Internationally successful Belgian entrepreneur Sebastien de Halleux reveals the principles of his latest project Matchday for L'Echo and offers his environmental lessons for companies.
The term “serial entrepreneur” is far from usurped when it comes to qualifications Sebastian of Halleux. This Belgian expatriate in San Francisco was a co-founder game fish, a video game developer that was sold to American giant Electronic Arts in 2009 for $400 million. quadra was also COO of for 5 years Sailing dronea company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that maps and studies the oceans with its autonomous boats. At the end of 2021, he left the ship to found and support impact start-ups with the Graph Ventures fund, and once again navigates the waters of his first love: video games. Sebastien de Halleux takes on the role of Chief Gaming Officer his fifth start-up, Gamedaywhich is developing a “next generation” smartphone soccer game, expected in mid-2024.
From Barcelona, the headquarters of the Matchday studio, he offers us a remote discussion because “it is always pleasant on the same continent”. Technically that doesn't change the situation, “but emotionally we find ourselves a little bit again.” in the same state of mind“In this case, it’s an end-of-year rush.”We're in the trenches “Right now in the middle of a technical sprint,” says Sébastien de Halleux and laughs: “Don't think that starting a business will be easier with experience..” Immerse yourself in the mindset of an entrepreneur who still prefers taking risks to saving.
“Matchday’s goal is clear: to create a completely new game for five billion football fans.”
What is this mysterious project called Matchday that you are currently managing and in which Lionel Messi's private equity fund has invested?
The goal of Matchday is very clear: Creating an entirely new game for five billion football fans. We already have several million users, have raised $30 million, and the game is scheduled to be released in mid-2024.
From a business perspective, the intersection between soccer and video games was exploited 20 years ago by a few companies in Japan and the United States, which developed the first games in which players could be controlled on television.
This is where it gets interesting Electronic Arts' flagship game, now called EAFC, currently generates a billion and a half dollars in revenue per year and has only 25 million users.
This means that of the 5 billion people who watched the World Cup last year, there are 4 billion and 975 million who don't play a football game. For what? Because This game doesn't exist yet.
And how do you want to use this potential vein?
These fans don't have a console, they don't have a PC. But they have a cell phone. Game day is getting ready a football game in which more than 65,000 professional athletes take part under a FIFA licenseThanks to digital trading cardsand who will be one of the very first sports games to run exclusively on artificial intelligence and blockchain.
It's a game that's considered next generation, not because of its 3D realism, but because of its ability to do so provide emotions. We want to change the situation. Over the last twenty years, the gaming world has forgotten to focus on emotions. The comparison can be drawn with developments in art and photography. Painters have been trying to portray reality for centuries. And then photography came along and managed to capture this reality. Painting then turned to other techniques such as impressionism and surrealism. We're trying to get back to the artistic on the phone in a fun way, not to make the most realistic game possible.
I'm talking about respect because we will do it Compensate players in the form of licenses. This will make it possible Simulate football gamesto pit two virtual soccer teams collected by users who have the opportunity to compete against each other exchange and resell.
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Sébastien de Halleux leaves the ship with the wind in the stern of the Saildrone
Given Saildrone's environmental ambitions, isn't it a contradiction to return to a project that is much more focused on consumption and entertainment?
No, my path is full of zigzags. The environment is at the center of my thinking, but Growth and starting a business are my areas of expertise. My philosophy is to use technological frameworks to create real-world applications. By using new tools we can create something new. I don't see any resistance to it.
Where exactly is the Saildrone whose rudder you let go of in 2021?
Saildrone has more than 600 employees And Activities in around fifty countries. This is a great example of a fossil fuel free company. The vehicles are powered exclusively by wind and use solar energy for their on-board computers.
The bet was to equip the planet's oceans. The On a technological level, the bet was largely won. Saildrone contributes live weather forecasts around the world, navigates directly into the heart of storms, helps count fish for fisheries management, closes fishing grounds to illegal actors, and maps the ocean floor.
“For more than a century, we have forgotten that we all live on one planet, a closed environment where everything has been recycled for billions of years.”
And in terms of profitability?
