Julie LELEU (TBS 2014) - Cofounder of Catspad

Julie Leleu (TBS 2014), 28 years old and born in Toulouse, cofounded in 2015 "Catspad", dedicated to animal wellbeing.
Catspad's main objective : a food and water dispenser for cats which can be controlled and activated at a distance.

The principle is simple : the dispenser is connected using an application that allows you to follow and control your cat's food supply from a distance. Julie, the 28-year old Cofounder of the start-up explains "It's a useful object that gives the cat owner flexibility". 

The object has other uses too. Catspad allows you to regulate meals for cats with voracious appetites because the portions distributed are weighed to within a gramme. 
She thought up this idea of a connected dispenser in 2015. At that time, Julie had to come home early from her holiday because she was worried that her cat, Mozart, might get dehydrated. She had adopted the cat that she had found in a street. Mozart had binge eating behaviour and like many cats, regurgitated its food after eating too fast. 

The Catspad dispenser was designed "in close collaboration with vets".

Julie explains that "A wild cat will eat 10 to 15 times a day in small quantities. Unfortunately, we tend to feed our cats large quantities 2 or 3 times a day, which is not suited to the predator's natural eating habits. Our dispenser is designed to adapt to a cat's natural metabolism. According to Julie, it is the health aspect that differentiates the Catspad dispenser from other connected food bowls. She proudly announces that "None of the other food dispensers offer follow-up and food regulation".

She is amongst the very few entrepreneural women to have brought innovation into the animal wellbeing sector in France. "Our research and development phase lasted 3 years. With my associate, Brice Cavelier, who was studying at an engineering school, we were supported by the incubator of Toulouse Business School". The young entrepreneurs then launched a crowd funding campaign to increase awareness of their brand.

In 2017, the start-up won the "Innovation Award" at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show - the largest technology innovation fair. The dispenser is sold all over Europe. Julie hopes that it will soon become a leader in other distribution channels in France and abroad. 

Good luck Julie !!