erable°, legally carried by a Société par Actions Simplifiée (SAS) under French law named SMARTIMPACT, has been governed since March 17, 2023 by two new directors: Yannis BAALA - CEO and Vincent KATCHAVENDA - COO. They succeeded a former management team made up of SMARTCHAIN's representatives.
"At a time when sustainable finance is mostly manifested in declarations of political discourse, we would like to reiterate that we are a dedicated team, working to realize our vision of finance as a lever for responding to environmental and social issues. Those familiar with our work and efforts can testify to our sincerity and integrity. The accusations leveled against us are largely unfounded, but also deeply hurtful; in this context, we are currently studying with our lawyers all avenues of recourse likely to put an end to these prejudicial actions" declares Yannis Baala, CEO of erable°.
Genesis of the ICO and its allocation
Between September 2021 and January 2022, Cardashift raised 5M ADA and $2.2M. As the price at the time fluctuated widely between the different phases of the fundraising (Private, Flash, and Public), the founding team took as its reference the price chosen at the time of publication of the WhitePaper, i.e. $1.26, making the ICO official at $8.5M.
In 2022, crypto prices plummeted. To ensure the project's continuity, ADAs are sold progressively over a 2-year period, in a very bearish market. The average price of these sales was then $0.52, representing a significant drop in relation to their reception value, i.e. a total devaluation of $3.7 M. From the $8.5 M raised, Cardashift's cash position then fell to $4.8 M.
Over the first 18 months of the project, 2.5M€ were invested in developing the platform (ICO interfaces and technologies, launchpad -voting system- on Cardano, marketing, and communication, legal) with recourse to external service providers.
While Cardashift's founding team made some choices, which in hindsight proved to be errors, by not selling all the ADAs on day one and opting for a complex and therefore costly blockchain, there was certainly no infringement.
Future prospects
In March 2023, when Yannis Baala and Vincent Katchavenda took over governance of the project and the transition from Cardashift to erable°, they began to internalize a team. This marked a real inflection in the company's governance and management, drastically reducing the costs associated with development (financing platform for tangible assets on Polygon, issue of digital asset collections and dashboards, white-label solution, etc.). Today, the company has 9 employees and a solid financial position, ensuring more than a year and a half of operation.
erable° is positioned in highly innovative areas of the financial world, requiring time to design and market new investment products. While in 2023, the company got off to a gradual start, with 3 projects financed (Revolte, Pyxo, Homecycle), it is now ready to accelerate, as its 2024 roadmap indicates, with a forecast of at least one project per month for an average amount of €100K.
Project owners support erable°:
"At Pyxo we loved working with the erable° teams because they listened to our issues and their complexity in order to solve them with a financing solution perfectly adapted to our needs," says Benjamin Péri, CEO, Pyxo.
"erable° enabled us to launch our business by allowing part of our community to invest directly in the mission of our circular economy company, HomeCycle. No other crowdfunding or NFT platform to our knowledge would have been able to provide us with a financing solution, enabling individuals to support us so concretely while following the fruit of their impact so closely. Thanks to the team for giving us this opportunity, and we hope to scale this partnership to make web3 a sustainable financing solution for our circular equipment!" Valerian Fauvel, CFO, Homecycle.
One of erable°'s central concerns for 2024 is the value of the utility token, which has been severely devalued. The money is not "lost": all investors have received their tokens, and are the sole owners. On the other hand, erable° is a going concern, which for months has been devoting all its energy to returning value to investors and ensuring regular income for the company through licensing and service.
"The more successful erable° is in its endeavor to get new products adopted to serve the real economy, the more value can be shared fairly and substantially," adds Yannis Baala.
By 2024, erable° will offer new verticals in water recycling, second-hand products and sustainable packaging. Other prospects for external growth are also on the agenda, enabling erable° not only to expand its offering but above all to look to the future and meet the initial expectations of investors, the company's primary concern.
.jpg)
