Alexandre Mars

Alexandre Mars is a French entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. He is an ambassador and board member of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Education

Alexandre Mars attended the lycée Florent Schmitt, before continuing his university studies at the Paris Nanterre University, the Paris Dauphine University and HEC.

Professional activities

In 1992, at the age of 17, Mars set up a company in his high school specializing in the organizing of concerts. At the age of 22, the capital raised from his first company enabled him to found A2X, one of the first French web agencies, which he sold in 1998 to become a venture capitalist. In 2002, he created Phonevalley, an advertising and marketing agency for cell phones, which he sold to Publicis in 2007. In 2006, he founded ScrOOn, a platform specialized in social media, which he sold to BlackBerry in 2013.

In 2014, Mars founded blisce/, a B Corp-certified responsible investment firm with offices in New York and Paris. His investments, which combine financial, social and environmental performance, include companies such as Spotify, Pinterest, Too Good To Go and Brut.

Mars was chairman of the Sport and Society Commission as part of Paris' bid for the Olympic Games. He was appointed by Tony Estanguet to sit on the Paris 2024 board of directors in 2018.

Cultural and philanthropic activities

Mars' entrepreneurial successes have enabled him to develop philanthropic activities.

In 2014, he set up the non-profit foundation Epic, which selects and financially supports organizations that combat inequalities affecting children and young adults in the fields of education, health, protection and social and professional integration, as well as associations concerned with the environment and climate action. Epic offers corporate and individual donation solutions. In 2019, the Harvard Kennedy School published a case study to highlight Epic's innovative social impact model.

Mars advocates the practice of sharing and giving for individuals and businesses. He is an advocate of giving solutions such as payroll giving, check-out giving and sharing pledges, which involve companies and individuals donating a portion of their revenues, profits, shares or capital gains (1% or more) to charitable causes.

Mars is the founder of social EdTech INFIИITE, whose corporate purpose is to financially support French students from underprivileged backgrounds in gaining access to the world's most renowned schools and universities, and in their first steps in the professional world. INFIИITE offers a zero-interest loan with no guarantor which, once repaid, will finance the following student in perpetuity and in a spirit of solidarity.

Since 2019, he has hosted the podcast PAUSE, on which he welcomes business leaders, writers, entrepreneurs, sportsmen and activists to talk about their journeys.

Awards

In 2015, Mars was named among the "Top 20 Philanthropists Under 40" by The New York Observer.

In 2016, he received Europe 1's Trophée de l'Avenir in the "Personality of the Future" category.

In 2018, he appeared on Vanity Fairs list of the 50 most influential French people in the world.

In 2019, he was named one of the 50 Philanthropists of the Year by Town & Country.

In 2019, he was named Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur.

Personal life Alexandre Mars is married with four children.

Books

La Révolution du partage, Flammarion, 2018 Giving: Purpose is The New Currency, HarperOne/HarperCollins, 2019 Ose ! Tout le monde peut devenir entrepreneur, Coédition Flammarion / Versilio, 2020 Mission Possible: How to Build a Business for Our Times, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2022 Pause, Pour une vie alignée, Fayard, 2024 Antidotes, Pour choisir d'avancer, Fayard, 2026