A dog and cat shelter in New York. A classical music choir in the Cincinnati area. A mental health organization created in memory of Jade, who died by suicide at the age of 17... Through the Zeffy platform, 130,000 nonprofits have raised a total of $3 billion (€2.6 billion). Little known in France, the Canadian startup generates several tens of millions of euros in annual net revenue, and its business doubles from one year to the next. It has carved out a position in North America with a model similar to HelloAsso. The platform charges no commission and generates revenue through voluntary contributions from donors.

The connection is no coincidence. When two French entrepreneurs, François de Kerret and Thibaut Jaurou, launched their fundraising service in Canada in 2018, the example of HelloAsso (founded in 2009) reinforced their belief that the model could work. The co-founders of the French platform, Ismaël Le Mouël and Léa Thomassin, even personally invested in Zeffy as early as 2019. “They really helped us quite a bit, especially since we don’t compete with each other: we operate in different countries,” says polytechnic engineer François de Kerret. As a historical footnote, just before pursuing a research master’s degree in fluid mechanics in Montreal, the executive had crossed paths with Arthur Mensch, future co-founder of Mistral AI, during an internship at the Chilean startup Option in Santiago.

Voluntary contributions on Zeffy quickly reached an average of 4.5% of the amounts raised, enough to fund the model. “The North American tipping culture helped. Over there, you give a ‘tip’ to the taxi driver, hairdresser or baker,” says François de Kerret. This has allowed the company to compete with PayPal despite the uneven playing field.

Since then, the little cousin has grown considerably. Zeffy expects to collect around $100 million in voluntary contributions this year. About half of that goes toward covering banking and payment processing fees that the platform absorbs, leaving roughly $50 million in “real revenue.” Above all, the 44-employee startup (20 of whom are based in France) is growing at close to 100% per year.

To maintain this pace without allowing costs to soar, Zeffy is firmly betting on automation. “Over the past three years, the business has grown tenfold while the team has ‘only’ doubled,” says François de Kerret. In customer support, a first level of AI, powered by Zeffy’s knowledge base, now handles around 80% of tickets. The startup, which has raised just C$4.5 million (€2.8 million) across two funding rounds and intends to “remain independent,” is developing an in-house AI directly connected to information specific to each user. “What AI is often missing is context,” the executive points out.

For example, the manager of a small food bank could ask why a bank transfer has been blocked. Rather than providing a generic response or asking them to reconstruct their case, the agent would know exactly which payment is involved and where it stands.

Zeffy therefore wants to position itself as a “fundraising assistant.” It will soon be able to alert a nonprofit that it has not contacted certain donors for a long time, or suggest launching a membership program because comparable organizations are achieving good results with that approach.

The company is also developing CRM features to manage contacts, recurring donations and communications with donors. “Nonprofits are still often operating with Excel and Outlook. As soon as you scale up even a little, you quickly hit the limits,” says François de Kerret. Ultimately, Zeffy aims to become the central tool for small nonprofits, “their technology assistant,” incorporating administrative and accounting functions.

After Canada and the United States, Zeffy is expanding internationally. The United Kingdom and Australia launched this year. In the UK, the company says it went from 0% to around 1% of the country’s nonprofits in eight months. Germany is now its main European focus, followed by Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

But, paradoxically, not France. “HelloAsso has strong brand recognition and is very well established,” acknowledges François de Kerret. The executive nevertheless does not rule out entering the French market once Zeffy has expanded sufficiently beyond fundraising into CRM and AI-powered assistance. Until then, HelloAsso’s North American cousin intends to keep growing its business much faster than its teams.