Cathay Innovation helps its invested startups of the Xiaomi ecosystem to expand globally
May 4, 2020
Europe
The Xiaomi Ecosystem delegation, a group of representatives from Soocas, Yeelight and LUMI, has joined Cathay Innovation’s team for an intense and fruitful one-week business trip in France recently.
Soocas, Yeelight and LUMI are portfolio companies of Cathay Innovation & Cathay Capital specialized in smart and innovative home products. The main purpose of this trip was to help the Chinese delegation get a deeper understanding of the European smart home market and see the potential for their international expansion. Cathay Innovation team played a major role in building the bridge of contact and mutual-learning linking Xiaomi Ecosystem’s delegations and their French counterparts.
A series of meaningful business events have been held in diverse French cities, such as Paris, Lille and Lyon.
Founders and managers from the three companies had the opportunity to meet with key executives at top CE retailers such as Boulanger, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Amazon France, as well as to discuss with potential distribution partners about the practical launch of their brands on the French and European markets. They were also welcomed for a special day at SEB Group headquarters near Lyon, which included meeting with members of the board, top executives and relevant category managers. The delegation joined a meeting at Publicis Group HQ in Paris to explore marketing plans for their brands in European countries. Furthermore, the delegation companies were invited to the BIG (Bpifrance Inno Generation) Event and were interviewed by local journalists during a live TV show.
Founder and CEO of Yeelight, Mr. Zhaoning JIANG said:” This trip has gone far beyond my expectations. Thanks to the perfect organization of Cathay Innovation team, I have gained new ideas and obtained very important business contacts. Yeelight has come here with questions, and this trip gave us something more than just an answer. With the help of Cathay Innovation, we have learnt the know-how of going out of China, and France is clearly our next step of development.”
Jean-François COCHY, Investment Director of Cathay Innovation added: ”We were happy to leverage our deep ecosystem in France to support our portfolio companies in developing their activity in Europe. This is at the core of our approach as active investors: we provide the right access and the right connection to create tangible business for our portfolio companies. We speak the same language as our entrepreneurs: additional revenue for the companies and strategic brand building”.
About Xiaomi
Xiaomi was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun based on the vision “innovation for everyone”. Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing, creates remarkable hardware, software, and Internet services for and with the help of their Mi fans.
About Yeelight
Yeelight, incubated by SOSVenture and becoming part of Xiaomi ecosystem in 2014, is an innovative leader dedicated for smarting lighting application. Working actively with Amazon, Google and Microsoft team, Yeelight brings you the best lighting experience you may imagine for a smart home!
About LUMI
In 2014, after the investment from Xiaomi, Shunwei and world-famous investment institutions, LUMI officially joined the Xiaomi ecosystem, and together with Xiaomi, it started from the aspects of intelligent hardware, software and Internet. And create new smart products that “everyone can play” applications of smart products in the smart home and Internet of Things.
About Soocas
Founded in 2015, Soocas (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. is an Internet technology company dedicating to personal digital product for health care.
About Boulanger
With more than 60 years of experience, Boulanger is in France the specialist in household appliances and multimedia equipment. Boulanger has gained 2 billion euros in revenue in 2014.
About Leroy Merlin
Leroy Merlin is a French headquartered international home equipment and gardening retailer. It has nearly 100 years of history and provides self-service and sales assisted services. Its business is centered on six main sectors: DIY, building, gardening, sanitary equipment, renewable energy, and interior decoration. Leroy Merlin has gained 6.64 billion euros in turnover.
About Auchan
Auchan is a committed retailer with 55 years history and has 51,7 billion euros in consolidated revenue in 2017.
About SEB
With operations in almost 150 countries, Groupe SEB is today the world leader in Small Household Equipment. It has earned strong positions on all continents through a wide, diversified product range and an exceptional brand portfolio. SEB has seen a 29,7% of growth in sales in 2017, which acknowledged 6,485 million euros in sales.
About Publicis Group
Founded in 1926, Publicis Group is now the 3rd largest communications group in the world. Through a powerful alchemy of creativity and technology, they are driving business transformation across the entire value chain. Publicis Group has a revenue of 9,690 million euros in 2017.