229 euros, that is the price of Poolstar first product, a pool alarm sold in 2006 from a garage. Twenty years later, the company from Provence achieves 53 million euros in revenue and has more than 3 000 clients across 50 countries. In the meantime, its business almost halved before bouncing back. It celebrates its twentieth anniversary at Piscine Global from November 17 to 20 at Eurexpo Lyon on booth 5D20.
It all begins with a TV report. In 2003, the show Capital on M6 dedicates a segment to pool alarms. Raphaël Elbaz, an aeronautical engineer by training who worked in air conditioning, sees a market there, an equipment item sold at high prices by specialists just as regulations on private pool safety are tightening. Three years later, the first Poolstar alarm comes out of a garage in Septèmes les Vallons.
Raphaël wanted to democratize this product to make it accessible to everyone, summarizes his son Neal Elbaz, himself Commercial Director of the Group.
The professional pivot, and balloons in train stations
In 2008, the Lyon trade show acts as a trigger. Poolstar discovers the professional world there and understands that its future lies in BtoB. The memory is also lighter, with balloons handed out as giveaways. We received photos from the airport or the train station with people carrying their balloon under their arm, recalls Emmanuel Attar, Operations Director.
The product range follows. First heat pump in 2008 closely followed by saunas. Then came the development of semi rigid spas in 2014, a segment that the group helps create around 1 000 €. Next come aquafitness bikes and inflatable stand up paddleboards, which today account for about 25 percent of revenue according to Neal Elbaz, with over one million units sold. But the historical core business remains the heat pump, with the Platinium, featuring a design inspired by a flower pot, receiving the innovation award at Piscine Global in 2018.
From the garage to Rousset
In 2012, the fifteen employees leave the garage for Le Rove. Everyone knew each other, we all ate together, remembers Carole Simon, after sales service officer still at Poolstar today, who arrived that year. On Fridays, it was half chicken and fries bought at Plan de Campagne.
In October 2018, the company moves to Rousset, a headquarters matching the ambitions of the Group, 50 000 square meters of space including 27 000 square meters built, 33 loading bays, a 780 square meter showroom, and 400 square meters reserved for product testing.
Then comes the takeoff, 50 million euros in revenue in 2020, up by 50 percent, then 80 million in 2021. Then the market turns. Inventory accumulates at Poolstar as well as at its clients, demand slows down, and business drops back to 41 million in 2023. In 2024, the group restructures, refocusing on pools, industrial partners, and a resized organization. Revenue rises back to 46 million, then to 53 million in 2025.
A pool controlled from a single place
Today, Poolstar equip the entire technical room, filtration, treatment, heating, and cooling, without forgetting solar energy production solutions to power the pool. Poolex Nexus, launched in 2026, connects all this equipment and allows it to be supervised from a single software. Innovation must always be relevant and serve the user experience, argues Raphaël Elbaz, founder and CEO. The group also takes care of the lifespan of its products, with spare parts available for up to seven years after production ends and an EcoVadis silver medal in 2026.
Beyond numbers, innovations, and scale changes, Poolstar seems to have kept something from its beginnings, a closeness among teams and an ability to stick together. An anecdote from Patrice Barbe, technical manager at Poolstar since the early years, bears witness to this. During one of the company first trade shows, while presenting the Fit s Pool during booth assembly, he falls into the basin filled with water at 5 degrees Celsius in the middle of November.
Emmanuel Attar immediately lends him his tracksuit. An unusual scene, but one that reveals a collective spirit that has accompanied the company since its early years.
Twenty years after its creation, as Poolstar opens a new chapter in its development, this human dimension remains essential. Neal Elbaz speaks of a deeper wish driven by and for people. A conviction reminding us that the future of the group is not built solely around its products and innovations, but also thanks to the women and men who bring it to life.
Meet us at Piscine Global
For its twentieth anniversary, Poolstar invites professionals to booth 5D20 from November 17 to 20 at Eurexpo Lyon with events and surprises. A return to Lyon, where the BtoB turn took place in 2008.
