The young Quebec technology company Vooban, specializing in applied artificial intelligence services, has just welcomed a first external investor since its founding in 2011, while the Caisse de dépôt et placement has just taken a minority stake in its capital. An association that will allow the group to expand and contribute to the digital transformation of many companies that are part of the Caisse’s investment portfolio.
The first thing I asked Kevin Moore, founder and CEO of Vooban, was to explain the origin of the company’s rather unusual name.
“It is in honor of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, a 17th century French architect and engineer who inspired the star-shaped construction of the Citadel of Quebec. We modernized it with the two O’s in reference to Google,” the tech entrepreneur simply explains to me.
Before founding Vooban in 2011, Kevin Moore worked for six years for the Japanese multinational Fujitsu (formerly DMR) at the Valcartier research center of Defense Research and Development Canada, where he was responsible for coordinating command-control research for the Canadian army.
“We had to develop decision-making software and link Fujitsu, Thales and General Dynamics. I left in 2008 to join a new group of IT developers in Quebec which didn’t work out, before setting out on my own as a consultant. That’s when I prepared the launch of Vooban with a partner,” summarizes Kevin Moore.
For two years, he and his partner at the time, Martin Langlois, continued to carry out consulting mandates while setting up their company which employed five people in 2011, mainly former Fujitsu colleagues with whom they had worked at research center in Valcartier.
However, it was in 2017-2018 that Vooban achieved a major breakthrough by rebuilding the entire logistics system of the QSL maritime group in Quebec, which operates 40 port terminals in North America, notably by incorporating artificial intelligence into operational processes. of the maritime group.
“We redid the train and truck loading systems, route management, invoicing, equipment management with telemetry. QSL is now four times bigger than in 2017 and we are still supporting them,” emphasizes Kevin Moore.
Over the past four years, Vooban has seen 50% annual revenue growth and is on track to see another big jump in sales again this year.
“We hired 47 people last year, we reached 135 employees, including 60 developers and around thirty specialists in artificial intelligence, including 20 Ph.D. We opened an office in Montreal, where 40 people work, and we plan to hire again this year,” adds the entrepreneur.
Since its founding, Vooban has always financed its growth from the revenue it generated, but the company decided to accelerate the pace through acquisitions.
“We had already had discussions with the Caisse, who wanted us to support certain companies in their investment portfolio in their digital transformation. Last year, we had a very serious purchase offer from a large Canadian group, we went back to see the Caisse and we decided to partner with them. They took a minority stake of less than 30%,” says the CEO.
Vooban was named Artificial Intelligence Service Company of the Year by the Scale AI organization last June, and has undertaken to strengthen its business intelligence services by making an acquisition.
With his new partner Hugues Foltz, executive vice-president since 2019, Kevin Moore is finalizing the acquisition of a firm of 60 specialists in the field of business intelligence.
For example, Vooban has developed a system to optimize fuel economy for Canada Steamship Lines cargo ships by detecting anomalies on the propellers. The system saved $500,000 per year on a single vessel.
The next step will be to make a breakthrough in Ontario and the United States, in the Rust Belt states and New York, where the group wants to make acquisitions to have antennas that will accelerate its expansion.
The partnership with the Caisse will also open up to Vooban the portfolio of Quebec companies in which the Caisse is a shareholder and which must achieve or accelerate their digital transformation.
“It’s a win-win for the Caisse, which wants to increase the profitability of its portfolio, and it’s a win-win for us, because it opens up a vast pool of companies where we can deploy our solutions,” observes Kevin Moore.
The tech entrepreneur makes no secret of it: Vooban regularly receives acquisition offers – almost every week – and even if the company wishes to continue its development independently, it takes the time to classify each of the proposals.
“We are not crazy, if we receive an exceptional offer, we will look at it and the Fund will also not refuse to make a significant gain on its investment. We’re not there yet, but I keep everything in mind,” says the CEO of Vooban.
Vooban’s offices are also located on the same floor as those of Levio, a Quebec IT consulting company which is also in accelerated expansion mode. Last week, during a meeting in the elevator, its president François Dion reminded Kevin Moore that they should go to lunch together soon.
“I told him that if it was to further discuss our acquisition, it was not necessary,” recounts the CEO of Vooban with a laugh.
