a record number of new contracts, with no less than 14 new cities signing up including Montpellier, Rouen, Angers, Metz, Monaco, Beauvais, etc.</li><li>Klaxit claims “more than 300 customers”, 13 of which belong to the CAC 40</li><li>Klaxit also leveraged their extremely resilient economic model: their low fixed costs are financed by subscriptions and their variable costs by trip commissions. Fewer journeys mean fewer variable costs which also means less costs for their customers. Essentially, the income from subsidies from communities and businesses more than offset the reduction in attendance.</li></ul>



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With Klaxit being financially independent they strive to build a sustainable model to accelerate the economic and ecological transformation of public transport, by deploying carpooling in all peri-urban areas where self-reliance now reigns supreme. “More than 100,000 monthly trips” are planned.



Klaxit is now counting on an acceleration of the recovery "from mid-May until the start of the September" coupled with back to the office plans of many large companies.



Click here to <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/covoiturage-klaxit-rentable-malgre-la-baisse-de-la-frequentation-20210331">read more</a>

Klaxit, a Sodexo Ventures investment, is now profitable

It was no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic had a noticeable effect on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, both in the experience and in the form of new, COVID-19 inspired trends and technologies. In early 2021, CES occurred virtually for the first time in its over 50 year history. While the physical experience in Las Vegas may have been missing, there was at least one benefit to the new virtual model, which is that participants from around the world who attended the event this year may not have been able to make the trip if CES had occurred in its traditional location in Las Vegas.



COVID-19 also inspired new types of consumer innovations, creating a new focus on at-home and health products due to priorities inspired by the conditions consumers across the globe have been living in for months. Based on both the keynote speeches and the innovative technologies presented, we saw the key themes of CES this year to be as follows:



<ul><li>COVID-19 and its resulting changes in consumer behavior have caused an acceleration in digital transformation. This digital acceleration stood out in multiple forms but two of the most evident categories were the emphasis on a combined digital and physical experience to optimize the consumer journey and innovation in the transportation and mobility space. The enhanced effect of the combination of physical experience with digital was most evident in the keynote speeches.Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon reiterated the importance of maintaining physical stores alongside the expected surge in online orders during his keynote, and Best Buy’s CEO Corie Barry discussed the observation that after Best Buy stores reopened, the most trafficked areas of the stores were those with complex entertainment offerings that consumers felt had to be seen in person to be evaluated. Transportation innovations were also abundant. Emphasis was placed on personal and private forms of transportation, with the belief that consumers will begin investing more heavily in innovative non-shared transportation solutions in the coming years. Topics included autonomous technology, electric cars, flying vehicles and micromobility (small lightweight vehicles traveling under 15mph) solutions. Examples of technologies highlighted at CES include both a flying car and an autonomous personal taxi debuted by GM, and a self-balancing Segway eScooter. It can be deduced from these trends that consumers are expected to begin to travelling away from their homes again in the coming years because some experiences are still better in person, but that these consumers expect innovation throughout the experience.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The home is becoming a more important hub for all aspects of life, including working, living and learning. After spending, in many cases a considerable amount more time in the home last year, consumers’ anticipated interest in new technology for their residence comes as no surprise. Many of the technologies discussed during CES were focused on robotics and other IOT devices for the home, along with additional technologies to make the home a better, more comfortable place to spend time. Innovations ranged from work and gaming chairs with heating and massage options to robotic food production devices and voice-controlled bathtubs. The focus on home this year emphasized the assumption by many companies that even as vaccines are rolled out, consumers still plan to spend extended amounts of time in their homes in the near future.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Consumers are becoming more interested in their health, with growing interest in digital health products they can utilize at home. The two major health and wellness themes during CES 2021 were those inspired by the pandemic (“pandemic tech”) and those focused more generally on tracking health at home. Based on the number of innovative masks, disinfecting robots, and other creative technologies such as a temperature-tracking doorbell, it’s evident that many companies are placing bets that consumers will look for protections from COVID-19 well into the next 1-2 years. In addition, there was a new prioritization of healthcare and wellness practices in the home. Deeptha Khanna, Chief Business Leader of Personal Health at Philips, stated “we have witnessed the reinvention of our homes as a core element of the healthcare pathway with telehealth, virtual and remote care technologies as the key drivers for change during COVID-19… and these changes are here to stay”. Health-focused innovations displayed this year included a wellness toilet that uses stool to make wellness recommendations, multiple at home vitals monitoring devices and a robot that learns a consumers’ lifestyle and provides recommended changes to improve mental health.</li></ul>



