The thriving start-up ecosystem in France has come up in several conversations I have had with savvy entrepreneurs and developers in the past. I had the opportunity to see this first hand during a recent visit to Paris where I met with Nopporn Suppipat, entrepreneur and primary backer of Blade Group, who is determined to revolutionise the IT industry and the way in which we use personal computers. In fact, he goes as far as saying that the success of the Paris-based start-up will spell the end of personal computers as we know them today. This may seem like a bold statement at first, however Nopporn Suppipat is no stranger to bold ambition and like all successful entrepreneurs has had his fair share of ups and downs.
Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Nopporn began investing in the Thai stock market at the age of 17. His initial investment of $3,000 – borrowed from his mother – saw him become a millionaire at the age of 20. However, the 1997 Asian financial crisis had a major impact on the Thai stock market and Nopporn lost almost everything as a result. As with other successful entrepreneurs, Nopporn wasn’t fazed by this setback and sought other opportunities including publishing. But what put him on the map was his wind energy business.
Nopporn founded Wind Energy Holding (WEH) in 2009 after commissioning a wind map of Thailand at a time when wind and renewables was not on the national or public agenda. In fact, he is pleased to point out that many thought he was throwing his money away commissioning such a study. By 2014 WEH became the fastest growing wind energy producer in South East Asia, was valued at nearly $2 bn and was on track for an IPO. Everything was looking good for Nopporn until May 2014 when the Thailand’s first female Prime Minister was ousted in a military coup following weeks of street protests in Bangkok.
The coup and the purge which followed, impacted Nopporn’s business and personal life. “After the military coup in 2014, I left my home and country. Like many political victims and pro-democracy activists in Thailand, I was wrongly accused of draconian lese majesté laws. France welcomed me and granted me political refugee status and I have been living in Paris ever since.”
He tells me that he is learning French “but not quite there yet”, and it seems to me that he is adjusting well to life in France, “I just love living in Paris! When I was living in Thailand I wished we had the kind of democracy and freedom of speech France has. I share with France a certain political ideology and vision of democracy and freedom, so France was an obvious choice. I am very grateful to the French authorities for welcoming me as a political refugee.”
But there is something else in France which attracts Nopporn the entrepreneur, “Crucially, France is building an innovative and prosperous tech sector. There are numerous talented and well trained developers, and the French government has created many incentives to support the industry. The French tech sector is really thriving and I am very exciting to be part of it.”
This maybe news to those outside of France, but Nopporn is actually right. Paris has 5000 start ups alone, is home to more than 60 incubators and the world’s biggest start-up campus, Station F, is about to be launched here soon. ‘La French Tech’ as it’s known is thriving and government support and incentives are likely to continue regardless of the election results. So does Nopporn really believe the age of personal computers as we know them is coming to an end? “Absolutely. I have been actively investing in and advising a French tech start-up called Blade, a revolutionary company with a product based on cloud computing called Shadow. We want Shadow to replace conventional gaming PCs and consoles and eventually traditional PCs. It's more or less a virtual super PC. Blade has just received an award for its disruptive digital technology from BPI, France’s public investment bank. We started with gamers’ market because it's a perfect way to prove our product's superior performance. Thanks to Shadow, you will have access to a very high-performance computer in the cloud through your phone, tablet, laptop or smart TV or basically anything with screen, anywhere. You can run Windows on your tablet and play the most demanding games.”
Nopporn also explains that Shadow is a cost effective way for users to always have access to the highest performing technology, “It just cost less than 30 euros per month. We will upgrade our system every time a new GPU card comes out so you always have the latest technology without extra cost. Shadow has ultra-performance and zero latency, it is really a pioneer service, 100% developed in France by top programmers. 10 years ago, you and I were still buying CDs and DVDs. Now most of us use online streaming for music and video. The same will happen with computers. With Shadow, you will no longer need to buy a hi performance computer at home or at the office. This will be over.”
Nopporn is adamant that this technology will have an impact beyond gaming. Using his background in energy, Nopporn expands this thought further, “Let me make an analogy with the energy revolution that took place in Europe in the 19th century. Back then, electricity was produced where we needed to use it. In 1850s light bulbs were powered by a small generator within the facility. This was extremely inefficient and costly. The first central power station was built in the late 1880s, it generated great economy of scale hence increased efficiency and lowered the cost. Households and businesses then gained access to much cheaper, cleaner and more reliable source of energy and so standalone generators became obsolete. The same will happen to computing. Soon, you will no longer need to buy and keep upgrading your PC. You will have more powerful remote processors that can be accessed through the internet on any device with a screen. So this is a revolution not just for gamers, but also for corporations and individuals. This will further democratise access to high-performance computing and processing. Think about the implications for virtual reality for example, not only it will be cheaper but it will also be tetherless and latency free. I believe that this disruptive cloud processing technology will foster a new digital revolution.”
Time will tell if Shadow can be the one to close the chapter on PCs, however with Nopporn Suppipat’s backing, vision and resilience, it stands a fighting chance.