Benjamin Guijarro (SK 2015), develops Heatzy from Shanghai to Euratechnologies Lille!

We met Benjamin, an entrepreneur who contributed to the development of Heatzy in Shanghai and is now based at Euratechnologies, at the Entrepreneurs’ Club* pitch session held in Lille (TechShop Leroy Merlin) on 16 October 2018. Audrey Touyon spoke to him on behalf of SKEMA Alumni! (photo album)

After a Master 1 on the Sophia-Antipolis campus, I got the chance, along with a friend of mine, to spend a full academic year on the Suzhou campus in China. It was a fantastic experience filled with new ideas and opportunities. When my gap year came around, I was feeling a strong urge to return to China. That’s when I saw a job ad posted by the school, submitted by Nicolas Bonsignore (SK 1997). It was for a business development position in his Shanghai office.
After several interviews, I joined Nicolas in China for my gap year. Once back in France on the Sophia campus for an MSc BC & ISM as an apprenticeship, going back to China was in the back of my mind and that is what I did, to work on a project that quickly turned into a product idea (connected objects for home heating) and then a business in its own right...

"Control your heating from anywhere via your smartphone with Heatzy"

After having worked with Nicolas in Shanghai for the launch of Heatzy in 2016, and an initial success with a Wi-Fi connected programmer for electric heaters, the team decided to open an office in France to be closer to the market and develop the European market. They are now established at Euratechnologies since April 2018! "Having a business in China before launching in France is a little unusual! We were selected to participate in the IFA in Berlin from 31 August to 5 September 2018. We have attended CES Asia in Shanghai every year since the launch in 2016. We exhibit in the French Tech pavilion, which was our official launch venue during CES Asia 2016! We have just been selected to take part in WebSummit in Lisbon from 5 to 8 November 2018.

Today we are looking for Data Scientists (deployment to the R&D team, AI...).

Contact: Benjamin Guijarro    / https://heatzy.com/

  Join the SKEMA Alumni Entrepreneurs’ club

* The Lille SKEMA Alumni Entrepreneurs’ Club has been up and running for 4 years. It is run by two alumni-ambassadors who organise 3 meet-ups a year, alternating pitch sessions, talks, and themed round-tables. Contact: Audrey Touyon