As can be expected during such a pivotal time in history, the COVID-19 pandemic was the key driver in practically all of the main trends and themes evident at this year’s CES event. There are many lessons that can be learned through this year’s trends. For example, it can be deduced that companies believe consumers still value the physical experience, but that those experiences can and will be augmented with digital. They also believe consumers plan to be mobile this year and will invest in transportation, with an emphasis on personal transportation including micromobility solutions. With the amount of smart home technologies on display this year, it seems evident that companies believe consumers are getting more comfortable with robotics and automation and will more frequently welcome those technologies into their homes. The expectation that consumers will invest in these technologies is also a sign that consumers are expected to continue spending significant amounts time in their homes. Unfortunately, fears from COVID-19 aren’t expected to go away any time soon so many companies are continuing to focus on pandemic-focused technologies. And finally, health and wellness in general has become a much more important topic for consumers, in particular when it comes to solutions that can be used within their homes.



While we’d be surprised if many of these sometimes science fiction-inspired, futuristic technologies end up entering mass production any time soon, the takeaways from the 2021 CES conference are highly informative in highlighting expectations for consumer behavior in the coming years. We look forward to seeing whether and how these trends become a reality in the months and years to come!

Insights from the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

Digital disruption is accelerating the transformation of Asian businesses more than ever. With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, there is an even greater impetus for businesses to digitize more aggressively in response to rapid economic shifts in the post-coronavirus era.



Today, when we think of digital disruption, what comes to our mind is often the highly visible world of tech such as smartphones, drones, and autonomous vehicles. However, the new trends focus overwhelmingly on invisible technologies, and a new mindset of harnessing intelligence to fundamentally change how we connect, run businesses, or make life easier for our consumers.



In this article, we will share the top 4 technology trends in Asia-Pacific that we see as key to &nbsp;driving digital adoption in the years to come.&nbsp;



Artificial intelligence (AI)



<ul><li>The main trend driving all others is that ongoing digital innovation will continue to be powered by AI – defined by Accenture as a constellation of many different technologies working together, artificial intelligence enables machines to sense, comprehend, act, and learn with human-like levels of intelligence.<ul><li>AI had already transformed our lives in many ways – the navigation apps, media services or ride-sharing apps that are so much integrated into our daily routines.</li></ul><ul><li>More recently, we see AI being deployed to assist humans in the diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus, and in technology tools to track and fight the pandemic.</li></ul><ul><li>In addition, the science of predictive data analytics is transforming the way businesses interact with their customers. From being able to analyze data to understand what happened, to a real-time understanding of what is happening to being able to predict what is going to happen.</li></ul><ul><li>We also see a trend of machine learning increasingly being democratized as a result of open source initiatives and off-the-shelf algorithms. This will empower Asian startups and SMEs to start building more of their own AI solutions.</li></ul></li></ul>



6G mobile network



<ul><li>It is unbelievable that just as 5G networks were beginning to be rolled out, researchers are already working on 6G networks.<ul><li>6G networks will offer even higher levels of capacity and lower latency speed compared to 5G networks. This means a near-instant and unlimited wireless connectivity.</li></ul><ul><li>More than ever before, 6G networks will integrate a set of previously disparate technologies, including deepening learning and big data analytics, creating possibilities for extremely powerful applications.</li></ul><ul><li>The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate huge leaps in the areas of imaging, presence technology, and location awareness, resulting in a proliferation of IoT usage.</li></ul><ul><li>A possible use case is in the future of work, where users can collaborate more effectively by having a digital twin (e.g. in the form of a full-body human-size 3D hologram) of oneself participating in meetings remotely. </li></ul></li></ul>



Robotic process automation (RPA)



<ul><li>RPA is among the fastest-growing segments of the global enterprise software market, which grew more than 100 % globally in 2019.<ul><li>With high cost-effectiveness and scalability, RPA uses robotics to automate and streamline tedious tasks – it is in even greater demand now because of new requirements for social distancing and less human-to-human contact in business processes.</li></ul><ul><li>2 key areas of RPA: industrial robots – mainly deployed in a factory setting; and service robots – usually used in retail, hospitality, healthcare industries.</li></ul><ul><li>One interesting innovation in this area is Digital People by Soul Machines, where a digital model of a real person capable of mimicking human-like interactions is used as a chatbot to create engaging and emotional connections with customers.</li></ul></li></ul>



