At an event held in Paris on April 12, 2023, attended by leading players in the French tech ecosystem, Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, laid out fresh goals for ZEBOX, the international startup accelerator, which he set up in 2018 alongside 17 major partner groups, according to the company's release.
ZEBOX has established accelerators in high-potential ecosystems to play a part in their transformation by supporting local entrepreneurs.
ZEBOX is ramping up the support it provides to local ecosystems by opening up two new hubs in Singapore and Manchester.
Following the launch of ZEBOX France during 2018 in Marseille, ZEBOX Caraïbes during 2020 in Guadeloupe, ZEBOX America in National Landing (Virginia), one of the main tech industry centers emerging in the United States, and with ZEBOX West Africa set to open shortly in Abidjan, ZEBOX will have six hubs by the end of the year.
Rodolphe Saadé also announced the launch of ZEBOX Ventures, a seed fund for French and international startups that aims to invest in around 50 startups every year. With an average deal size of €50,000 to €250,000, ZEBOX Ventures will cover a diverse range of sectors connected to ZEBOX’s main areas of focus – optimized shipping and logistics, mobility, decarbonization and the energy transition, process digitalization and AI, and the future of work.
ZEBOX and ZEBOX Ventures are joining CMA CGM’s Startup Hub to achieve seamless coordination of interactions between the Group and the startup ecosystem. Going forward, the Startup Hub will serve as a single point of entry encompassing startup acceleration and incubation with ZEBOX, investment in French and international startups with ZEBOX Ventures and digital innovation, too.
The ZEBOX community, which was originally established during 2018 in Marseille, now counts 17 partners and over 130 startups. It has helped to raise more than $235 million in funding and launched over 100 co-innovation processes between startups and corporate partners.
The CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, serves more than 420 ports around the world across 5 continents, with a fleet of 593 vessels. The Group transported 21.7 million TEU containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2022.