Malou
“Can a vertical marketing platform own the AI-search discovery layer for multi-location restaurants globally?”
Founded2017
HQCharenton-le-Pont, France (with NY presence)
FoundersLouiza Hacene, Waad Abdelkrim
Total raised$10.9M
Latest round€10M (2024)
IndustryVertical SaaS / Restaurants
The story
Founded in 2017 as a bootstrapped digital marketing service for French restaurants, Malou pivoted into a SaaS platform (MalouApp) covering local SEO, presence management, review management, and social media for restaurant groups. In 2024 the company raised €10M to expand internationally (Paris + New York) and doubled down on an AI agent for hospitality (Malou AI), positioning itself for the shift from Google discovery to GEO / AI-search discovery (ChatGPT, Claude).
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2017
Malou founded by Louiza Hacene and Waad Abdelkrim to help restaurants with digital marketing· founding
2018
Bootstrapped launch focused on local SEO and reputation management for French restaurants· product
2023
Tripled revenue; expanded into multi-location and enterprise restaurant groups· growth
2024
Raised €10M to scale internationally (Paris, New York) and build SaaS platform· funding
2025
Launched Malou AI agent for hospitality SEO, GEO and review automation· product
The stack
0 layers disclosed in Malou’s embedded-finance stack
Accounting gap: none