It’s official: Welya has just closed a $200,000 funding round. Among the investors is a name many will recognize: Éric Larchevêque, cofounder of Ledger and a familiar face on “Qui veut être mon associé ?”.
A quick look at this milestone, which marks a new phase for the French webinar platform.
Welya, the webinar platform built to convert
Before we talk about the round, a quick reminder about the product. Welya is a live and evergreen webinar platform designed for a single goal: turning live sessions into conversion machines.
Where most tools just stream a live video, Welya bets on data, interaction and personalization to maximize the conversion rate at every stage of the funnel.
The product’s key figures:
- Nearly 30 actionable data points per attendee (chat, polls, quizzes, watch time, clicks on the offer, scoring…)
- Offer A/B testing: two versions of the offer tested side by side during the live session
- Automatic viewer scoring to pre-qualify leads before closers even pick up the phone
- Your visual identity (logo, colors, light or dark theme)
- Smart waiting room with quizzes, a countdown timer and an attendance counter
- End-of-live page with your offer and a rating
- Integrations via Make and webhooks with Pipedrive, Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe…, a GoHighLevel app and ActiveCampaign tagging
- Exit pop-up with a QR code to keep watching the live session on a phone, without registering again
It’s this combination (data + conversion + branding) that makes Welya an alternative built for course creators, agencies and coaches who really want to make their webinars pay off.
A $200,000 round… without any financial need
Welya didn’t need to raise money to exist. Its two cofounders, Marvin Hannachi and Colomba Maurel-Santini, had the resources to carry the project on their own and keep funding the platform’s development.
So the decision to open up the cap table wasn’t driven by cash flow, but by the desire to build a community of allies around the product: people who, beyond money, bring a network, hands-on feedback and real knowledge of the market.
The result: 100% of Welya’s investors are customers or long-standing partners. No institutional funds, no anonymous VCs. Only players from the webinar and course creator ecosystem who already use or recommend the platform.
“Beyond the money, it feels like I’m on an adventure with investors who are all customers or close partners.” Marvin Hannachi, cofounder of Welya
Éric Larchevêque among the investors
Among the names joining the adventure, Éric Larchevêque is, naturally, the one drawing the most attention: cofounder of Ledger, judge on “Qui veut être mon associé ?”, and a leading figure in French entrepreneurship.
But there was no TV set here, no deal negotiated in 3 minutes under the spotlights. The relationship was built over time, and it was the strength of the product (more than the pitch) that won him over.
Beyond the check, Éric Larchevêque brings Welya a network and a long-term vision from an entrepreneur who has scaled a French unicorn himself.
A proven team: Marvin, Colomba and 4 years of agency experience
Before Welya, there was Skors: the agency Marvin Hannachi ran for four years, which supported dozens of course creators, coaches and trainers with their sales webinar strategy.
Today, Colomba Maurel-Santini, cofounder of Welya, leads new user onboarding and the customer experience, among other things, with one simple principle: every new customer gets 1-to-1 support, so the platform is set up and up and running under the best possible conditions.
This dual expertise (tech on the product side, field experience on the support side) explains why Welya isn’t a fragile MVP, but a stable, complete platform already used in production by its first customers.
What this round will make possible
The $200,000 will go toward accelerating the product and growing the community around the platform. Three priorities are taking shape:
1. Enrich the product
The roadmap is full and the team is super motivated to keep pushing the platform further and further on data, conversion and the presenter experience.
2. Get ready to scale
Welya is starting with a real-world test in the French market, with its first customers and first iterations. But the ambition is clear: very soon, the platform will target the US market, where the real sales webinar game is played.
3. Establish Welya as the French benchmark for sales webinars
Position the brand and take the spot left empty by players like WebinarJam (American) or Livestorm in the sales webinar segment, with a platform designed in French, for course creators who really sell.
This is just the beginning
Welya has now launched, is in use, and is backed by a round made up 100% of customer-investors. The product is mature, the team is in place, and the adoption signals are good. Already recommending Welya? The affiliate program pays you on subscriptions that come through your link, under the program’s terms.
“It’s far more challenging than what we do with an agency, but I’m convinced this is only the beginning of the adventure. 🚀”
Marvin Hannachi
If you want to discover the platform (or be among the first customers supported directly by Colomba and the team), now is the time. In the meantime, our sales webinar guides are free to read.
