After 2 years of existence, the Switch Up platform created in Nantes, France, has reached an important milestone in its development with the raising of funds that will lead to the recruitment of new staff and allow the solution to spread nationally. Today, Switch Up is present in more than 40 cities in France and has more than a hundred ambassadors. The entire French territory will be connected by the end of 2020.
Today in France, about a hundred companies exist in the "relocation" market segment, to accompany and facilitate geographical mobility for companies. According to CREDOC*, 70% of working people say that they would refuse a better job if it meant moving to a new location and increasing their housing costs.
The Switch Up platform, launched in 2017 in Nantes, aims to facilitate all the essential steps related to geographical mobility by combining its digital tool and the creation of local communities of ambassadors. For both the employee and the company, the service is a major comfort that simplifies and eases integration. Driven by a buoyant market and an original offer that has attracted interest, Switch Up has just obtained 300,000 euros in funding from three groups of investors, ABAB, LMSI, Patrick Gangneux and banking partners, including the BPI.
Its objective is to double its turnover, recruit a dozen sales representatives as well as independent ambassadors throughout France.
Research Centre for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions
Switch Up has set up a unique network of ambassadors. Newcomers choose their ambassadors according to various criteria. The ambassadors are people who love their city and their region and speak about it with passion. They know its strengths and weaknesses and have nothing to sell. This is what gives them credibility with the people they welcome and accompany. Thus, the matching of affinities between the two is a guarantee of success.
To develop their territorial brand, institutions are showing a growing interest in the potential of Switch Up through a personalised welcome pack that they can put in place. The platform, which can be deployed on a white label basis, offers territories the possibility of setting up optimised, professional and local support for their new arrivals.
"A territory that relies on its inhabitants to promote it and welcome newcomers is necessarily one step ahead. The speed of digital technology combined with the knowledge of the inhabitants positions the region in an approach that is both innovative and local: a necessity to reinforce its attractiveness! Moreover, we are currently in discussion with 2 large territories ".
The ambassador, the soul of the Switch Up tool, knows his region, loves his city and speaks about it with passion. Switch Up allows him to supplement his income and to organise his time. Open-minded, curious, pragmatic and empathetic, he is one of the pillars of the Switch Up structure. With the development of the network, the platform will be stronger and will benefit from an undeniable major asset, which does not currently exist on the French market.
