Famileo started from a personal observation. This was the case for Tanguy de Gélis, the other co-founder, who benefited from a WhatsApp group for family discussions. While everyone used it, the grandmother struggled to navigate this digital tool.
“What she loved were the letters and postcards she used to receive. She had kept all the ones the children used to send regularly during their vacations, but those had dwindled over time as everyone switched to digital,” explains Armel de Lesquen.
Famileo began to rebuild the bridge between the older and younger generations, in nursing homes and service residences, where the two partners identified a strong need to strengthen connections. The solution then expanded to individuals. Today, 320,000 families use the app, including 270,000 individuals and 50,000 within nursing homes, spread across about 2,500 establishments in France, as well as in Spain, the UK, the US, Canada, and soon in Germany and Belgium.
So, practically, with the Famileo app, all we need to do is take one or more photos, add a little text, and the same goes for the rest of the family. Automatically, all these messages will be transformed into a small printed newspaper and sent by mail to the grandmother's or grandfather's home.
“The main advantage is simply being able to maintain a connection with someone you love. We talk about proof of love. We say that love doesn’t exist, only proofs of love,” jokes Armel de Lesquen.
These touching messages help restore a social bond that is suffering greatly in France. There are said to be over 5 million people in a state of social death, according to the co-founder. "You can’t imagine how much loneliness eats away at people, even those who are quite comfortable with digital."
"They say that new generations don’t write anymore, but that’s false. You just need to give them the right tools for them to send all these proofs of love, all these messages to their loved ones regularly. And it’s great because that’s really the mission we set for ourselves,” concludes Armel de Lesquen.
