Video Podcast "Dans un fauteuil" (H7, Lyon) · November 29, 2022 · Interview conducted by Hugo Jacomelli
Recorded at H7, a landmark venue for Lyon-based startups, this episode of *Dans un fauteuil*, hosted by Hugo Jacomelli, features Thibault Lamarque, founder of Castalie. The interview explores rarely discussed aspects of the company: its European supply chain, the central role of its maintenance technicians, and its CEO’s role as a business angel. A concrete account of the experience of building an impact-driven company, shaped by trials, failures, and convictions.
Key takeaways
- As early as 2016, Castalie a “21st-century Wallace fountain” in collaboration with designer Philippe Starck, Air Liquide, and Eau de Paris, with the aim of restoring access to drinking water in Parisian public spaces through public fountains dispensing free still or sparkling water.
- In partnership with Eau de Paris, the largest public drinking water utility, Castalie installed microfiltered water fountains on the streets of the capital—an alternative to plastic bottles that promotes filtered tap water and paves the way for the market for water fountains in public spaces.
- The Castalie model Castalie tap water through activated carbon to remove chlorine, particles, and heavy metals, then bottles it on-site in reusable glass bottles, served still or sparkling, in line with the principles of the circular economy.
- In the hospitality sector, Castalie Michelin-starred restaurants, bistronomes, and premium hotels—from neighborhood bistros to three-Michelin-starred establishments—by replacing bottled mineral water with microfiltered water served in glass bottles.
- On the corporate side, Castalie equipment to 60% of CAC 40 companies, as well as startups, banks, and law firms—anywhere where single-use plastic bottles can be replaced in meeting rooms.
- Castalie model Castalie of the AGEC Act’s initiative, which aims to phase out single-use plastic by 2040 and cut the number of bottles in half by 2030, given that 16 billion single-use bottles are consumed each year in France.
- As an ESUS-certified impact company, Castalie as a premium and sustainable water brand rather than simply a water cooler rental company, in a market that offers an alternative to plastic bottles.
- Castalie production Castalie split between France (about 60% in Neuville-en-Ferrain, in the Nord department) and Europe (about 40% in Cône, plus a plant in Málaga, Spain)—a deliberate choice to be “made in Europe” in light of the lack of French manufacturing capacity for this type of equipment.
- Thibault Lamarque argues that a substitute market, such as that for bottled water (16 billion single-use bottles per year in France), is safer and less risky than an invention started from scratch.
Source: H7, “Dans un fauteuil” podcast, November 29, 2022 — interview conducted by Hugo Jacomelli. Watch the original episode
