“I’m looking for a tasting place in my city, I come across a wine merchant, then I choose a niche, a number of people, I connect and voila, I can book my tasting“, proudly sells Ruddy Lassalle in three clicks. The assurance of the entrepreneur does not prevent him from recognizing, together with the other co-founder Laurent de Keranrouë, that with LaDegust.fr”we didn’t invent anything“.
The startup, thought since July 2020, completed its second fundraising round in early December, for an amount of 500,000 euros. Objectives: switch to an application and deploy on tasting universes other than wine. The co-founders claim that 400 people have created an account on LaDegust.fr since the launch in June 2021, for a development that “follows established forecasts“.
Subscription up to 80 euros per month
The site is based on a listing, like Booking.com, of 5,000 wine tasting places throughout France at wine merchants, wine growers or wine bars. And surfs on a desire of customers to re-frequent atypical places after a period confined and always tense from a health point of view. “We found it surprising that there is nothing around the booking of the tasting for epicureans“, explains Laurent de Keranrouë.
Increasing the tasting experience is however a niche prized by other “wine tech” stratups such as Yes We Wine, also based in Bordeaux, which offers an application in the form of a directory and rating for wine lovers. Thanks to the data collection, tasters and producers have the references of a wine according to the opinions and ratings referenced on the application.
If the co-founders of LaDegust.fr say they have not invented anything, it is because their model, “halfway between traditional SMEs and digital startups“, is inspired by SEO figures. The service, free while the platform gains visibility, will pay for professionals from March 2022.
“We looked at what was already working: Booking.com, Airbnb, La Fourchette … That’s how we built our business model“, recalls Ruddy Lasalle.
Ruddy Lasalle, on the left, and Laurent de Keranrouë, on the right, have set up their startup rue Mably, in the center of Bordeaux. (Credits: Maxime Giraudeau)
And this is where the future of the company is played out since it will be necessary to convince the referenced to opt for a subscription, with several offers ranging between 30 and 80 euros per month. “Professionals have known this model from the start and some have already planned their subscription“, assures the pair, confident. With formulas which allow, according to the subscription price, to be more or less well referenced and put forward on the platform. For individuals, LaDegust.fr therefore does not take direct commission on a reservation made via its site Only one euro is donated to the Vendanges solidaires association, which helps winegrowers face the effects of climate change.
“Disincubation”
The two entrepreneurs particularly believe in the capacity of their project to create convivial and meeting spaces. An event offering that could help increase the user community and promote high visibility among interested professionals. It is this showcase that the site will now have to embellish and which will be the justice of the peace of its viability.
With its ten investors who voluntarily came forward to enter the capital, the startup seems to have guarantees on the viability of the model it offers. “Rather certainties than assurance“, corrects Ruddy Lasalle. It is in particular for this speed of development that it has emancipated itself from the incubation started at Bordeaux Technowest. The company, which has six employees including three work-study students, is now counting on a figure forecast business of 120,000 euros in 2022 then 350,000 euros in 2023.
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Wine tech: the new tasting “Booking” emerges in Bordeaux