Dall'Europa alla conquista dei mercati globali: la storia di Julien Villemonteix e UpSlide

·25 min·2 clips

Julien Villemonteix reveals how his European scale-up Upslide is changing how investment banks produce documents with AI.

The episode of Eurofocus features an interview with Julien Villemonteix, CEO of Upslide, conducted by host Giorgio Rutelli. Upslide is a French company that creates Microsoft add-ins for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook, specifically for the M&A ecosystem including bankers, financial advisors, and private equity firms. Villemonteix, who was employee number one and evolved from developer to CEO, outlines the company's history, noting it is 12 years old with 180 employees and offices in the US, London, Paris, Berlin, and Singapore. The company has €35 million in recurring revenue and has grown organically without external funding, with a recent secondary investment from Partech in 2023. A key focus is the US market, which represents 50% of Upslide's addressable market, and the company aims to stay verticalized in financial services. AI is a major theme, with Villemonteix explaining how it transforms workflows in banking, potentially reducing analyst numbers but increasing document output. He highlights a gap in transitioning from AI research tools to Office document creation, which Upslide aims to bridge. The company is developing an AI review module for consistency checks in documents like due diligence reports, addressing quality concerns in high-stakes deals. Villemonteix discusses the importance of data security and fencing sensitive information from open AI models. He also touches on future multimodal interactions, where users might command software verbally instead of clicking. Competitively, Upslide's strategy involves staying close to customers, focusing on AI reviewing, and investing in customer service for successful rollouts. The conversation shifts to Upslide's European roots, with Villemonteix noting the appointment of Italian Matteo as CPO and the advantages of multicultural teams for global client acquisition. Challenges include adapting to US business culture, hiring sales talent, and managing higher employee churn compared to Europe. Growth plans for the next year include acquiring 100 new logos in core verticals worldwide and experimenting with expanding to financial divisions of large corporations. The episode concludes with Rutelli thanking Villemonteix and noting future follow-ups.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Eurofocus