Cosylva

What Cosylva does

Cosylva is a French forestry cooperative (Coopérative forestière de l'Aude) founded in 1980 and headquartered in Carcassonne, France. It provides integrated forest management services to 326 private forest owner members across five departments of southern France (Aude, Tarn, Hérault, Ariège, Pyrénées-Orientales) plus bordering cantons of Haute Garonne. As of 2025 it manages 19,800 hectares of forest, has planted 177,000 trees, and commercialized 73,500 m³ of timber, generating €6.016 million in revenue.

The cooperative's core offering consists of forest management planning (gestion forestière), reforestation (reboisement), forest improvement works (thinning and pruning), forest road construction (voirie forestière), timber harvesting (exploitation), and organized grouped timber auctions (ventes groupées). It has held official 'Organisation de Producteurs' status since 2011, positioning it as the principal timber harvesting actor for the wood industry in the Aude department. Services are delivered by a small team of certified Gestionnaires Forestiers Professionnels, each assigned to a specific geographic sector as a single point of contact for member owners, handling technical, commercial, and administrative operations. The cooperative is also part of the Sylva d'Oc grouping with Sylva Rouergue and FPLG, and is affiliated with the national UCFF federation of forest cooperatives.

Cosylva's revenue model combines recurring membership-based forestry service fees with transaction-based timber commercialization. Members pay annual fees tied to forest size and services required; timber is sold through annual grouped auctions to industrial buyers including sawmills and wood processors. The cooperative is structurally independent from timber exploitation (it does not operate its own logging business), preserving member-first economics. Its 2022 wooden headquarters, built entirely with heartwood from member forests, won the Trophées Régionaux Construction Bois 2023. Go-to-market is direct and field-based via forest technicians, with minimal digital or paid marketing.

Name

Cosylva

Legal name

COSYLVA

Website

https://cosylva11.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cosylva is a French forestry cooperative founded in 1980 in Carcassonne, providing forest management, reforestation, and timber commercialization services to 326 private forest owner members across five departments of southern France, with €6M in annual revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Forestry Management Services

NAICS

Timber Tract Operations (113110), Support Activities for Forestry (1153)

SIC

Forestry (800)

akta.pro primary industry

Timber Tract Operations & Forest Ownership (Timberland) (IMAMAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Timberland Operations Planning & Contractor Management (AFAMAKAE), Forest Management & Silviculture Services (Cruising, Planning, Compliance) (IMAMAAAD)

Keywords

• Forest management services
• Private forestry cooperative
• Timber commercialization
• Reforestation services
• Sylviculture consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Carcassonne

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Timber sales / wood product commercialization: Cosylva harvests and commercializes timber from member forests through organized grouped sales (ventes groupées). The cooperative acts as an accredited 'Organisation de Producteurs' to aggregate timber supply and sell to buyers including sawmills and wood industry processors.
2. Forestry services to members: Annual membership fees from forest owners; services include forest management planning, reforestation, forest improvement works (thinning, pruning), forest road works, and administrative support. Services are provided to private forest owner members across the territory.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cosylva is a forestry cooperative that provides private forest owners with professional forest management services including cultivation planning, reforestation, thinning and pruning, forest road construction, timber harvesting, and administrative support. It also aggregates and commercializes timber from member forests through annual grouped auctions to sawmills and wood industry buyers under its accredited Producer Organization status.

