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Benjamin Joffe aka \u00ab\u00a0Mr Asia\u00a0\u00bb is a leading expert on Asia\u2019s startup ecosystems who has worked in this area over the past 13 years (China, Japan, Korea, South-East Asia). Founder of the digital strategy firm\u00a0Plus Eight Star, he is also a Mentor at 500 Startups (US) and 5 other startup accelerators. He currently lives in Beijing, focusing on growth for the\u00a0Cmune startup\u00a0\u2013 the maker of UberStrike, a popular cross-platform first-person shooter game with over 10 million registered players \u2013 and he is also known for his activity as an Angel investor in 9 other startups, including Gengo (Japan). Keynote speaker, moderator and judge at over 150 startup events across 22 countries, he has 500,000 views of his presentations on SlideShare.<\/em><\/p>\n Matthieu David, from Daxue China Market Research<\/a> (follow on Linkedin<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>), a market research firm focusing on China based in Beijing and Shanghai, has interviewed Benjamin on the 2d of October for Rude Baguette.<\/em><\/p>\n Q: Hello Benjamin, first thanks for accepting this interview. You have been on the entrepreneurial scene in Asia for some time now and named Mister Asia by magazines and you have been quoted regularly by media such as Forbes, The Economist, CNN, AdAge, VentureBeat or TechCrunch. Could you tell us more about your experience in Asia?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Sure! I have lived 13 years in Asia- mostly in China and Japan, but also South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. I also spent close to a year in Silicon Valley over the past 5 years.<\/p>\n Actually, I don’t like to use the word “Asia” because the countries, markets and cultures are so different: Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore… it’s like talking about “Eurafrica” and putting France, Slovenia, Russia, Nigeria and Eritrea in the same bag.<\/p>\n Q: You have been witnessing a lot of start-up stories in Asia, where do you feel French start the more businesses? and within which specific industry (within the tech industry)? Do you feel it is more about apps, websites, others? What are do you think their competitive advantages (if they do have one)? And are they usually targeting the local market or still Europe and France from abroad?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don’t think there is a clear pattern, and to be honest I have not met many French starting tech businesses in Asia. The most common are probably web agencies or e-commerce type of sites. Apps in East Asia are very hard to do if you’re not well tuned to the local tastes.<\/p>\n France is quite skilled at gaming and you can find quite a few French people in this sector, but generally in art\/tech or management roles rather than founders.<\/p>\n Q: What would be your top 3 picks among French start-ups in Asia? Why?<\/b><\/p>\n A: For some companies it is hard to tell whether they have a nationality- founders might be a mix. If I look at startups who have at least one French founder, I would mention the following (more than 3, sorry!):<\/p>\n HAXLR8R<\/a> (Shenzhen – Founder: Cyril Ebersweiler)<\/b>. This is a sta Last, I’d like to mention another company founded by a Frenchman who worked at NASA While the company HQ is in San Francisco, it is notable as it launched in Japan just 2 months after the US. It was in newspapers and on TV this week in Tokyo (I helped with the launch). It shows that startups are not limited by geography, only by the ambition of their founders (more info<\/a>).<\/p>\n For disclosure, I am an angel investor in both\u00a0Cmune<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Elysium Space<\/b>.<\/p>\n I wish I had invested in AppAnnie but instead I gave them low marks at a startup competition where I was a judge, over 3 years ago. They had just launched, had no revenue, little traction… I did not see then how big the app gold rush would be, and that everyone would need shovels.<\/p>\n In Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, other key Asian markets, I have to admit I either don’t know of “French” startups or there is simply no large one.<\/p>\n Q: You have been a speaker in many world quality events, what are the key messages you are communicating on when you are on stage?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n A: I often talk about digital ecosystems, notably to show that “innovation” and “entrepreneurship” are not specific to Silicon Valley. Most founders lie on stage as they have a duty to always look good-\u00a0I like to dispel myths and tell real stories.<\/p>\n Many of my talks are online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Q: Could you share more with us about the concept of lean business and especially in Asia?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.31.31.png\")
AppAnnie<\/a> (Beijing – CEO: Bertrand Schmitt)<\/b>\u00a0Maybe the most successful “foreign” global tech startup in China. They are the world reference for mobile analytics. Just closed a $15m funding round with Sequoia Capital, the world’s most famous venture capital firm. It does both B2B and B2C (freemium).<\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.31.57.png\")
Cmune<\/a> (Beijing – CEO: Ludovic Bodin) <\/b>Pioneer of shooter games and\u00a0largest 3D game on Facebook with UberStrike<\/a>, expanding now to mobile. The company is also based in China. It raised money from the founder of Skype and Silicon Valley investors. It is B2C with over 15 million registered players and 1.4 million Facebook fans.<\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.32.58.png\")
VirtuosGames<\/a> (Shanghai – Founder: Gilles Langourieux)<\/b>\u00a0– the largest game outsourcing company in China, probably a global leader too. Based in Shanghai. It is not a B2C startup so less well known.<\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.33.45.png\")
rtup accelerator focused on hardware products – they invest in startups and help them get to market. Shenzhen is the best place in the world for manufacturing of tech hardware and they already helped fund and manufacture “smart” products such as a high-end cooking device<\/a>, a remote-controlled vibrator<\/a>, lighting solutions and smart electric plugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.59.22.png\")
8Securities (Hong Kong)<\/b>\u00a0in the finance space. Raised $13m – not sure how well the service is doing, but combining finance and tech is notable as a startup.<\/p>\n![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/assets\/Capture-d\u2019\u00e9cran-2013-10-04-\u00e0-13.59.56.png\")
for 8 years:\u00a0Elysium Space<\/b><\/a>\u00a0(Founder: Thomas Civeit) offers space burials (sending a portion of the ashes of a loved one into Earth orbit).<\/p>\n