The adventure began as a family affair, based on the idea that business communication would be revolutionized by the development of the internet. Mathieu Tarnus and his father, Thierry Tarnus, launched Sarbacane, a newsletter software whose very first version was entirely coded by Thierry. They quickly sensed the market's growth and the opportunity to create a business. Together, they founded Sarbacane Software, with Mathieu taking charge of operations. The solution is designed around one absolute priority: simplicity. No HTML knowledge is required; an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and clear deliverability reports meet the needs of French SMEs, often overlooked by overly complex enterprise tools.

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Revenue doubles to €2.5M. The team now counts 10 people, all based in Hem, in northern France. Growth is driven entirely by word of mouth and product recommendations.

Sarbacane crosses the threshold of one billion emails sent on behalf of its customers — a milestone that validates the robustness of its deliverability infrastructure at scale. Revenue reaches €5M, the team grows beyond 30 people, and the company opens its first international office in Barcelona, Spain, to address Spanish-speaking markets.

Sarbacane Software becomes a true group with the launch of Getinbox, a preview and pre-send check tool — and the only solution in France compatible with all email clients used locally. Revenue reaches €6M with more than 40 employees. The shareholding structure evolves: Mathieu takes control of Sarbacane Software by buying out all the company's shares, including his father's stake. He also quickly brings several senior managers on board as Sarbacane shareholders, including Paul. That same year, Thierry dies suddenly of an illness.

The team reaches 80 people across Hem and Barcelona. Revenue stands at €8M and the customer base exceeds 7,000 companies — a sign that growth rests on retention as much as on acquisition.

The group crosses the symbolic €10M revenue mark, marking its entry into the mid-market segment. Sarbacane now counts more than 10,000 customers in over 90 countries, with a growing share of international revenue that validates the Barcelona investment.

First external growth move: Sarbacane Group acquires Datananas, a sales automation platform specialised in outbound email sequences and contact enrichment. The acquisition extends the group's scope from marketing to sales teams, with new capabilities in prospecting and pipeline management.

Positive acquires rapidmail, an email marketing platform with 13 years of presence in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The deal opens direct access to the DACH market — Europe's largest economy — and brings revenue to €22M, doubling in less than two years. IDI (a private equity firm listed on Euronext) takes a stake, providing financial resources and governance support for the next stage of development.

Sarbacane Group becomes Positive — a name chosen to embody the company's operating culture and its ambition to have a positive impact on the MarTech industry. The rebranding is paired with a €110M funding round, with European growth fund EMZ joining IDI as an investor. The capital is allocated to acquisitions and product investment. In parallel, Positive acquires Marketing 1BY1, a Customer Data Platform (CDP) enabling real-time behavioural segmentation and cross-channel personalisation — strengthening the company's data infrastructure.

Positive completes five acquisitions in less than twelve months, each filling a precise gap in the product portfolio or the geographic footprint: 4DEM (Italy — email & SMS), Signitic (email signature management), noCRM.io (lightweight CRM for sales teams), User.com (customer engagement and automation platform) and Mailingwork (email marketing, Germany). The company is now present in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland, with a solid foothold in each of these markets.

Positive integrates three new solutions — Mailtastic (B2B advertising via email signatures), Surfer (AI-powered SEO platform) and Sigilium — with 60 new employees recruited during the year. To absorb the group's growing complexity, Positive strengthens its leadership team with a new CMO and a new CTO, and reorganises its governance around clear product lines and geographic clusters. Positive now operates in 10 European countries with a portfolio covering email, SMS, SEO, CRM, CDP and sales automation.

Positive acquires Iconosquare, a social media management and analytics platform with 3,000+ customers in over 60 countries. The acquisition — the company's twelfth — adds social media to the Positive product suite and strengthens its position as Europe's most complete customer engagement platform.