Hexa, a Paris-based startup studio that has launched dozens of B2B software companies, is sharing a list of upcoming projects that will soon become independent startups.
Hexa originally started in 2011 as eFounders, a startup studio focused on B2B Software-as-a-Service products. Hexa usually comes up with ideas that form the basis of new companies.
The Hexa team then tries to match the new project with the right founding team so they can make it their own. For the first year or so, Hexa's in-house team supports founders with product design, go-to-market strategy, recruiting, and financing.
Once a startup raises its first round of funding, it typically becomes a proper independent company. In exchange for the first year of investment and iteration, Hexa will retain a 30% stake in the portfolio company after this funding round.
This may seem like a high fee, but Hexa's track record speaks for itself. Over the years, Hexa has produced several promising tech startups that could soon become unicorns, such as Swan and YouSign, as well as a few unicorns such as Front, Aircall, and Spendesk.
And these companies also generate a lot of revenue. Over the next two years, at least five of the startups founded by 2021 will generate annual revenues of between €100 million and €300 million, according to Thibaud Elzière, co-founder and CEO of Hexa. is.
Of course, there are some companies that never really took off, but that's how startups work. Overall, Hexa launched 44 companies. The startup studio itself raised a $22 million funding round in 2023.
Hexa wanted to transform itself into a house of startup accelerators, with each accelerator focusing on one vertical in particular, but Hexa appears to have backed away from this strategy.
The company continues to slowly add new areas with new projects related to healthcare, artificial intelligence, and open source software. But on Hexa's website, you can no longer find pages about Web3 startup 3founders or fintech product Logic Founders. Everything is now a Hexa project.
Annette
Annette is not a B2B software company. The company focuses on helping people lose weight if their BMI is over 30 or if they have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Annette's service is designed to complement GLP-1 treatments such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, with an app that allows you to track your progress and consult with nutritionists and medical professionals. The idea is to maximize long-term results with technology-enhanced programs.
basalt
Basalt is truly a 2024 startup. While everyone on LinkedIn is saying that being a prompt engineer is the next big thing, Basalt is a tool used day in and day out by people who create prompts for large language models.
After you create your first prompt, you can test it on multiple models, see the results, and use AI to improve your prompt. Given that AI is a fuzzy technology, previously working prompts may no longer work due to model updates. This may lead to repeated use. Basalt competes with WorkflowAI.
derma scan
DermaScan is another example of Hexa expanding and entering new industries. The startup's name is pretty self-explanatory, as DermaScan helps you regularly scan your skin for potential skin cancer.
This isn't just a software play. DermaScan plans to open a care center focused on skin screening using proprietary technology. France seems like a good market for the startup, considering it's harder to get an appointment with a dermatologist than with a magician.
Field X (codename)
Smartphones have changed everything for field salespeople. Check your schedule, access your product database, and process orders on the go.
The new startup, now called FieldX, aims to help sales reps spend less time on administrative tasks using a voice interface. Instead of swiping between different apps, use this voice-first assistant as your co-pilot.
LegalX (codename)
LegalX, which doesn't yet have a clear name, is also joining a crowded market of companies building AI products for law firms. The largest law firms typically rely on a small number of interns to review thousands of pages, annotate documents, and prepare drafts.
Large-scale language models are a good way to extract information from large blocks of text (even if they sometimes appear hallucinatory). Therefore, it makes sense to build a product around artificial intelligence applied to these long legal documents.
OpenCertiX (code name)
If you tell your company you want to purchase a subscription to a product to help your team do better, the purchasing department will likely ask about SOC 2 certification right away. This usually means that the product is secure and handles your data appropriately.
OpenCertiX is intended to be an open source alternative to SOC 2 compliant platforms such as Vanta and Drata. As an open source product, OpenCertiX plans to offer certifications beyond SOC 2.
recce
Reki is a startup that provides products to other startups and beyond. If you are setting up a startup in France, you can take advantage of non-dilutive financing options such as the Crédit d'Impôts Recherche and the Bourse French Tech. However, depending on industry-specific subsidies, it can be difficult to determine whether your company meets the criteria.
Additionally, putting an application together can be a time-consuming process with no guarantee that it will work. With Reki, you can collect documents, create applications, and send them in hours instead of days. And of course, the company uses AI to automatically generate applications.
SleepX (codename)
SleepX plans to offer personalized sleep-related healthcare programs. Designed specifically for women who suffer from insomnia, SleepX combines cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) with data on hormonal, biological, and psychological factors.
There are no details as to what the product will look like. However, given the ubiquity of advertising for sleeping pills, the market opportunity is huge.
StandardX (code name)
StandardX is an AI startup focused on telephone customer support. Many companies now allow you to describe your problem so that you don't have to press 1, then 3, then 4 to contact the appropriate customer support department. But these voice recognition products don't significantly change the overall experience for people on a call.
StandardX has the potential to combine these conversations (speech-to-text, LLM, text-to-speech, etc.) with ERP data and overhaul them using all the buzziest AI technologies. However, you will have to wait to know more about the product.
tandem
Tandem is another customer support startup. But this time, it's all about helping users set up their accounts and data when trying out new tools. Onboarding remains a hot topic among software-as-a-Startup founders.
Therefore, Tandem plans to use AI to facilitate onboarding with personalized tips. The benefit is that your support team receives fewer support tickets. It might be Clippy, but it's actually useful.