Portrait — 8 things to know about Julie Chapon, the entrepreneur who is revolutionizing our plates

© Julie Chapon/Instagram

À Only 37 years old, Julie Chapon is at the head of one of the most flourishing startups in the French Tech ecosystem: Yuka. Discover 8 facts about this passionate entrepreneur, committed to promoting healthier eating.

An ordinary academic career

Born in Meulan-en-Yvelines in Île-de-France and the eldest of three children, Julie Chapon defines her childhood as ” happy » in a portrait published in Libération in 2019. In 2007, she joined the École des hautes études commerciales du Nord (EDHEC) in Lille, after completing her preparatory economic and commercial classes at the Lycée Sainte-Croix in Neuilly. She graduated in 2011, and then had to enter the world of work. But at the time, she was still far from the world of entrepreneurship.

Five years at Wavestone

It was « out of spite » and without really knowing what to dedicate her life to, she quickly landed a job at Wavestone, she explains in an interview with Stratégies. In this consulting firm, she spent five years supporting companies during their digital transformation. But although she earned a good living, Julie Chapon was bored with her job and decided to resign.

The Hackathon Trigger

In 2016, her best friend François Martin and his brother Benoît suggested that Julie Chapon take part in a hackathon at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris. During this type of collaborative event, developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs and other technology professionals come together to create innovative solutions to a given problem. In this case, food.

The three friends imagined a connected object in the shape of a carrot, designed to analyze and decipher food product labels. This concept earned them victory: it was the birth of Yuka, and a revelation for Julie Chapon.

The development of Yuka

Very quickly, Julie Chapon, François Martin and Benoît Martin wanted to go further. Their initial project made it possible to scan the labels of food products once the products were at home. Developing a solution to decipher them before they were even purchased proved all the more relevant.

The Yuka application was launched in 2017. The concept is simple and straightforward: users can scan the barcode of food products in supermarkets, which allows them to quickly find out their composition. Thanks to an intuitive interface, you can see directly if there are any dangerous substances in the product. Cosmetic and hygiene products have since been added to its catalog.

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A score out of 100 points is assigned to each product, which is accompanied by a color code (green, yellow, orange, red) associated with it. Yuka relies on various sources for its assessment, including open databases, the Nutri-Score, official organizations (EFSA, ANSES, IARC), and independent studies.

The meteoric rise of Yuka

It is a huge success for Julie Chapon and her colleagues. In January 2018, one year after its launch, the application already reached 1 million users. It is now present in 12 different markets, with 56 million users.

Such success allows Yuka to not only have a positive influence on consumers by encouraging them to buy and eat healthier, but also on the giants of the agri-food industry. And that is where its strength lies. Large groups such as Nestlé and Intermarché have modified the composition of some of their products to improve their evaluation on the platform.

For its part, Fleury Michon now refers to Yuka in its strategic discourse, while Bjorg and Caudalie have made the application's score a key indicator of their performance. Over the course of its history, the company has won three lawsuits against the charcuterie lobby.

Julie Chapon's American adventure

Julie Chapon is moving to the United States in 2023. Objective: to support Yuka's immense growth in the country, a market with enormous potential where the application was launched in January 2022. The figures are impressive: the platform sees 20,000 new American users join it every day.

In 2020, less than 50% of the company's turnover came from its premium version, which offers, among other things, an advanced search functionality as well as full access to Yuka's database. Today, more than 90% of its revenue is generated by the premium version. A dynamic that can be attributed to the specificity of the American market, where consumers are much more inclined to pay for subscriptions.

Another way of leading

Yuka's management stands out for its originality in the world of startups. The company does not have a CEO. Instead, its three co-founders make decisions jointly. On the other hand, it is Julie Chapon who is more prominent in the media, the Martin brothers having preferred a role in the shadows.

Co-writing a book

Julie Chapon co-wrote a book entitled The Healthy Eating Guide with nutritionist Anthony Berthou. Published on October 14, 2020, the book aims to explain the fundamental principles of nutrition in a detailed and educational manner, in addition to the Yuka application. It contains 36 recipes adapted to the seasons as well as 400 images aimed at popularizing the information.

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