The company does not publish its financial statements, but does extremely profitable and has a very good commercial future. The company has raised $200 million in private funding, likely the equivalent of public funding, and no longer needs external capital to continue its growth.
Are you still convinced that entrepreneurs need to include the environment in their priorities?
It is obvious. For more than a century We have forgotten that we all live on one planet, a closed environment where everything has been recycled for billions of years. We have had the hubris of imagining we could break free this reality.
“We just have to recognize that growth has an upper limit, just as it has a lower limit.”
Every actor in society, entrepreneur, head of a large company or citizen, must think this We depend on a single earth where global impacts are possible. So I would go further. Not only can't we avoid putting nature at the heart of every activity – no matter what it is, even the software runs thanks to silicon that uses electricity – I also believe we have to Let nature inspire you in business, for all the entrepreneurial lessons she has to give us. How do you go from a small seed to a sequoia tree? From Cell division that is exponential.
Reconcile nature and exponential growth? Some economists would disagree with you.
You just have to do it Admit that growth has an upper limit, just as it has a lower limit. To ignore these limits, as we have long done, is to ignore that emissions from tailpipes and factory chimneys are polluting the atmosphere to the point where it can no longer keep up. If you take a petri dish (those small transparent cylindrical dishes made of glass or plastic that are used in microbiology to cultivate microorganisms, editor's note) and place it in it a bacterium, it will multiply exponentially, but very quickly it reaches the edges of the box. Than it's so the end of growth. There are no more resources and no room to grow. Understanding the ceiling of your market, your product, or the technical capabilities of your innovation is just as important as understanding how you can grow. Nature therefore has two methods: self-regulation of excesses, but also exponential growth to fill the gap.
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When it comes to tackling climate change, it is often a caricatured debate between sobriety and technological solutions that serves as the dividing line. Where are you?
Both are necessary. Without a change in habits and behavior, a technical solution is nothing. But I belong to the camp of those who believe in abundance. We're not going to solve anything by shutting down the data centers. By changing their energy source, we can keep them on.
“We are heading towards a situation of abundance (…) As always, the problem lies in the distribution of these resources.”
When I began my career, the idea that any person could communicate with anyone and access knowledge about the world, regardless of their social class or geographical location, seemed crazy to me. Today it is reality. And what happened in telecommunications is also happening in the energy sector.
We are heading towards a situation of abundance, be it in terms of heating, drinking water or food production. The problem, as always, lies in the distribution of these resources. But Hope comes not from the police officers, but from the actors – Entrepreneurs who, by definition, imagine a future that doesn't yet exist
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Why are there so few international champions in Belgium?
If the question is why there are only a few champions from Belgium who position themselves with international ambitions, in my opinion it is a question of education. The education system is not sufficiently open internationally. Gold, A narrow framework creates risk aversion and an entrepreneurial world that remains focused on local problems. But hopes rest on global solutions. He We must remind all young students that they are global citizens before they are Belgian. However, Belgium's lack of international ambition is becoming less and less true. Flagships like Odoo and others, also on an artistic or musical level, pave the way for entrepreneurs. Belgium has an international reach that far exceeds its size suggests it.
What about the Graph Ventures fund?
“There are more than 380 integrated companies and a desire to invest globally, in Brazil, Europe, Asia and the United States. A European example is Clearspace, which aims to clear debris in space. You should know that any satellite that stops working today will be abandoned. Clearspace is developing robotic solutions to free up this space. It is a beautiful flagship based in Luxembourg. We also invested Skyroot, an Indian aerospace company involved in the revolution of democratizing space. Everyone knows SpaceX, but there are other companies trying to meet different needs.” And in Belgium? “Graph Ventures supports several Belgian projects. One project that can be mentioned is NeuroClues, a spin-off from UCLouvain This revolutionizes the measurement of rapid eye movements to detect Alzheimer's disease earlier than before.
Key phrases
- “Game day wants Creating an entirely new game for five billion football fans.”
- “Every actor in society, entrepreneur, head of a large company or citizen, must think that.” We depend on a single earth where global impacts are possible.”
- “Without a change in habits and behavior, a technical solution is nothing. But I belong to the camp of those who believe in abundance.”
- “For what From Belgium there are only a few champions who position themselves with international ambitions? I think it's a question Training.”