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Florian BRETON, MiiMOSA, the agricultural transition for the great challenges of humanity. Portrait

Florian BRETON is the founder of MiiMOSA, the first crowdfunding platform dedicated to agriculture and food. Born in Perpignan, he grew up in a family of winemakers. Also, from an early age, he developed a sensitivity for the agricultural world… During his youth, he worked in agriculture, arboriculture and market gardening.

Experiences that forge his taste for the trades of the land and put him in the face of the difficulties faced by professionals, especially with regard to the financing of the agricultural transition food and energy. However, it was initially in all other professions and universes that Florian launched his career as soon as he graduated. History will show us, however, that sometimes it is better to listen and return to one’s first love…

MiiMOSA, Together for Our Agriculture and Food

Florian BRETON, media parenthesis and return to basics

Although immersed in the agricultural world, Florian BRETON began his management studies at the end of high school. He then wants to build himself around general professional skills. Mastering finance, commerce, marketing, communication… For good reason, already, it feeds the ultimate desire to undertake in the agricultural sector. It is with this intention that he graduated in 2008 at Kedge Business School Marseille.

Seduced by the idea of learning from big business, he leaves time asideagriculture to devote himself to his second passion, the media. Thus, he joined large groups in Paris where he worked for nearly 8 years.

At Orange, Florian is responsible for sports rights acquisitions in football. From 2011, he joined the M6 Group to support the media group’s diversification strategy. Made of trade missions, this experience is notably an opportunity to develop its address book. So it weaves relationships with players from various sectors, starting with finance and agriculture…

Funding the agricultural transition and re-creating a link

Launched into a promising career in the major French media groups, Florian BRETON is finally caught up in the desire to undertake in agriculture and agri-food. He himself comes from this background, and knows all too well the need to change funding. And for good reason, agriculture is undergoing major upheavals, involving radical transitions, both ecological, social and economic. Change is underway, but funding has not changed in a century.

Since the end of the 19th century, the agricultural sector has used credit. The farm dates back to antiquity and the sharecropping of the Middle Ages. Of course there was the creation of the CAP in the 1950s, but the financing of the agricultural sector has not really changed in the last century when agriculture has never needed so much change in this sector.

Florian BRETON

Driven by the desire to bring producers, consumers and citizens closer together, he finds it profoundly “unfair” to marginalize a world that feeds the population.

People have been disconnected from the agricultural sector for two or three generations and forget its value.

Florian wants to re-create the link between consumers and project owners, to reconnect with a social bond.

Crowdfunding of a profound societal evolution

In 2010, Florian BRETON noted the arrival in France of the first crowdfunding platforms in the music world. Gradually, other platforms are developing to reach new sectors of activity. He sees these innovations as an excellent way to develop alternative financing methods, with banks being particularly cautious since the 2008 crisis.

The idea is the brains out of a platform dedicated to the agricultural transition. Beyond financing, he also sees it as a real lever for revealing projects and problems, as well as as a way to accelerate the sector’s transition. However, the market is still unripe and rural areas are not very connected.

Don’t be right too soon. Sometimes it is better to take the time to put things in place to ensure a good consistency of the product and the market. Launching a digital medium for an unconnected agricultural world didn’t make sense.

Florian BRETON is therefore developing his project while listening to market developments. At the same time, he is witnessing the emergence in France of the desire for local and meaning in consumption patterns.

A true societal trend, accelerated and amplified by models like AMAPs. Quickly, the lights go green: participatory finance is democratizing; rural areas are increasingly connected; the emergence of the food subject is confirmed.

Also, at the end of 2013, Florian made the decision to leave his job to devote himself to what would become MiiMOSA… The company was officially founded in 2015 and quickly enjoyed a revealing hyper-growth.

MiiMOSA, different scales, different solutions

At launch, MiiMOSA is a platform modeled after the most widespread and mainstream funding model. It therefore selects projects for funding through donation with consideration in kind: products, stays… From the outset, the platform covers a wide range of trades. Market gardening, livestock, beekeeping, artisanal food production… Agriculture still represents 7 out of 10 projects financed on MiiMOSA.

The donation model allows project owners to raise between 1,000 and 150,000 euros, mainly between 5,000 and 15,000 euros. Also, Florian notes that it quite meets small and medium-sized financing needs. For the larger ones, however, the donation reaches its limits and the fundraising must often be accompanied by the banks. But these are proving to be less and less cooperative, responding to increased regulatory pressure since the 2008 crisis.

Florian BRETON then undertakes to launch a second crowdfunding solution to offer a creditoffer. MiiMOSA therefore obtains various approvals from French regulators. It becomes an intermediary in crowdfunding, which allows individuals to lend money. In addition, the platform obtains AMF accreditation which allows any legal person to lend money (companies, foundations, funds, SCI…). Thanks to this, Florian is launching its credit offer in spring 2018.

Agricultural transition, making sense of your savings

This offer of credit gives project owners the opportunity to find a lender to a host of people, “micro-banker consumers”. Which lend to projects selected by the MiiMOSA banking team. To convince consumers, loans are rewarded with an interest-only repayment of an average of 4%.

The refund lasts between 3 and 5 years. Thus, in addition to being a more attractive offer than an A booklet, this credit offer allows consumers to make sense of their savings, power. With the credit, MiiMOSA changes scale and now funds projects between 100,000 euros and 1 million euros.

The concept of “agricultural transition” is central to MiiMOSA. The agricultural transition is a response to the great challenges of humanity: humanitarian, demographic, environmental and climate, health…

When we said that, we realize that the farmer is at the heart of the major issues of the 21st century. It is important for us to open up opportunities especially to the general public. People don’t necessarily understand yet that their savings are almost as important as their daily consumption.

