A meeting bound for success

Transcription

1 March 2015 CAPITAINE TRAIN and CM-CIC Capital Privé A meeting bound for success

2 Capitaine Train is currently the only alternative to voyages-sncf.com for buying train tickets in France. The website opened to the general public in 2012, and CEO Jean-Daniel Guyot tells us how he managed to attract around 670,000 users in France and Europe, mainly via word of mouth. Jean-Daniel Guyot

3 CAPITAINE TRAIN and CM-CIC Capital Privé, a partnership on the fast track to success. How did Capitaine Train come into being? J-D Guyot: In late 2008, the start-up where I was technical director had to close down for legal reasons. With two of my engineer colleagues, we decided to set up our own company, with the aim of offering a service that would make life easier. Selling train tickets rapidly emerged as a sector where we could make real improvements. At the time it was not uncommon to spend an hour on the internet to find the best prices and avoid bugs. We set ourselves the ambitious target of selling a train ticket in less than 30 seconds. Didn t SNCF have a monopoly on selling train tickets? J-D.G.: We were lucky enough to launch our business at the time that the Autorité de la Concurrence required SNCF to open up its data sources to enable other travel agencies to sell train tickets online. But we had to fight for a year and a half to get real access to the system. We eventually sold our first tickets in October Apart from the simplicity of its ticket sales, where do Capitaine Train s strengths lie? J-D.G.: While continuing to focus on selling train tickets, we quickly extended our offering to include a number of transport operators in France and Europe. Until then, no one was able to combine different information and reservation systems. For example, it was not possible to combine TGV and idtgv trains to get from Nantes to Bordeaux. Today, our route searcher covers all of France, Germany (Deutsche Bahn) and Italy. Our aim is to cover all of Europe in the medium term. How did you launch the site among the general public? J-D.G.: We began with an invitation-only beta version. Very quickly, our first users then invited their friends and family, and things went on from there. This initial phase enabled us to validate our concept, based on speed and simplicity of use, leading to recommendations. This is a key point in our business model, which is founded primarily on commission fees negotiated with transport providers. This is also what enabled us to raise funds from investors as of 2012.

4 Why did you look for investors? J-D.G.: The aim of the first fundraising round was to finance our very sophisticated technology. This allowed us to connect to the heart of highly complicated information systems with very complex pricing structures and to use all of this data in our route searcher, accessible on all platforms, starting with mobile phones. Our most recent fundraising rounds were intended to finance our marketing expenditure. We launched our first promotional campaigns in 2014, with posters in the Paris Metro, affiliations and sponsorship deals. And why CM-CIC Capital Privé? J-D.G.: During the first round of fundraising, we decided to approach two funds: Index Ventures, an international operator, and CM-CIC Capital Privé, a local French company. In addition to human factors, we were particularly attracted by CM-CIC Capital Privé s ability to help French companies with their expansion in Europe. This expertise has enabled us to save time and achieve rapid growth in a complicated market, where you need knowledge of several languages and very different cultures, particularly with regard to travel. 19 countries served 5,000 tickets sold per day 670,000 users as at 1 March 2015

5 CAPITAINE TRAIN according to Julien Keignart, CM-CIC Capital Privé. Since 2009, the European rail market has undergone major changes that have resulted, in particular, in the end of the SNCF monopoly on distribution of train tickets. Julien Keignart From our initial discussions with Capitaine Train, we thought that the company would be able to seize the opportunities offered by this fastchanging market by becoming a key player in the distribution of train tickets in Europe. At the end of 2011, the beta version of the capitainetrain.com website was working by invitation only and had just 20,000 users. We were attracted by the performance of the team, which with very limited resources was able to offer a high quality service with a simplified user experience and responsive after-sales service, while also dealing with complex technical issues. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly, driven in particular by the launch of smart phone apps and its growing success among consumers. Capitaine Train now has 650,000 users and sells an average of 5,000 tickets a day, 20% of which are outside France. The company is continuing to extend its geographical coverage in France and abroad by signing numerous agreements with operators. We are working in close collaboration with management, providing our support and our vision. Capitaine Train is a perfect illustration of the type of companies and entrepreneurs we work with and we are proud of what has been achieved by Jean-Daniel Guyot and his team.

6 Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay s ascent of Everest in Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh s record dive in the Mariana Trench in Mermoz and Guillaumet s opening of the Andes line in The Americans moon landing in NOTHING IMPORTANT IS ACHIEVED WITHOUT TRUST This strong conviction underlies all relationships formed between CM-CIC Capital Privé s people and the entrepreneurs they support. As a subsidiary of CM-CIC Capital Finance, we deal with minority transactions in the venture capital, development capital and buy-out segments. We invest in SMEs and innovative companies that have solid market positions and genuine growth potential. Our vision of a successful partnership involves forging close links with business leaders, supporting them over the long term, and responding quickly to their needs. CM-CIC Capital Privé 28, avenue de l Opéra Paris Tél Contact : capitalprive@cmcic.fr TheLINKS.fr - RCS Nantes B Mars Crédits photos : Copyright 2001 British Photographers Liaison Committee/Finers Stephens Innocent As agreed by BAPLA, AOP, NUJ, MPA and the BFP - Musée Air France - Getty Images - Capitain Train.