Rafi Haladjian
Rafi Haladjian (Armenian: Րաֆֆի Հալաջյան) born in Beirut, Lebanon) in 1961 is a French serial entrepreneur of Armenian origin. He is the founder of numerous technology and telecom companies. Among others, he is known as the co-creator of the wireless-connected rabbit Nabaztag one of the pioneering smart objects of the Internet of Things.
Career
Rafi Haladjian starts his professional career by producing filmed interviews with Eugène Ionesco and Federico Fellini.
In 1986 he is recruited by the publishing company Publications Nouvelles to develop its emerging Minitel activities. He becomes the COO of the company in 1987. He then creates very successful subsidiaries in Italy 1989 and Spain 1991. In 1992 Rafi Haladjian buys the company he has been working for. In 1999, he sells all his French Minitel businesses to the Neocom Multimedia Group.
On 8 June 1994, Rafi Haladjian founds FranceNet one of the first Internet companies in France. FranceNet offers dialup Internet Connection using the POTN as well as access through the French voice services network (Audiotel) allowing users to pay by the minute without signing for a subscription. He also creates FranceWeb, an online directory of the French Web allowing all the new users of the network to find their way on the Internet.
In 1995, he diversifies his offer, creating a second ISP, Micronet, specialized in low cost connection offers. Besides being an ISP, FranceNet offers web hosting and web development services. The company created its own eCommerce software (used by the largest mail order company in France, La Redoute), site traffic measurement systems (along with BVA), graphical chat systems and more.