In the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, Guillaume Vaillant welcomes us in the offices of Orange Silicon Valley. He is, of course, the director of the innovative Orange Fab program.
Some history
Orange Silicon Valley was established in 2008. The localized company currently has 52 employees, who are mainly development engineers and data analysts. The goal of the brand is to invest in start-ups and to identify nuggets of innovation. And that’s good for Orange, since some of the world’s most important tech companies are a stone’s throw away.
But beyond that, Orange is present in Silicon Valley to follow trends and invest, for example, in artificial intelligence, new IT, blockchain, and machine learning. Orange also benefits from its presence in San Francisco to organize widely recognized corporate events.
New business models have emerged in recent years, especially for major brands such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Uber, to name a few. It is easier for Orange to identify talent and emerging technologies at the grassroots level. Furthermore, San Francisco is home to some of the world’s most important tech companies, such as the so-called GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft).
Challenges
The challenge for Orange is to stay in touch with new technological developments. The brand identifies and helps French start-ups to enter the US market. One of the main challenges is to identify the most innovative start-ups i.e. those that specialize in innovative technologies such as computer vision, facial recognition, augmented reality, and voice assistance. In addition, Orange’s challenge is to understand new generations of customers, especially millennials.
Orange Fab and Fab Force
Orange Fab and Fab Force are business acceleration programs that allow Orange to collaborate with innovative start-ups. The program involves assisting them in setting up their businesses by giving them access to a coworking space, as well as the opportunity to meet with more than 50 business mentors who can advise and guide them. The brand invests in start-ups that have business capital of up to 15,000 euros; however, it also allows smaller businesses to access more than 20 workshops and services, as well as exclusive events. The most important thing is that Orange shares its network of contacts to promote start-ups and to propel them forward.
Julie, who is in charge of business development, explained the challenges of the program to us. She explained that Orange Fab is primarily a platform that connects start-ups, and that there are currently 15 Orange Fab programs around the world. Orange gives start-up access to their entire business angel community. The brand invests heavily in digital ventures and gives them access to on-site expertise catering to the needs of start-ups.
Orange Fab has recruited more than 47 start-ups since 2013, and it is also responsible for discovering great entrepreneurs, such as Justin Kan, founder of Twitch.tv.