For this first interview, Jules Gramont tells us about the UNICO solution, which was hosted at the Living-Lab Greentech in Saint-Mandé, of which he is a co-founder. UNICO offers a turnkey solution for waste collectors for optimized management of their service. The company supports local authorities, businesses, and leading associations in their local areas in a simple and sustainable way with their waste management. Hello Jules! Can you tell us about your innovative solution?UNICO
In terms of solutions, we’ve developed two main ones: UNITECH and UNINAV. Unitech is a web platform that allows you to manage all waste-related activities for a public or private sector organization. We manage resource management: drivers, vehicles, agents, and their schedules; but also asset management: where to collect, the collection points. It’s a route optimization module. All of this communicates with a mobile application, “UNINAV,” which is a field mobile application that allows for guidance, geolocation, and data transmission directly from the field to the office.
What types of clients does UNICO cater to?
We target all stakeholders in waste collection, urban cleanliness, and recycling. There are three main areas. Within the household waste sector, there is a public authority component and a private company component that collects household waste under a public service obligation. This is the case, for example, with Veolia and Suez. The second area targets all companies positioned in so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) streams, such as multi-stream collectors, tire collectors, or bio-waste collectors. Finally, the third area targets city halls and municipalities that manage urban cleanliness.“The task of every entrepreneur is to solve problems and overcome challenges.” What challenges did UNICO encounter in its development?
It was a journey fraught with challenges, full of challenges. The first challenge was implementing a solution that isn’t easy to develop. Typically, how do you recruit people with zero revenue? We also had financing issues to find a market. Then, how do we sell the solution? Now we’re focusing more on the industrialization and growth aspect. Every entrepreneur’s job is to solve problems and overcome challenges. If the solution doesn’t already exist, there are bound to be pitfalls or things to overcome.
Could you give us another example of a challenge?
UNICO
For example, the last pitfall we faced was when we had a very large client who wanted to sign a contract with us.
“The synergy between startups at the Greentech Living-lab helped us a lot.”How did the Greentech Living-lab help you accelerate UNICO’s development? Ecolab and the Living-lab helped us a lot. We already had a major exhibition last year thanks to the Living-Lab, and we were exhibited on the ECOLAB stand at Pollutec and at the Mayors’ Fair. Following Pollutec, we signed a major contract and won a tender with the city of Metz, whom we met at the fair. We then gained a lot of credibility; it allowed us to gain a slightly stronger foothold with all the public stakeholders.
What partnership are you most proud of at UNICO?
Ah! It’s the contract with Toulouse Métropole that we’re most proud of. We signed with them last year. It’s an account we identified from the very beginning of the company, and they didn’t have any digital solutions for waste management. We signed an innovative contract.
with them, and we deployed the solution on more than 100 vehicles, so really all of them. We currently have no collection agency larger than Toulouse, so we started directly with the largest. Today, everything is going well; we’re very happy, and so are they.
And what are UNICO’s next development objectives?
From a development perspective, we would like to exceed one million euros in turnover by the end of 2023 and then become the digital waste benchmark in this sector. The goal is to be everywhere across the country and to look at what’s being done in other areas, such as Belgium and Switzerland, to deploy our solutions. We’re also currently conducting impact studies on the before and after deployment of UNICO in terms of tons of CO2 and waste data. We’d really like to leverage these studies. Any final words? The synergy between the startups at the Living Lab has helped us a lot. We spoke extensively with the company EALICO, which is present at the Living-Lab. We were lucky to find them because they have more experience than us and were quick to share tips and best practices. Also, the atmosphere is great. We get along very well with Ben and Flo, who run the incubator. The atmosphere is great; it’s pleasant to work with a smile and good humor.
To learn more about UNICO:
https://www.unicofrance.com/
Jules Grammont’s profile:
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About the article series Discover the success stories of greentech startups and members of the National Greentech Incubator Network through interviews! From development to doubts, successes, and unusual stories, meet those who place the ecological transition at the heart of their professional projects.