More than attracting individuals, MiiMOSA also attracts the attention of companies’ CFOs. Which seek to make profitable investments, not volatile, but also transparent. In a logic of social and environmental responsibility, companies also intend to become actors of the agricultural transition while paying their cash.

A burgeoning MiiMOSA team for unbridled development

Five years after its creation, MiiMOSA has a team of 35 people. Florian BRETON expects to open 15 new positions soon. Currently, the financing platform has a main office in Paris and two more in Brussels and Lyon. In the near future, he wants to open offices in Bordeaux and Montpellier or Toulouse. A second key office in Aix-en-Provence will support the one in Paris.

The objective: to decentralize representation, to be as close as possible to the territories,to get closer to the producers.

To expand his team, Florian looks for different profiles and expertise. They will complement the marketing and communication, technical and product departments (which manages the operation of the platforms), operations (which handles projects in matching), development (for credit), credit (for file analysis, as well as miiMOSA’s financial management. A strengthening of the teams mainly to accompany the commercial development on the credit part.

Business model and influence strategy towards the transition of the agri-food industry

MiiMOSA’s business model is based mainly on a system of commissions on funded projects, but not only… On the financing side, the platform collects 8% of the collections in donations, and 3 to 4% of the collections in loans.

Credit project financing now accounts for the vast majority of the platform’s operations. However, beyond commissioning, MiiMOSA also works with agri-food and cosmetics professionals, who are concerned about the transition of their supply chains.

This is the case, for example, with Carrefour and its Act For Food initiative. In this context, we can offer consulting services, calls for projects, or the creation of a financing platform in grey brand “powered by miimosa”. They then have their own financing platform with their own farmers, allowing them to involve consumers.

Among the platforms already in place, Florian BRETON mentions jeparticipe.carrefour.com, or bledina.miimosa.com for the Danone Group. The latter aims in particular at the renewal of generations of farmers and the arboreal sectors in France.

More than an economic offer for MiiMOSA, it is actually a real strategy of influence. The platform can thus be reached for all players in the food chain, especially distributors and manufacturers, to involve them in the transition of their supply chain.

MiiMOSA investment fund to accelerate project financing

By adding credit to its mid-2018 offering, MiiMOSA quickly benefited from strong growth. To date, the platform has supported more than 3,500 projects. A world record for a thematic platform. It has 300,000 donor, lender, and project leaders.

Each year, it doubles its turnover and continues to project itself with significant prospects. By the end of 2020, MiiMOSA has accumulated 40 million financings since its launch, including 20 million in 2020 alone.

Largely driven by its credit offering, the development of the platform will intensify further as credit will continue to grow. For good reason, the arrival of a new solution. Florian and his team are currently working on the establishment of a fund with 50 million euros.

It will aim to finance credit collections of more than 100,000 euros. Rather than systematically going through individuals, a fund is created that houses investors’ funds. We will then have a co-financing of individuals and the fund.

This fund is intended to welcome the investments of professionals mainly. Florian wants to facilitate their investments by leaving it to MiiMOSA’s discretion to invest their money intelligently.

Companies often do not have the time or the inclination to select projects themselves. Unlike individuals who appreciate choosing the cause to support. With this fund, we simplify the investment process of professionals.

Also, through the creation of this fund, MiiMOSA takes control of the temporality of decision-making. Otherwise, the platform is dependent on company procedures. By pooling professional investments in a fund, MiiMOSA significantly reduces project financing times. It is also a new change of scale that is looming. In the next four years, Florian aims to contribute almost half a billion euros to the agricultural transition.

MiiMOSA, New Aquitaine at the heart of the development of the financing platform

MiiMOSA’s activity is spread throughout the country, as well as in Belgium. However, it is particularly intense in New Aquitaine. This region alone has 8 million euros in funding, 60,000 members out of 300,000 and nearly 700 projects.

New Aquitaine accounts for almost 20% of the activity. This is due to the agricultural and agri-food territorial dynamics,but also to the size of the region.

To further occupy this key region, Florian plans to recruit a person based in New Aquitaine to be as close as possible to project owners and individuals. With the mission of ensuring MiiMOSA’s representation to current customers, future customers, but also partners such as agricultural chambers, trade unions, support networks… As well as organizing events around MiiMOSA with members.

On the event side, the platform has already had the opportunity to open a pop-up shop in Le Marais in Paris. Having been a real success, the experience had to be repeated in Paris, but also in Bordeaux and Lyon.

Originally planned for spring 2020, it was postponed until Christmas and then indefinitely until the Covid crisis subsided. These ephemeral shops are a meeting place between producers and consumers. They invite members to come and discover the products they have funded.

Florian BRETON, giving back to agriculture

I launched this venture to revolutionize the financing of agriculture and accompany the transition, respond to the great challenges of humanity. My development depends on the development of the team, the company, its raison d’être…

Florian BRETON readily admits: MiiMOSA is also an opportunity to leave a positive mark in a sector that has fascinated him since he was a child.

Agriculture is one of the promising sectors of the French economy. Indeed, it makes it possible to provide the raw materials of the food. Healthy products from sustainable agriculture. Faced with the desire to eat better, but especially local, it is initiatives like MiiMOSA that make all the difference. Especially to support farmers who need support to get started. With more than 3800 projects already funded and 40 million euros collected… MiiMOSA is a committed player in agriculture.

Increase livestock to meet consumer demand, install solar panels on farms… So many projects as ethical as they are innovative, and this, throughout France. These steps also encourage tourism, to discover farms. A new destination that seduces, or a useful way to raise consumer awareness?

Contact :

“Together for nore agriculture and our food” Miimosa

Photo credits: Anne-Claire HERAUD, Welcome to the Jungle, Romain BUISSON

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