Sens Technologies will grow in a new site in Verrières-en-Anjou – Le Journal des Entreprises – Maine-et-Loire

Sens Technologies keeps pushing the walls! This company was launched in Paris 13 years ago “by a group of friends who needed computers for their studies”, confides Juliette Vogler, general manager of Sens Technologies. One of them being from Maine-et-Loire, the company migrated to Angers in 2017, settling in premises in the city center. “We were three in 70 square meters, remembers the leader, and it was too big for us! But quickly, we started to grow.” To the point of employing 110 people to date and now occupying four Apple computer reconditioning sites, three in Écouflant and one in Beaucouzé. While waiting for the construction in Verrières-en-Anjou of a factory whose work should begin this year, for an installation hoped for in the fall of 2024. “We have acquired a plot of 10,000 square meters, indicates Juliette Vogler, and we are going to construct a 3,500 square meter building. The project costs between 3.5 and 4 million euros and we are accompanied by a banking pool, with the support of the developer Alter, of the development agency Aldev or Bpifrance.”

Cap on 100 million euros in turnover

In this future site, where Sens Technologies plans to settle after the summer of 2024, the company will bring together all its teams in one place and optimize its activity. “We will be able to develop in new sectors and new products such as tablets or brands other than Apple, adds Juliette Vogler, and also have a preparation area dedicated to the B to B market that we have launched. We we are projecting a turnover of 100 million euros within 4 years.” The company ended its last financial year around 30 million euros, up 40% compared to the previous year, and intends to continue by activating several levers. First, the natural increase in activity. Sens Technologies should recondition around 100,000 Apple computers this year, compared to 65,000 in 2022. The company sources them from all over Europe, by buying business parks or constituted batches, which it then reconditions in its workshops. “We have developed our own reconditioning methods, explains Juliette Vogler, with our own team of developers. The data is first erased in certain and inadmissible ways, then software that we have developed in-house makes it possible to evaluate all the computer features and detail what needs to be repaired. We then refurbish with new or used parts. Indeed, we also buy back a lot of computers for parts.”

Subsidiaries in UK and USA

Sens Technologies offers a catalog of more than 17,000 products, which are then resold in B to C via its website, Okamac.com, or on platforms such as Back Market, the website of Fnac, Darty… “Our products are present on more than 45 different sites, specifies Juliette Vogler, for 65% in France. The rest is sold in Europe. When the company was launched, we started to sell on our own before being approached by the platforms. This has allowed us to surf on their growth. A year and a half ago, we redesigned our website to boost our direct sales again. They have gone from 4% of our activity in 2021 to more than 10% in 2022. The objective is to make more than 30% of our turnover on Okamac.com.” For this, the Angevin company also aims to translate its site into English, Spanish and German, to strengthen its sales in Europe. And it will also go further, by opening a website this year in the United Kingdom. Initially, all support functions will be carried out at the Angers headquarters, and the objective is to eventually create, within one or two years, a subsidiary on site. “And we are going to do the same thing in the United States in two to three years, adds Juliette Vogler. These are two markets in which we are not, and in the United States, there are essentially small players. there is therefore a real potential for development with also a significant sourcing activity.”

A brand for B to B

Beyond the B to C activity, which still represents by far the bulk of Sens Technologies’ sales, the Angevin company now also wants to develop on the B to B market. It still represents less than 10 % of sales, but it was only launched in 2022. Since then, a brand has been created, Sens IT, which will only target professionals. “We are going to approach resellers, SMEs and IT distributors, specifies Juliette Vogler. The objective within two years is for B to C sales to represent half of our turnover.” To do this, the young company from Angevin intends to convince companies to acquire a fleet of reconditioned equipment rather than investing in new equipment. “In B to C, indicates the manager, it is the price which is preponderant for the customer. In B to B, it comes after the impact and the CSR aspect represented by the purchase of reconditioned equipment.” By acquiring a specific brand, Sens Technologies therefore wants to accelerate on its two markets with dedicated services for each. For this, she also makes herself more and more visible, she who until then preferred to remain a little discreet. At the same time, its growth and development can no longer leave it in the shadows. Especially since it has just joined the 2023 class of the French Tech Next 40/120 state support program, dedicated to French start-ups capable of becoming world-class technological leaders.