Exemplary cooperation with the startup Mieuxplacer.com

Founded in 2016 by five entrepreneurs from the world of finance and applied mathematics, mieuxplacer.com is growing rapidly. It provides internet users with an innovative service offering customised tips on financial investments.

It all started with the observation that the banking and financial sector generally offers customers standardised products,” explains Matthieu Sénéchal, the company’s co-founder. “We developed a unique service based on an analysis of savers and the diversity of existing products, in order to propose a customised investment solution.

The software used by mieuxplacer.com analyses data from an online questionnaire. An algorithm then establishes an investor profile and selects matching products. “Execution speed is crucial for our customers. In order to improve its performance, we turned to Inria teams to develop efficient methods,” Matthieu Sénéchal explains.

© Mieuxplacer.com

Scientific and technical support

The methods used (called “integer linear programming”) are derived from the operations research branch of applied mathematics, and the RealOpt project team is an expert in this field. "We offered mieuxplacer.com our expertise on techniques that have proven effective in optimising their algorithm", explains François Clautiaux, a university professor and head of this team. Inria’s technical support was a key to this technological transfer’s success.

Since the team had a good mastery of the methods used, one of the project challenges was to develop them in the form of an operational tool. Input from Rémi Duclos, an engineer specialised in combinatorial optimisation, was pivotal in this regard

the researcher explains.

The project was made possible thanks to an Inria scheme supported by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of technological start-ups in the region by facilitating their access to digital Deep-tech in a way that is flexible and adapted to their needs. This flexible aspect is supported by a team of engineers who have already been recruited and trained in the technology and expertise that Inria project teams specialise in. The adaptation to needs and constraints is provided by a team of partnership and innovation project leaders who meet with start-ups to learn about their needs and assist them throughout the entire project:

We support the project from start to finish. For it to be successful, the customer, researcher and development engineer must form a harmonious team. We also pay special attention to the listening phase in which discover the customer’s needs and the definition of the work programme

explains Emilie Pons, a partnership and innovation project leader for the regional scheme.

For the researchers, this exposure to the demands of the industrial world offers an excellent opportunity for demonstrating the effectiveness of the methods they develop. For mieuxplacer.com, this project has been a success.

Inria’s responsiveness and the quality of the technical solutions proposed enabled us to improve the quality of our services

Matthieu Sénéchal says.