[Every month, discover the portrait of a 🌍CS Alumni impact entrepreneur in collaboration with CentraleSupélec Alumni]
It's hard to imagine a more spectacular showcase than the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As one of 20 startups selected for the 'JOP Paris 2024' call for innovations, led by France Mobilités, FinX shone on this occasion by unveiling to the world a made-in-France, bio-sourced vessel named Imagine, the final river leg of the Torch relay, with Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams on board.
The startup is firmly steered by an entrepreneur as fascinating as he is passionate: Harold Guillemin. While his nighttime dreams might mix mermaids and unicorns, this ESME Sudria alumnus, who completed the specialized master's program Centrale-ESSEC Entrepreneurs, certainly has his feet on the ground (and his head in the sea). He, who describes himself as driven by 'an ardent desire to live in a better, gentler world,' found a reason to become an entrepreneur in biomimicry.
"After 300 years of propeller dominance, we are sketching out a maritime world more inspired by nature, a kind of return to our roots," he explains. FinX already employs over twenty people. In 2023, it joined the prestigious French Tech 2030 circle.
"Inspiration is nothing without luck"
The undulating membrane of FinX, inspired by the way animal fins work, offers many advantages on paper. "The fin-based boat engine is safer (no propeller, no chopping hazard) and offers great robustness due to the absence of rotating mechanical parts," explains Harold Guillemin. Being electric, it also provides a decarbonized outlook for the marine industry.
As is often the case, this small revolution is the result of a long journey of circumstances, encounters... but also luck. "Inspiration is nothing without luck," Harold Guillemin even believes. "By winning first prize in a raffle at the age of 13, I told myself I was a lucky person, and I've cultivated that idea ever since!" Evidently, it has helped him forge his path.
Of course, his strength also lies, first and foremost, in his vision and work ethic. In 2014, with his degree in hand, Harold Guillemin began by joining Wavera, a startup founded by his father Erik Guillemin and the late Jean-Baptiste Drevet, who originated the principle of the undulating membrane pump. This unique technology would, for example, be sold to the medical sector to create micro-pumps for cardiac assistance. But after 5 years in the role of technical manager, Harold Guillemin felt the urge to move on. "I was absolutely convinced by the technology's potential and I loved research, but as a young engineer and Breton sailor, I wanted to apply it to a field close to my heart," he recounts.
The year is 2018. The young engineer bought a license from Wavera's co-founders, including his father, then left to "strengthen his entrepreneurial skills." He then enrolled in the MS Centrale-ESSEC Entrepreneurs, under the direction of a certain Jean-François Galloüin, who has since become a member of FinX's advisory board and a trusted advisor to Harold Guillemin. "This training helped me gain confidence and better understand how to sell a project. If I had to do it again, I'd do it a hundred times," he confides. Jean-François Galloüin was the first to advise him to simplify his pitch, for example, to speak of a fin rather than an undulating membrane. As a result, FinX was better able to make itself understood "and inspire dreams."
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The clear advantage of Made in France
Harold Guillemin founded FinX in June 2019. Accelerated by Wilco and CentraleSupélec, the small team gained access to the FabLab LaFabrique, to create prototypes and certain parts of the future engine. On the financial side of the venture, Harold Guillemin was lucky (again!) to be able to count on the trust of a banker from the very beginning. "I had no cash," he recalls. "He granted me a student loan, which allowed me to prime the pump. I used this initial small contribution to create leverage and reassure. Investing in my project myself from the start with this loan showed everyone that I believed in it." Thanks to this determination and good connections, Harold Guillemin and FinX soon attracted business angels, as well as the "pope" of biomimicry, Alain Renaudin, and sailor Loïck Peyron, "who brought a new dimension in terms of image and communication."
Ultimately, Harold Guillemin is fueled primarily by optimism and conviction. For him, manufacturing in France is a natural choice, which also helped secure valuable support from Bpifrance. With its headquarters in Le Havre, the startup has also attracted a pool of investors from Normandy, the region where its Fin S engine (4HP-2kW) is produced. Over time, the company has built a network of subcontractors within a 150 km radius, "proving that Made in France manufacturing is possible in industry."
Conquering the Outboard Market
Next objective: produce the new Fin E engine (150HP-110kW). Harold Guillemin is confident that "growth will come from the outboard market with this type of propulsion system." To achieve this and learn from the best, the startup even partnered with an automotive manufacturer. And in April, in a move that was more than symbolic, several Fin S engines were shipped to New York aboard a Grain de Sail cargo sailboat, another French startup determined to revolutionize the marine and nautical industry. Fins and sails, like a foretaste of the ideal nautical world that guides Harold Guillemin every day.
FinX at a glance…
- Founded in 2019 by Harold Guillemin;
- Winner of the France 2030 i-Lab (2020), i-Nov (2021), I-Demo (Corimer, 2022) innovation competitions;
- Winner of the "JOP 2024" Call for Innovations, led by France Mobilités in 2021
- Member of the first French Tech 2030 cohort, in June 2023;
- Included in the French Blue Tech Index cohort in December 2023, led by the French Maritime Cluster, under the high patronage of Hervé Berville;
- Exported to the United States in April 2024 aboard Grain de Sail II;
- Participation in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the bio-sourced, Made in France vessel "Imagine," accessible to people with reduced mobility.
- Release of FinX's second book, "En Osmose - Au cœur de l'infiniment précieux" (In Osmosis - At the Heart of the Infinitely Precious), in summer 2024. Available for free download here!
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