Alexander Asseily

Alexander Asseily is a British/Lebanese technology entrepreneur and investor. He has been a founder of various companies including consumer electronics company Jawbone, women's health company Elvie and Zulu Group. His business interests in the field are extensive, and he has held executive roles with companies such as Lilium, Atomico Ventures and Azimo.

Alexander Asseily
Born	London, England
Nationality	British, Lebanese
Education	BSc Product Design, 1997, MSc Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1998
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, Investor^[1]

Education and early career

Raised in Beirut, Lebanon and London, UK,^[2] Asseily was educated in England before moving to California to obtain a Bachelor of Science in product design in 1997 and a master's in mechanical engineering in 1998 from Stanford University.^[3]

In 1999, Asseily founded Aliph (AliphCom) with Hosain Rahman to develop voice communications technologies that were based on ideas originating from his Stanford senior thesis,^[3] starting with noise suppression products. In 2002, the company won a contract with DARPA, the Pentagon’s research body, to look into ways for soldiers to communicate in adverse noise conditions. The product was initially trademarked Noise-Assassin.^[3]

Notable entrepreneurial work

In September 2004, Aliph company released its first consumer headset product under the Jawbone brand, followed by the Jawbone Bluetooth headset in 2006. In 2010, Aliph launched the Jambox wireless speakers on the back of its success in Bluetooth headsets. It was one of the first Bluetooth speakers that was considered to be truly portable with a sleek design and high sound quality.

In 2011, Aliph started operating as Jawbone, a company that had at the time secured more than $100 million in growth funding from the Mayfield Fund, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Yuri Milner and J.P. Morgan, among others.^[4] Jawbone subsequently released the Mini Jambox and Big Jambox, with differing options in size, portability and sound output. Asseily was CEO of Jawbone until 2007, executive chairman until 2011 and non-executive chairman until his departure in January 2015.^[5]

In 2011-2012, Asseily raised $14 million in seed financing to develop State, a social network to connect people through their opinions, which he co-founded with his brother Mark Asseily that launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in September 2013.^[6][7][8]

He founded Zulu Group in 2013 to invest in high-impact ideas. That same year, Asseily co-founded Chiaro Technology with Tania Boler in 2013. The women's health startup is best known for developing the wearable breast pump, the Elvie Pump, and its pelvic floor exerciser, the Elvie Trainer, which were accompanied by an app to track progress. The trainer product won the Best R&D Award at the AXA PPP Health Tech and You awards 2015^[9] and was also the winner of the Red Dot Product Design Award in 2016.

In 2016, Asseily invested in Lilium, an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) jet aircraft startup, where he was executive vice chairman. The company went public on the NASDAQ in 2021.^[10]

Other investments

Asseily was an entrepreneur partner at Atomico, which invests in technology companies and founded in 2006 by Skype co-founder, Niklas Zennström.^[11][12]

He was also non-executive chairman at Azimo, a money transfer business based in London. Azimo was acquired by Papaya Global in 2022.^[13]

In 2011, Asseily also invested in Lulu, a dating intelligence app marketed at college-age women.^[14]

Asseily acted as an advisor to Osper, a company that provides pre-paid debit cards for children, after investing in the company in 2013.^[15] Alongside other tech investors, Asseily backed SmartUp, an app designed to aid start-ups.^[16] He is also an investor in the club and work space Second Home.^[17]

Public speaking appearances

• Young Global Leader United Kingdom Summit: Britain: A 21st Century Partner for Global Growth, 04/12/11^[18]
• Speaker at UN Global Summit on the Syrian Refugee Crisis^[19]
• Google Campus London talks, 03/04/2014^[20]
• Tedx Brussels: Ingredients for Cultural Explosions, 2012^[21]
• Sages and Scientists 2013^[22]
• Fast Growth Icons 2016 - keynote ^[23]

Personal life and recognition

He has produced two documentaries pertaining to conflict in the Middle East and acted as executive producer for feature-length documentary Aluna.^[24] The film centers around the ancient Kogi tribe of Colombia, who emerge from their native land to warn the rest of the world about environmental dangers and how to address them. The film was released in June 2012. He also produced the short film Two Men, One War, 33 Years On, which was broadcast on CNN, about two Lebanese civil war fighters reconciling with their past.^[25]

In 2015, he partnered with a design studio to reimagine the disco ball as a programmable modular lighting sculpture known as "Disco Disco". The project was showcased at exhibitions in London and Paris.^[26] Asseily was recognized as one of Europe's top technology entrepreneurs in the Financial Times Eurotech 50 list that same year.^[27] Business Insider named Asseily the 33rd most influential person in Silicon Valley in 2013.^[28]

References

1. "Top European tech entrepreneurs". Financial Times. 19 June 2015.
2. Cheshire, Tom (27 December 2011). "Graphing your opinion: Jawbone founder wants to data-track points of view". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
3. "Jawbone: The trials of a 16-year-old can't-miss startup". Fortune.com. Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
4. Mitchenall, Toby; Brasse, Jonathan (17 March 2011). "Headset Maker Jawbone Calls Up $49M from Andreessen Horowitz". PE Hub. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
5. "Alexander Asseily". Maverick Wisdom. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
6. Bradshaw, Tim (27 February 2014). "Jawbone founder aims to organise the world's opinions with new app State". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
7. "State Launches Opinion Network Where You Don't Need Followers To Be Heard". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
8. Gibbs, Samuel (27 February 2014). "State is more than just a social network for opinions". The Guardian.
9. "Homepage". AXA PPP Healthcare. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
10. Shead, Sam (2 August 2021). "An electric jet start-up just signed a $1 billion deal with a commercial airliner". CNBC.
11. "Skype co-founder's Atomico teams up with entrepreneurs". Financial Times. 17 January 2016.
12. Loizos, Connie (18 March 2016). "Atomico is raising a $750M fourth fund". TechCrunch.
13. Lunden, Ingrid (28 March 2022). "Papaya Global to buy Azimo for $150M-$200M to expand its payroll payments to more markets". TechCrunch.
14. Lulu. "Lulu, The Girls-Only App for Dating Intelligence, Launches in US Colleges". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 24 March 2020.
15. Burn-Callander, Rebecca (28 June 2014). "Osper closes £6m funding round". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
16. "SmartUp App Virtually Mentors New Entrepreneurs And Could Lead To Funding". techcrunch.com. 29 June 2015.
17. . Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
18. "World Economic Forum - Home" (PDF).
19. "Hacking the Refugee Crisis". bloomberg.
20. "Campus Presents: "Ten Startup Lessons" with Alexander Asseily". YouTube.
21. . Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
22. . Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
23. "Fast Growth Icons | The invitation-only event for founders of fast-growing success stories". www.fastgrowthicons.com.
24. "Dialogue List" (PDF). thefilmcollaborative.org. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
25. "- YouTube". www.youtube.com.
26. Holmes, Kevin (25 March 2015). "Brighten Up a Party With This Sound Responsive Disco Ball". Vice.
27. "Top European tech entrepreneurs". Financial Times. 19 June 2015.
28. SAI. "The Silicon Valley 100". Business Insider. Retrieved 24 March 2020.