Xavier PAIN
Chief Executive Officer

Xavier PAIN, Tell us about Gulplug :

XP : "Startup Gulplug was founded in 2014 in France as a Schneider Electric spinoff. We sell two innovative solutions: :

• « Save It Yourself®», a plug-and-play-style energy monitoring and savings solution for industrial and property energy managers that leverages an innovative wireless and batteryless sensor
• « selfplug® » a magnetic outlet that can be used to automatically plug in industrial robots and electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles."

What made you decide to join Minalogic ?

XP : "Certification by a cluster like Minalogic is crucial when it comes to getting our partners—whether it is the French government, ADEME (the national energy agency), Bpifrance, banks, investors, or industrial partners—to support our innovation projects. Gulplug projects have also been certified by clusters Plastipolis, Tenerrdis, and LUTB.

Minalogic was the first cluster to give us their vote of confidence and their support. As a member of Minalogic, Gulplug gets promoted, of course. And Minalogic also certified PRIMA, our first collaborative R&D project. Customers have come to us through the Minalogic network, and we also found Franck Robert, our legal counsel, through Minalogic".

What collaborative R&D projects are you involved in ? How are you contributing ?

XP : "Gulplug is a partner of ARaymond on the PRIMA collaborative R&D project alongside Fenwick, Renault, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Setup Performance, and AD Majoris. The project, certified by clusters Minalogic and Plastipolis, was set up to reestablish France as the global leader in plastic magnets. The total budget is €4 million, which includes €1.8 million in government funding.

For Gulplug, the project represents €440 K in government funding via Bpifrance and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Council. It will make magnetic socket outlets faster and easier to manufacture, which will bring costs down. This is vital to being where we need to be on the market—a goal we are very close to reaching."

What services have you used since joining Minalogic ?

XP : "In addition to Minalogic’s support on the PRIMA project, the cluster has also actively promoted Gulplug at its events. The predictive maintenance meeting was particularly useful to us. We got a chance to present Gulplug to a well-qualified audience and meet with key contacts. I won some new customers at the event !"

What kinds of partnerships are you looking for as a Minalogic member ? Business ? Innovation ?

XP : "What matters most to an early-stage startup like Gulplug is raising our profile and establishing our credibility with the innovation ecosystem."