Autonomous Vehicles



<ul><li>An autonomous vehicle is equipped with technology that can sense and interpret its environment, thereby allowing for the vehicle’s operation without any human involvement. It can go anywhere a traditional vehicle can and do practically everything that an experienced human driver does.<ul><li>By removing humans from the equation, autonomous vehicles bring a host of benefits to both businesses and individual consumers.</li></ul><ul><li>Singapore launched a commercial autonomous bus services pilot in end-January 2021 to assess viability of the on-demand service, passenger safety, service reliability and efficiency.</li></ul><ul><li>Autonomous vehicles have also been tested in China by JD.com and Meituan to facilitate deliveries.</li></ul><ul><li>According to a study on autonomous vehicle adoption by BCG, more than 12 million fully autonomous vehicles and 18 million partially autonomous vehicles are expected to be sold per year globally, by 2035.</li></ul></li></ul>



In conclusion, we can expect that these trends will transform business models and change the landscape in which Sodexo operates in today. At Sodexo Ventures, we strive to identify partners in these areas who can help us build breakthrough products and &nbsp;solutions to transform our business and enhance our services going forward into the future. &nbsp;

Top 4 Technology Trends in Asia-Pacific

We’re very proud to announce that <a href="https://www.sodexo.com/media/sodexo-named-leading-company-in-open-innovation.html">Sodexo has been recognized</a>, for the fourth year in a row, as&nbsp;one of the top Corporate Startup Stars.&nbsp;



As part of the&nbsp;Corporate Startup Stars Awards, startups were asked to nominate corporates that are most active in open innovation, a prestigious annual prize launched under the European Commission’s Startup Europe Partnership initiative in 2016 in recognition of the world’s most active corporates working with startups and identifying worldwide best practices in corporate-startup collaboration.



Sodexo is among 50 global companies that have been recognized through the Awards: 25 as Global Corporate Startup Stars and 25 as Global Open Innovation Challengers. This year the nomination process went global thanks to a partnership consolidated between&nbsp;<a href="https://mindthebridge.com/corporate-startup-stars/">Mind the Bridge</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://iccwbo.org/">International Chamber of Commerce</a> earlier this year.



Sodexo was nominated in the Top 25 Corporate Startup Stars&nbsp;in 2020 category among companies such as ABB, AB InBev, BBVA, BNP Paribas, ENGIE, HSBC, NESTLÉ, PepsiCo, Samsung, SAP, Schneider Electric, Shell and Siemens among others.



It is an honor for Sodexo to be recognized for its investments in building a global ecosystem of startups, which works to improve the experience of our clients and consumers. For us at Sodexo Ventures, partnerships and collaborations are key when it comes to an investment. This is achieved by setting the same level of ambition with regards to the implementation of synergies, providing this clarity from the start ensures we build a partnership based on trust. Furthermore, Sodexo Ventures ensures that these synergies remain a focus after the investment by signing both the partnership and investment agreement documents on the closing day.



&nbsp;“We are very pleased to be recognized as one of the world’s leading companies in open innovation. At Sodexo, we truly embrace an open innovation ecosystem as start-ups can bring a ‘disrupting force’ pushing us to go faster and think outside of the box. We put an emphasis on building a strong partnership as this is what brings tremendous benefits to both Sodexo and the startups we work with.” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sodexo.com/home/finance/corporate-governance/executive-committee.html">Belen Moscoso Del Prado</a>, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Sodexo.&nbsp;



Find out more on <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/investment-approach">Sodexo Ventures's approach to building win-win partnerships</a>



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Sodexo: voted one of the leading companies in collaborative innovation

Sodexo Ventures recently attended the <a href="https://events.cbinsights.com/future-of-health">CB Insights Future of Health</a> virtual conference and if there was one thing we’d list as our top takeaway from the event, its that COVID-19 has played an astronomical role in accelerating innovation in the healthcare space. From the influx of telehealth solutions to the personalization and digitization of care delivery, the way consumers manage their health is beginning to look a lot different from what we’ve seen in the past. In particular, there were a couple categories of companies that appeared to be prevalent at the conference and gave a good indication of where the industry is heading:



