Wooskill facilitates skill exchanges

Serial-entrepreneur at the origin of Direct Medica, Patientys and Hello Consult, Sophie Kerob embarks on a new adventure with Wooskill. Launched in March 2022 and posting nearly 400 transactions in one month, it is a platform for exchanging skills (“skill” in English), whose ambition is to become as essential as Leboncoin or Airbnb. The idea came to her during the work she has carried out over the past three years on medical teleconsultation, which makes an expert available to the patient, regardless of where he is.

“I thought it would be great to create this in other areas to exchange, remotely, when we want, with whom we want and whatever our means”, explains Sophie Kerob. A graduate of Mines de Paris and an MBA from Harvard Business School, the project leader has surrounded herself with five partners, including her accomplice in previous entrepreneurial adventures, Philippe Isaac, who has taken on the role of CEO.

10,000 skillers

Originally from Paris, the team chose Mâcon, in Saône-et-Loire, to develop, attracted by the presence of two nuggets already on site, Leboncoin and Ubitransport, and by communities, agglomeration and region in mind, which want to step up in the digital professions.

A first fundraising completed in September 2021 raised 3.5 million euros with fifteen business angels and the Provestir fund. This envelope made it possible to form a team of 30 developers and digital marketing experts, to aggregate all the tools of the platform and to find the first 10,000 “skillers” targeted to be able to launch it.

Tutoring, preparation for entrance exams to the Grandes Ecoles, yoga, krav-maga, guitar, computer-assisted music, gemology or even memory training classes… the “skillers” are amateurs or professionals who is responsible for setting their rates, providing any necessary diplomas and declaring themselves. The start-up carries the legal structureas Airbnb does for hosts, and is also remunerated on transactions.