Vigile Hoareau is a musician, cognitive psychologist, and computer programmer. Jimmy Thomas is a multi-platinum rap producer who has worked with Tupac and Motown Records. The two co-founded Crowdaa, a French company that makes it easy for non-developers to create and release mobile apps.
The two met eight years ago and hit it off over their desire to give control of the platform to rising creators, especially content creators. At the time, O'Arrow had already launched a prototype of Crowdaa in his hometown of Réunion, an island in France. “We shared the same vision of the role and contribution technology should play for content creators and communities,” O'Arrow said.
Initially, Hoalo and Thomas were building a product focused on music, but pivoted during the pandemic to become a service for everyone. “Crowdaa allows professional and entertainment communities to publish their apps to the store in just a few clicks,” Hoalo told TechCrunch. “They own the data, the content, and the users. They decide how to monetize it.”
The company on Thursday announced an improved update with new features, including automating how users build, deploy and submit apps to the Apple Store and Google Play. Once an app is ready and a developer account is set up, it can be available on Apple's Testflight within 20 minutes, Crowdaa said. The goal is to make app building easier and open up new markets.
The company says its vertically integrated solution gives it an edge over competitors because it lets users create apps without extensive development resource tools. “We do something very specific, and we do it thoroughly,” Hoa Lo said.
The app's ambitions have also caught the attention of investors, with Crowdaa recently announcing a €1.2 million seed round led by Apicap. The company says sports teams, associations and political parties are using Crowdaa to create apps to better engage with consumers. Its power lies in the technology behind the platform: full-stack services, a simple drag-and-drop interface and integrated tools to help with legal and compliance.
Mr. Orreau said the funding process was quite difficult and talked about the difficulties of being a founder from Réunion, as investors from mainland France tend not to pay much attention to Réunion. He and Thomas have had to spend time building relationships and expanding the network they can tap into. He also participated in accelerators such as the Nvidia Inception program, which helped the company stay afloat. Other investors in the round include Tremplin Capital and his Teamact Ventures.
Crowdaa plans to use the recently raised funds to expand sales and marketing, strengthen its presence in France, and plan to launch in the United States in the coming weeks. The company is also building an AI chatbox assistant. The company's goal is to soon work with filmmakers and music labels to complete its mission.