MATTHIEU GILQUIN, MONEY TIME WINNER: “IT’S NOT JUST A MEDICAL DEVICE, IT’S ALSO A FASHION COMPANY”

"Before going into entrepreneurship, this former consultant, who worked at McKinsey and the World Bank Group, already knew the start-up world well, having spent four years at the French scale-up Innovafeed, which specialises in insect-based protein. Particularly concerned by the issue of male contraception, he met the future co-founder of 37 DEGRÉS in activist circles in 2023. Together, they developed this innovative undergarment that draws on thermal male contraception by testicular lifting, a technique with no side effects at all, reversible and far more effective than the pill. He then left his job at Innovafeed to devote himself full time to the project, officially launched a year ago.

With nearly €200,000 in non-dilutive funding now secured from various sources (a Hodefi honour loan, the Abeille Assurance competition, and Bpifrance via the French Tech Grant, among others), the young company is working on a first fundraising round, with a final target of one million euros that would make it possible to start preclinical trials. For Big Média, Matthieu Gilquin looks back on how the start-up began and discusses the next strategic steps towards becoming a major player in reversible, non-hormonal male contraception."