Its most recent acquisition, in the fall of 2023, already announced its colors. By getting its hands on the French firm Geo Comix, it opened the door to a market that it had not yet explored, that of Asia.
This is because Geo Comix counts among its clientele large publishing houses which use its productivity service for the translation and lettering of comics, mangas, comics and of webtoons. Products which are then distributed in Asia.
More recently, an agreement with a Danish library opened another door for him. “The market is global,” summarizes President Marc Boutet, just before he flies off to carry out a mandate in Rwanda.
The growth generated by acquisitions and agreements over the past four years has allowed it to triple its size, he calculates.
Today, De Marque has 100 employees, including 45 at the Quebec head office and around thirty in France, attached to its research and development laboratory in La Rochelle.
Connected since its beginnings
It is not new that SMEs are opening their horizons. Based in Quebec since its beginnings in 1990, De Marque has continued to expand its network. His secret: adapting to technologies.
“Our model has transformed over the years, depending on the market and the technology available,” explains the president, in an interview with Le Soleil Business.
According to Marc Boutet, technology can contribute to the notoriety and influence of Quebec and French-speaking books.
(Jocelyn Riendeau/Le Soleil)
From its infancy, De Marque has exported its content, first in the form of software, then in that of digital and audio books, which are notably listed on its Cantook Reader platform.
French-language content also represents 60% of its exports.
Thanks to cutting-edge solutions, De Marque positions itself today as an accelerator of the adoption of accessibility standards for the world of Quebec publishing, insists the president.
Artificial intelligence in support
In his laboratory in La Rochelle, De Marque continues the research in artificial intelligence initiated by Geo Comix. It will now accelerate under the Cantook Labs banner, in order to consolidate the multiple advances in the field of digital books.
“Artificial intelligence can be an asset for increasing the discoverability of content and democratizing knowledge,” believes the president.
If it invests in research and development, it is because competition is strong in this area. “It moves quickly and you have to constantly be one step forward,” he maintains.
The team is also working on creating tools for analyzing the content of illustrated books using innovative artificial intelligence functionalities.
“We are just at the beginning of artificial intelligence. We have to see further.”
— Marc Boutet
Make the cloud bigger
To achieve this, De Marque plans to expand the functionalities of its cloud solution (cloud) so that the storage and data of its users can be available on demand, for example even after their schooling.
“Our ecosystem is growing, but the mission remains the same: to make digital books accessible to more people,” concludes the founder.
THE BEGINNINGS
The story began in 1990, in Marc Boutet’s basement. In fact, more precisely in his parents’ house. He was 15 then, and what was supposed to be just a summer job instead informed his entrepreneurial spirit and became his life’s work.
This text is part of the magazine Le Soleil Businessalso available in full electronic version.
