Le Fourgon

The everyday consumption of packaged goods presents a massive structural challenge. In France alone, 4.5 million tons of plastic waste are generated annually, and 74% of this material is never recycled. Le Fourgon delivers everyday beverages, household, and personal-care products across France, Belgium, and Spain in returnable glass containers reused up to forty times instead of thrown away once.

We back companies that build proprietary technological assets to resolve deep logistical bottlenecks. Reusing a container saves 75% of the energy compared to recycling it, but achieving this at scale requires an immaculate technical backbone. By integrating a fluid digital interface with a highly optimized electric fleet, Le Fourgon removes all consumer friction from the deposit system. They deliver goods directly to the door and collect empty containers on the next route. This synchronized loop treats reverse logistics as a precise, algorithmic operation.

The scale of this operation is compounding. Le Fourgon has already saved 50 million bottles and glass jars from the waste stream. Following their strategic acquisition of La Tournée in Paris and Re-pot Market in Spain, their infrastructure actively covers over 4,500 cities and serves a base of 100,000 regular households. They have proven that a well-designed circular infrastructure is fundamentally more efficient than the linear disposable model, generating €31.2 million in revenue in 2025. They are deploying the dense software networks and physical scale required to own Europe's circular packaging shift, tracking toward a goal of 100 million reused containers by 2028.

We spent time mapping how to make reusable packaging work at industrial scale, where most attempts stall on logistics. Le Fourgon owns the full reuse loop, from delivery to wash line, and runs distribution as an optimisation problem rather than a goodwill gesture. When we partnered with the team, what convinced us was their grip on the operating model that makes circular packaging cheaper and more reliable than disposable, not just greener. That is why we invested.

Charles Christory approaches the climate crisis through the lens of a successful serial tech entrepreneur. Having previously founded and scaled the digital agency Adictiz before its acquisition by Webedia, he recognized the need to scale solutions directly into the physical world to address our planetary urgency. He transitioned his deep expertise in consumer behavior and rapid scaling to solve a physical, environmental crisis, ensuring Le Fourgon's digital experience is just as fluid and intuitive as modern e-commerce.

Moving heavy, physical assets in a circular loop demands the same engineering precision. Stéphane Dessein, Le Fourgon’s CTO and Charles's long-time technical partner, is the critical architect of this system. He turns the chaotic variables of localized reverse logistics into a precise, highly optimized software engine.

To ensure this digital architecture successfully interfaces with the physical world, Maxime Tharin brings a profound depth of operational and purchasing expertise. With a strong background in managing capital expenditures and group purchasing at Roquette Frères, Maxime oversees the intricate physical supply chain. He structures Le Fourgon as a hyper-local ecosystem that directly connects consumers with regional producers, drastically lowering the carbon footprint of transit.

They have constructed a tech-driven engine that is actively transitioning the European market away from single-use plastics and toward a sustainable future.