<ul><li>Telehealth – According to Glen Tullman, Founder &amp; Executive Chairman at <a href="https://www.livongo.com/">Livongo Health</a>, telehealth was seeing 3-8% adoption before COVID. As a result of COVID, the industry is now seeing 10x that number. Telehealth-focused companies at the conference ranged from firms like <a href="https://business.amwell.com/">Amwell</a> that provide the technology to enable virtual visits to companies like <a href="https://www.tytocare.com/">Tyto Care</a> that sell an entire handheld exam kit for consumers to use at home while speaking to a doctor.</li><li>Care Management Platforms – One key trend that was evident at the conference was the enablement of consumers to take more personal control over their health, especially when it came to chronic conditions and mental health. In particular, we heard from companies that created online platforms that provide a personalized digital experience for consumers looking for guidance on how to manage their conditions from home. Services on these platforms included video visits, chat, medication reminders and additional reference materials and resources to enable a healthy life. Some interesting examples were <a href="https://happify.com/health/">Happify Health</a> for symptom management for stress, anxiety and depression, <a href="https://www.firefly.health/">FireFly</a> for chronic disease management and <a href="https://www.vida.com/">Vida Health</a> for physical and mental health.</li><li>Health Monitoring – One key issue in the industry today is the fact that consumers don’t go to the hospital until they are experiencing extreme symptoms. The physician is then only seeing the patient and gathering data for this one small period of time with limited visibility on what may have been happening in the weeks or even years leading up to the visit. Companies are now striving to solve this problem by providing consumers and physicians with solutions to track individual consumer health over time from home, offering consumers peace of mind and a more accurate indicator of when they should seek help, typically before they’d know to do so on their own. We heard from many interesting companies on this topic during the conference, including <a href="https://www.ixensor.com/ixensor_web/">iXensor</a> that developed a rapid at home blood glucose and cholesterol testing device, <a href="https://www.nuvocares.com/">Nuvo</a> that focuses on pregnancy monitoring and <a href="https://currenthealth.com/">Current Health</a>, which uses data to detect the onset of disease through an oreo-sized device patients wear on their arm. A particularly relevant use case came from <a href="https://www.physiq.com/">PhysIQ</a>, a remote patient monitoring company that leverages AI to improve clinical outcomes. An inspiring use case that PhysIQ founder Gary Conkright described during his conference session was <a href="https://www.physiq.com/press-media/ui-health-cms-and-physiq-collaborate-to-protect-covid-19-healthcare-workers-and-high-risk-patients-with-advanced-ai/">a partnership with Chicago Hospital UI Health</a> to create a solution for employees that contract COVID-19. UI Health employees with COVID-19 are sent PhysIQ’s Pinpoint monitoring device, which allow nurses to monitor employees’ conditions while they recover in their homes. The system lets the employees know when to go to the hospital, which has reduced the need of incubation for those who did need to be hospitalized while also offering greater peace of mind.</li><li>Automation – Finally, there is another set of companies tackling the automation of administrative tasks that take up a lot of time at the healthcare system. Two great examples of this trend are <a href="https://www.protenus.com/">Protenus</a>, a healthcare compliance-focused company that utilizes AI to aggregate audit data and identify violations and <a href="https://alphahealth.com/">Alpha Health</a>, which automates billing tasks to ensure hospitals are paid correctly and patients receive the right bill.</li></ul>



While this is just a small sampling of the innovative companies we heard from during the conference, it’s a clear indication of the direction healthcare is heading. Data, digitalization and personalization with an emphasis on home-based care are key trends that are not going away any time soon. We at Sodexo Ventures were very impressed by what we’ve seen so far and look forward to finding out what the future holds for these pioneering healthcare companies!

Lessons from CB Insights’ Future of Health Conference

Sodexo Ventures invested in Meican, a Beijing-based venture offering digital food solutions in 2019, since, Meican has been key to Sodexo’s Food Transformation strategy. By partnering with Meican, Sodexo-Ventures has helped Sodexo build a new and truly differentiating food offer that complements its current business model and enriches the consumer experience by digitalizing the food experience in China.



