[Start-up Stories] Malaury Molin (MiM 20), Co-founder of Blutopia

First, a brief presentation of Malaury and Blutopia...

"I grew up on the Atlantic coast, in La Rochelle. Passionate about the ocean, I love surfing and became a scuba diving guide a few years ago. Today, I coordinate the activities of Blutopia, the non-profit I co-founded with Julien Challandes.

Blutopia is reimagining our food systems to protect the ocean. Its impact-driven actions are built around three pillars:

• Inspire, through documentary films
• Educate, via the Ondine podcast and educational tools
• Take action, with cooking workshops and recipe books"

👉 What are the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs today?

"At Blutopia, we’re currently facing several major challenges:

• Funding: To carry out our work, we need a strong team, and that means being able to secure everyone’s salaries.
• Making choices: As entrepreneurs, we have lots of ideas and want to do it all, but we need to learn to prioritize so we don’t burn out.
• Communication: Our mission is to transform food habits on a large scale—so the more people we reach, the greater our impact."

👉 How did you build your business model?

"Blutopia is a non-profit (association loi 1901) recognized as serving the public interest. Its business model is different from a traditional startup, as service offerings and product sales can’t exceed 30% of our annual revenue.

For the remaining 70%, Blutopia's business model relies on public grants, private sponsorships, individual donations and memberships."

👉 How did you finance your start-up and what advice would you give on this subject?

"When we launched Blutopia, Julien Challandes and I invested our (modest) savings into the project. But it was mainly a crowdfunding campaign that helped us launch the organization.

It’s the ideal tool to finance a new project—and to test whether there’s real traction!"

👉 How did you find your first customers and develop your market appeal?

"At Blutopia, we hold one core value: staying positive.

The threats to our oceans, climate change, biodiversity loss… these aren’t cheerful topics. But we always highlight solutions—simple, accessible actions people can take.

That’s what our community and our clients appreciate most."

👉 What technological or economic trends do you think could redefine entrepreneurship in the coming years?

"The ecological and social emergency is undeniable. Entrepreneurship needs to adapt now.

At Blutopia, we’re constantly learning and rethinking our approach to meet the challenges of our time."