Product overview

Cosylva is a cooperative offering integrated forestry management services for private forest owners. The core offering consists of advisory and technical forest management services (gestion forestière), reforestation work (reboisement), forest improvement services (thinning and pruning), forest road construction, timber harvesting, and organized group timber sales. As a Producer Organization (Organisation de Producteurs), the cooperative also markets wood products for the timber industry supply chain through annual group auctions. Services are delivered by professional forest managers (gestionnaires forestiers professionnels) who work directly with property owners across the Aude, Tarn, Hérault, Ariège, and Pyrénées-Orientales departments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Annual grouped timber auction prices reached €74/m³ average in 2024 vs €68/m³ opening offer, with 6 bids per lot on average — demonstrating commercial effectiveness.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sylva d'OccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCosylva is a member of the 'Sylva d'Oc' cooperative grouping, alongside Sylva Rouergue (Aveyron) and FPLG (Forêts Privées de Lozère et Gard). The grouping was created to improve service quality and commercial competitiveness through shared resources and coordinated action. The group celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019.
• UCFF Les Coopératives ForestièrescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCosylva is affiliated with UCFF Les Coopératives Forestières, the national federation of forest cooperatives. UCFF represents and supports forest cooperatives at the national level.
• Maugard Bois (Quillan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMaugard Bois sawmill in Quillan processes timber from Cosylva member forests, performing sawing, drying, and planing (rabotage) services for the cooperative's headquarters construction and potentially other projects.
• PAUEM Atelier (Carcassonne)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerArchitecture firm PAUEM Atelier (Pauline Chauvet and Emanuele Moro) designed the cooperative's headquarters building at 550 rue Antoine Durand in Carcassonne.
• BATISCOP (Campagne sur Aude)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCarpentry company BATISCOP in Campagne sur Aude manufactured and assembled the wood structure, bracing cassettes, and interior/exterior cladding, and handled insulation with wood wool for the cooperative's headquarters.
• AEP Saint Joseph (Limoux) and CFPPA Ariège-Comminges (Pamiers)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCosylva partners with vocational forestry schools, organizing annual forestry work sites where student operators perform harvesting and sylviculture work. Benoît Leclercq also participates in exam juries and hosts pedagogical visits.
• Pépinières Robin (Saint Laurent du Cros)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRobin tree nurseries in Saint Laurent du Cros (Hautes-Alpes) supply planting stock for Cosylva's reforestation activities. Fabien Fauquet visited in preparation for the 2019 planting season.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Pépinières Robin: Forest tree nursery in Saint-Laurent-du-Cros supplying planting stock to Cosylva's reforestation operations. Adjacent ecosystem participant — a supplier rather than competitor — but tightly coupled to Cosylva's reforestation revenue stream.
• Fransylva: National union of private forest owners in France. Not a service provider, but represents and channels demand from the same private-owner segment Cosylva serves — a relevant ecosystem participant for member acquisition and policy positioning.
• Forêt Privée Française: National certification and labeling body for sustainably managed private French forests; Cosylva holds its label. Operates in the same owner ecosystem and reinforces Cosylva's brand positioning around sustainable forestry, without competing commercially.

Direct peers

• COFOGAR (Coopérative Forestière de Gascogne et d'Aquitaine): Gascon and Aquitaine forestry cooperative providing grouped forest management and timber commercialization to private owners. Operates in neighboring Nouvelle-Aquitaine/Occitanie regions with the same cooperative structure and grouped auction model as Cosylva.
• Sylva Rouergue: Forestry cooperative based in Aveyron and a sister member of the Sylva d'Oc grouping alongside Cosylva. Operates the same cooperative model (Gestion Forestière, grouped timber sales, reforestation services) for private forest owners in the same southwestern French region.
• FPLG (Forêts Privées de Lozère et Gard): Forestry cooperative for private owners in Lozère and Gard, third member of the Sylva d'Oc grouping. Closely comparable structure, services and product offering to Cosylva, covering adjacent Occitanie departments.
• Alliance Forêts Bois: France's largest forestry cooperative, headquartered in southwestern France. Operates the same cooperative model of professional forest management, grouped timber sales and sylviculture services for private forest owners across multiple regions — directly comparable in service mix, though much larger in scale.

Broad incumbents

• UCFF Les Coopératives Forestières: National federation of French forestry cooperatives of which Cosylva is a member. Provides advocacy, training and collective representation; broader in scope than Cosylva but directly tied to its operating environment and accreditation pipeline.
• Office National des Forêts (ONF): State-owned forest manager that oversees public forests and increasingly supports private forest groupings in France. Not a cooperative and primarily focused on state forests, but the dominant incumbent player in French forest management with overlapping sylviculture and timber commercialization capabilities.

Regional players

• CRPF Occitanie (Centre Régional de la Propriété Forestière): Regional public body that advises private forest owners and develops regional forest strategies in Occitanie. Overlaps with Cosylva in PSG advisory and member outreach, but is a non-commercial public institution rather than a competing service provider.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cosylva