France-based smartphone and touch tablet repair service Save secured €15m ($16.8m) on Monday from investors including corporate-backed private equity firm Idinvest Partners.
Idinvest, which counts insurer Allianz, media company Lagardère and recruitment firm Up as limited partners, was joined in the round by venture capital firm 360 Capital Partners and angel investors including Xavier Niel.
Founded in 2013 as Save my Smartphone, Save offers a service that allows users to get their devices fixed in 20 minutes at one of its stores, or by post. Parisian customers additionally have access to a courier service that can fix devices in a few hours.
Save claims it is growing 20% month on month. It currently has 120 points of sale in France but aims to expand across France and grow its presence overseas.
The company has entered the Swiss and Swedish markets, and plans to launch in the UK, Belgium, Spain and Portugal by the end of 2015, growing its workforce, which numbers more than 300 at present, to around 600 at the same time.
Benoist Grossmann, managing partner of Idinvest Partners, said: “We are very pleased to participate in financing Save, a true gem of a French enterprise and a game changer for the global smartphone repair market. We have full confidence in the company’s vision and prospects for international success.”