Since our investment, Meican has innovated in several areas proving its ability to continually innovate:



<ul><li>Meican leveraged the rich ecosystem of the WeChat super-app to develop a mini-program for consumers to place their food orders digitally in a cafeteria. Since the offer was launched two months ago, there had already been more than 500K transactions</li><li>Meican launched a second generation of smart food lockers, 80% cheaper than the first-generation lockers, bringing additional cost savings to their clients</li><li>Meican’s cashier-less checkout system leveraging RFID technology would also be upgraded to leverage dish recognition technology. The new system is currently in the final stages of testing and is expected to be launched towards the end of 2020.</li></ul>



Check out the video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufilter=NULL&amp;t=11s&amp;v=4jKhD0JzUdw">(click here)</a> to learn more on how Meican is revolutionizing the food experience.

How Meican is revolutionizing the food experience

On November 3rd, Isabelle Mashola, CEO of <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/case/isahit">Isahit</a>, a company that provides a socially responsible platform for data labelling and data processing in which Sodexo <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/post/sodexo-ventures-announces-new-investment-in-isahit">Ventures invested in February 2020</a>, joined Jean-Sébastien Beaucamps of Sodexo Ventures in the webinar hosted by <a href="https://app.livestorm.co/fitt-france/rencontre-start-up-and-grandes-entreprises">FITT France</a> on ‘Start-ups and large companies, how to give meaning to your collaboration?’



During this session, which featured large companies such as Pfizer, CNP Assurances and start-ups such as MobiliWork and Onini, the start-up/company pairs shared their experiences, the lessons learnt, as well as their recommendations to the French innovation ecosystem.



Building win-win partnerships to co-create solutions



As pointed out by Jean-Sebastien in during the webinar, the decision to invest in a start-up goes beyond the view of being an investor for Sodexo Ventures. The key of a successful investment is building a win-win partnership.&nbsp; This is primarily achieved by setting the same level of ambition with regards to the implementation of synergies (i.e. speed of deployment, value sharing mechanism etc.).&nbsp; &nbsp;Providing this clarity from the start ensures to build a partnership based on trust. &nbsp;



Furthermore, our process ensures that these synergies remain a focus after the investment by signing both the partnership and investment agreement documents on the closing day. &nbsp;



&nbsp;“We aim to differentiate our role as a partner and as an investor, nominating very different profiles as Board Members and as responsible for the partnership implementation”, said Jean-Sebastien.



Driving forward the synergies is not only a focus at the start of the investment. &nbsp;It continues with &nbsp;a strong sponsorship from the start by appointing with an ExCom member as guarantor of the project. It is important to align company interests to ensure to have a positive impact on the growth of the startup, such as never requiring exclusivity investing in a company with only Sodexo or direct peer clients. &nbsp;As pointed out by Jean-Sebastien in the discussion, investing in start-ups can open the doors to learn more on non-core businesses by understanding new technologies, new trends, new players as well as new business models



Key learnings in collaborating with Isahit



The discussion also highlighted the key learnings from the Sodexo-Isahit collaboration, such as the strong and real values that are shared by both companies and the agility of our purchasing department in adapting and paying our partners faster. Beyond the commercial synergies, functional synergies were also identified with our legal department as well as the strengthening of the software, thanks to expertise coming from Sodexo’s datalab. To date, we have one successful use case in place around food recognition but many more are to come.



Find out more on <a href="https://sodexo-ventures.com/join">joining Sodexo Ventures</a>

More than investors, we're partners

Our portfolio

isahit

Wynd

Neo Nomade

Life Dojo

Klaxit

Meican

Wellist

isahit

Wynd

Neo Nomade

Life Dojo

Klaxit

Meican

Wellist

From our partners

"Sodexo gives us access to 2,000+ corporate clients"

"Sodexo Ventures is a unique opportunity to scale"

"Sodexo has an entrepreunerial mindset"

"the endorsement of Sodexo brand builds trust and loyalty"

"Sodexo will help propel our geographic expansion. "

"With this partnership, isahit and Sodexo are pushing forward the Tech for Good revolution."

Priority Investment Sectors

New Food Business Models

Health & Wellness

Mobility

Facility Management Services

Operational Efficiency

Our Offices

Paris

New York

Singapore

Let's work together !

We will give you our undivided attention

Let's work together !

We will give you our undivided attention