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. Together they are the founders of crew, a French company that allows non-developers to easily create and launch applications on mobile devices.
The two were introduced eight years ago and came together over their desire to give creatives, especially the growing class of content creators, more control over their platforms. At the time, Hoareau had already launched a prototype of Crowdaa in Réunion, the French island territory where he is originally from. “We share the same vision on what the role and contribution of technology should be for content creators and communities,” he said.
At first, Hoareau and Thomas initially created a music-focused product, but during the pandemic they pivoted to be a service for everyone. “Using Crowdaa, professional and entertainment communities can publish their apps to stores with a few clicks,” Hoareau told TechCrunch. “They own the data, the content, the users. They decide how to monetize if so.”
The company on Thursday announced an improved update with new features, including automating how users build, deploy and submit their apps to the Apple Store and Google Play. Once an app is ready and a developer account has been set up, an app is available on Apple’s Testflight within 20 minutes, Crowdaa said. The goal is to help facilitate the creation of applications, which can help open new markets.
The company says it stands out from its competitors because it allows people to create applications without extensive development resource tools with vertically integrated solutions. “We do something very specific, but we do it all the way,” Hoareau said.
The app’s ambitions are also attracting investor attention: Crowdaa recently announced a €1.2 million seed round led by Apicap. Sports teams, organizations and political parties are using Crowdaa to build their apps and better engage with consumers, the company says. The power is in the technology behind the platform: a full service, a simple drag-and-drop interface, and built-in tools to help with legal and compliance issues.
Hoareau said the fundraising process was quite difficult and talked about how difficult it is to be a Réunion founder, since continental investors in France tend to pay little attention to the territories. He and Thomas had to spend time building relationships and expanding their networks, which they could leverage, as well as entering accelerators, such as the Nvidia Inception program, which helped the company stay afloat. Other investors in the round include Tremplin Capital and Teampact Venture.
Crowdaa will use the recent fundraising to expand sales and marketing, increase its presence in France and plan a launch in the United States, which it hopes to do in the coming weeks. It is also developing an AI chat assistant. The goal is to soon work with filmmakers and record labels, bringing the company’s mission full circle.