Start-ups: Lilo, French alternative to Google, both ethical and profitable
The French search engine gives 50% of its revenues to associations. After two years of existence, it has nearly 700,000 users per month and has already donated 233,000 euros to help 50 "useful" projects.
And if you could do a good action just by typing a search on the internet, while supporting a young French company in its fight against the arch-dominant position of the American giant Google?
This is the successful best of the Parisian startup Lilo, who just blow his first two candles. Created in early 2015 by two engineers, Clément Le Bras (general manager) and Marc Haussaire (technical director), the company has slightly under 700,000 monthly users, performing nearly 30 million searches. A tiny drop in the online search market (less than 0.5%) and compared to Google, which cannibalizes more than 90% of the uses in France and Europe alone, but which allows it All the same to be profitable.
A search = a drop of water for a social or environmental project
Lilo is distinguished by a unique economic model in the world of alternative and ethical search engines. Like its competitors Qwant, DuckDuckgo, Ixquick and Goodsearch, the startup does not want to "aspire" the data of its users when browsing the Web and then "track" them with targeted ads. On the contrary, the company protects privacy by refraining from collecting and reselling personal data.
Like Qwant, it is paid for by sponsored advertising, that is to say the commercial links displayed during each search. The difference lies in the creation of a kind of virtual currency, to pay 50% of the profits. Thus, the startup has developed a simple principle: a search = a drop of water, which comes to fill a virtual kitty to support a social or environmental project. So far, the startup has collected more than 234,000 euros, of which 220,000 have been donated to about fifty projects. "Using Lilo is about doing good deeds for free. Every month, you choose which organization is going to collect the money you have collected through your research," adds Clément Le Bras, one of the co-founders.
A profitable model
Despite its confidentiality and the fact of returning 50% of its income, the startup ensures to be already profitable. How is it possible ? "Every Internet user generates between 30 and 55 euros of revenue per year to search engines, it is an extremely lucrative activity," explains Clément Le Bras, quoting a study by KD Nuggets. A bonanza that allowed Google to garner more than $ 90 billion in revenues in 2016 alone ... "Even without resorting to advertising retargeting, just with sponsored advertising, this model allows us to be profitable by reversing 50% of our revenues, "he adds.
The advertising money is used as is: 50% for projects, a small part for projects to compensate for the carbon impact of the search engine, 30% for the operation of the company, and 20% For communication.
In fact, Lilo has not yet needed to raise funds, except for 100,000 euros in prize money with business angels, at its launch. But Clément Le Bras does not dismiss this idea, especially to develop the mobile version, currently in beta, and to internationalize. The startup could also improve its search algorithms, which appear less relevant than those of its competitors Google and Qwant, in particular, which can cause problems for the user.
Associations selected for their societal impact
Betting on the willingness of responsible users to consume and the awareness in society of the dominance of digital giants like Google, the startup proposes to support projects that it identifies itself, or which are "remounted" by the users.
At the moment, Internet users can support the association Petit Prince, which helps to realize the dreams of seriously ill children, the alternative media La Relève et la Plague, the Green Minded initiative, to recycle cigarette butts, Graine d'Oasis, around eight participatory projects. Nearly 90 projects can be consulted on the platform.
