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  4. Whympr raises €440K with SKEMA Ventures and Sowefund’s support

Whympr raises €440K with SKEMA Ventures and Sowefund’s support

Whympr, an application dedicated to mountain enthusiasts cofounded by SKEMA Business School alumnus Timothy MacLean, recently concluded an equity crowdfunding campaign through which it raised a whooping €440,000.

The campaign, which began in September 2019, had been initiated by Tim and was organized with the support of SKEMA Ventures and its partner Sowefund.

Whympr is a mobile app startup based in Chamonix that helps communities of mountain activities enthusiasts to plan their adventures. It gives them access to descriptions of over thousands of summits and routes. It helps them not only to keep track of their outings but also to share their experiences with their friends and relatives.

Whympr-Timothy MacLean

Whympr provides free access to more than 40,000 itineraries and offers premium services such as offline or professional topographic maps to its community of 30,000 members (currently growing by 1,500 users every month).

The passionate founders, comprising Timothy and a board of seasoned entrepreneurs with experience in the field, are targeting around 100 million mountain enthusiasts worldwide who use their mobile while pursuing their passion. Interestingly, over a third of these potential customers are ready to pay for a service.

Tim MacLean-Whympr-SKEMA Ventures

A grand success led by Timothy MacLean

Thanks to Tim’s energy and passion, the equity crowdfunding campaign was closed in just three months and the initial objective of €400,000 was overfunded due to overwhelming support.

Among the 97 individual investors who have supported Whympr’s development, 82 belong to the Sowefund / SKEMA Business School community.

“This fundraising round is the fruit of two years of hard work and many encounters. We are pleased and grateful to have had SKEMA by our side to help us achieve this milestone. Being an alumnus from the entrepreneurship program, I am very proud to have been the first startup that benefitted from the SKEMA Ventures and Sowefund partnership,” said Tim.

Whympr app-Timothy MacLean

Georges Viglietti, a co-founder of Sowefund, added, “As an alumnus of SKEMA, I am pleased that the first campaign through the partnership between SKEMA Ventures and Sowefund has been a success. In addition to the investors’ community of Sowefund and the network of Tim, SKEMA’s alumni contributed immensely to the fundraising campaign.”

Philippe Chereau, director of SKEMA Ventures, commented, “This first fundraising campaign with Sowefund illustrates the power of SKEMA Ventures family’s network, committed to support and accelerate the entrepreneurial projects of SKEMA entrepreneurs. Whympr will continue to benefit from the value chain we have developed at all our campuses, which includes SKEMA alumni and partners across the world.”

After concluding the campaign, the Whympr team flew to participate in CES 2020 in Las Vegas.

SKEMA Ventures

SKEMA Ventures is a business unit created by SKEMA Business School dedicated to impact entrepreneurship and innovation. Through a unique value chain, that encompasses teaching, coaching, incubation, and acceleration, SKEMA Ventures allows each SKEMA student and alumni to think, design, test and launch an impactful entrepreneurial project in a global context, on six innovative territories on four continents, benefiting from the best of each local ecosystem. With SKEMA Ventures, GloCal impact entrepreneurship is born! Watch this video to know more

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