Yapla’s new offices are now located in Rosemont, a stone’s throw from Beaubien cinema and Molson Park. It is a district strongly popular with residents and local shops, but not exactly by international expanding companies. Why did you choose this place?
Among others because Pascal Jarry judges him particularly pleasant for his employees, to whom he asked to return to work at the office at least one day a week.
“We needed a home port, and the district here is really extraordinary, with the cinema, the park, the small shops and so on. If I wanted to impose the return, it was necessary that, to a certain extent, the place was quite pleasant, ”said the founder of the company, who once rented offices in the Mile End.
He also had a business opportunity: Yapla joined forces with the Rosemont BC4 real estate company to buy the building, located Coin Beaubien and ecoes, and which now has the name of the company in large orange letters. This is where the sixty employees of the company are found, at intervals that vary depending on whether they are in Montreal, elsewhere in the province … or on the other side of the ocean.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
“If I wanted to impose the return [au bureau]it was necessary that, to a certain extent, the place was quite pleasant, ”says the founder of Yapla.
World objective
The last time The press spoke of Yapla, it was in the spring of 2024, while the company launched on the Italian market.
As a reminder: Yapla’s product is an all-in-one payment and management platform that allows non-profit organizations to create a website, make their accounts, manage events and members, receive donations or send newsletters.
Its financing model is of the “Robin des Bois” type, launches, laughing a little Pascal Jarry. That is to say that 95 % of customers use the free version of Yapla, and the 5 % of remaining organizations subscribe to one of the paid versions and finance the company’s services.
These organizations are generally larger and have more extensive needs – think of a professional order, a hospital or university foundation.
Growth by France
Pascal Jarry is a computer scientist by training, and he had the idea of creating the Yapla platform by chaining associative customers who all had similar needs, and not so many means to hire a team that takes care of all these famous “related tasks”.
As he worked in France for six years before launching his business in Montreal, he seemed natural to develop first towards the French market rather than to Ontario or the United States.
He did well: a partnership with the French Bank Crédit Agricole, which has become a minority shareholder in Yapla and which distributes technology to its customers, allowed him to seek several new accounts. Currently, Yapla has 80,000 customers, when in 2024, 50,000 was.
“France is an important vector of growth,” says Pascal Jarry, who aims for annual growth in transactions and the use of the 40 %platform.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
Pascal Jarry, founder and CEO of Yapla
As for the Italian market, the entrepreneur notes that organizations and associations are generally much less digitized there than in North America and France. Only 20 % of the Italian customers of Yapla uses the functions of online transactions, while in Quebec, it is almost all of the organizations that do it.
“So we do a lot of information in Italy. But it also means that there are not many players on the market there. We therefore put efforts to convince, explain, train, we give a lot of webinaries … But the potential is really interesting for us because we occupy the market before people realize that they need it, so when they will realize it, we will already be there, “he says.
The volume of annual transactions managed by Yapla exceeds 100 million. If he wants to pursue his growth goals, Pascal Jarry will possibly have to attack the English -speaking market.
It is already started: a marketing specialist has been hired in Toronto, and will lead the expansion projects first to Ontario, then probably next year to the United States.
Butter infused in grocery store
Photo provided by butter
Stéphanie Bélanger and Lounes Laoudi embark on business with flavored butter capsules.
A couple of entrepreneurs has just launched the butters, a company that markets flavored butter capsules offered in four flavors, such as “forest truffle” or “candied lemon and fine herbs”. Stéphanie Bélanger and Lounes Laoudi were disappointed to see that the grocery offer is generally limited to garlic butter, which made them want to get started. The products are already on sale in some Metro and IGA, and entrepreneurs already have future plans: the opening of a processing plant in Quebec by 2026, the development of a vegan product as well as entry into the hotel market, restaurants and institutions.
Acquisition for Acti-Sol
Photo provided by Acti-Sol
Paul Pomerleau and Claudia Désilets, respectively managing director and president of Acti-Sol, pose with the product ranges of the two companies which now only form.
The Acti-Sol company, which manufactures and markets natural fertilizers, has acquired natural mcinnes fertilizers, also specialists in the production of natural fertilizers. “This transaction allows us to expand our range of manureless products and better meet the diversified needs of our customers,” said Claudia Désilet, president of Acti-Sol, which is part of the Inovo group. The company Les Furelles Natural Mcinnes, founded in 1989, manufactures 12 products available in several formats, and the distinct brand will be maintained. The acquisition is accompanied by a transition over two years, during which production will move from Stanstead to Bedford.
Proaction International rejoint dss+
Photo provided by international proaction
Denis Lefebvre, President and Chief Executive Officer of International Proction
The Montreal firm Proaction International, specialized in operational performance management and leadership coaching and owner of the UTRAKK digital platform, was bought by DSS+, Swiss consultation giant. “This alliance is strengthening our international presence and combines perfectly aligned expertise to generate sustainable performance,” Denis Lefebvre, president and chief executive in a statement of international proaction, said in a statement. The company founded in 2004 employs more than 130 experts who advise its customers in the manufacturing, industrial, food, aerospace, construction, health and retail sectors. The DSS+ network covers 41 countries.
70 000 $
Photo taken from the PME MTL website
The Seagram complex will host SMEs in the Lasalle district.
It is the envelope available for subsidies to encourage SMEs to settle in the Seagram complex, a former flagship of the distillation industry which aims to become a major economic pole in LaSalle. The money comes from the district, in collaboration with PME MTL Grand Sud-Ouest. The selection grid will give priority to business in activity for a few years, which generate employment and stand out in terms of innovation or sustainable development. The site includes warehouses and offices, and its total area is 815,000 square feet (75,716 square meters).
