Uzaje is deploying innovative washing centers to help caterers and the food industry get rid of single-use packaging by reusing it. 2 centers are already operational in Neuilly-sur-Marne (93) and Avignon (84).
To support its development, Uzaje has raised a new €4 million in funding from impact investors and banking partners.
Investir&+, the Banque des Territoires, France Active Investissement and private investors have today strengthened Uzaje's equity capital to better respond to the very strong demand for alternatives to single-use packaging through reuse, both in terms of consumer expectations and existing legislation (AGEC and EGALIM laws) and environmental preservation.
These new financial resources will enable the company to :
- Responding to customer needs to implement the circular economy of re-use
- Pursuing research and development efforts
- Strengthen sales teams to increase sales to 40 million euros and wash over 300 million packs within 5 years.
- Strengthen its industrial teams to continue building a network of economically and environmentally efficient wash centers across France
- Ensure the creation of over 200 non-relocatable industrial jobs, some of which will be linked to professional integration.
In this way, Uzaje promotes sustainable development. Its circular model enables the transition to resource-efficient, low-waste food, and is monitored by impact indicators both internally and for customer information.
Uzaje
"This second round of financing, following the one raised in May from the founders, will enable us to accelerate our development and meet the very strong demand for reuse solutions. This is good news for the circular economy",
Emmanuel Auberger, President and Founder of Uzaje
Invest & +
"By aligning economic, environmental, social and health dimensions, the approach deployed by Uzaje will eliminate the negative impacts of single-use food packaging from our daily lives by making reuse possible on an industrial scale. The project is backed by a solid team and a fast-growing market ".
Vincent Fauvet, President
Banque des Territoires
"Uzaje is an SSE structure offering an innovative service to meet the regulatory obligations imposed on local authorities and private players alike. This approach is fully in line with our vocation to support the creation of the infrastructure needed for our country's ecological transition, and to work towards more sustainable territories."
Linda Reboux, Head of Impact Investments
France Active
"Our movement of committed entrepreneurs has supported Uzaje since its industrial launch. We continue to support the success of this ambitious player in the ecological and social transition of the regions, and in particular the creation of jobs in the emerging trades of the circular economy.
Blandine Vulin, Solidarity Investment Officer
About Uzaje
A player in the circular economy created in 2018, Uzaje is a company that develops industrial solutions for the reuse of containers for the commercial and collective catering, industrial and food distribution sectors.
Uzaje provides simple, concrete solutions to successfully "move away from single use" and participate in the ecological transition (Egalim law, SUP Directive, AGEC law).
Uzaje is an ESUS-accredited social economy company, with Bcorp, Solar Impulse and Efficent Solution accreditations, and is a member of the TechForGood France network. www.uzaje.com
About Banque des Territoires
Created in 2018, Banque des Territoires is one of the five business lines of Caisse des Dépôts. It brings together in a single structure internal expertise aimed at territories. A single customer gateway, it offers tailored advisory and financing solutions in loans and investments to meet the needs of local authorities, social housing organizations, local public companies and the legal professions. It is aimed at all regions, from rural areas to metropolitan areas, with the ambition of combating social inequalities and territorial divides. Banque des Territoires is deployed in the 16 regional divisions and 37 local offices of Caisse des Dépôts, in order to be better identified and closer to its customers.
For more attractive, inclusive, sustainable and connected territories.
www.banquedesterritoires.fr ½ @BanqueDesTerr
About Investir & +
Investir&+ is a collective of entrepreneurs who share the conviction that business is a powerful tool for resolving certain social, environmental and societal issues in an effective and sustainable way.
Investir&+'s mission is to provide financial and strategic support to companies whose primary intention is to resolve one of these issues, with the potential for significant transformation to match the challenges they address.
Investir&+ has supported́ 27 projects, including HelloAsso, Yuka, Simplon, Murfy, Make.org, WeFight and Recyclivre.
About France Active - Le Mouvement des Entrepreneurs Engagés
For more than 30 years, France Active has carried the vision of a transformative economy that creates links. An economy that gives a place to everyone, offering those who want it the power to undertake. An economy that puts its performance at the service of its social and ecological impact. An economy that is at the level of the individual and that thinks big thanks to the power of the collective that drives it. And above all, an economy that can be counted on through the 30,000 entrepreneurs it supports, the 58,000 jobs it creates and the 410 million euros it has mobilized for the year 2020 alone. At once a banking player and an association, a guarantor and an investor, anchored locally with its network of 35 regional associations and able to act on a national scale, France Active operates at the crossroads of public policies and private initiatives. Mobilizing employees and volunteers, France Active has a singular model that draws on the diversity of its stakeholders. This singularity allows us to advise and finance companies committed to all their diversity.
For more information: franceactive.org