Tribu News, which aims to help families easily send news and connect with their grandparents, has raised €700K from both new and existing investors. The startup saw its subscription sales explode in the midst of the health crisis.
How can you describe Tribu News? “The album that reconnects the generations”. Tribu News, founded in 2016, allows users to send an album to their (grand)parents each month, including all the news of the family. With the help of an application, (grand)children upload their photos and add text to edit together a real family newspaper. The arrival of the album is often the most beautiful day of the month for the grandparents. The younger children are also happy to have more news and photos of their family.
This fresh round concludes a fast-growth period for the young startup. Indeed, in the particular context of containment, the elderly were quickly and completely isolated due to the coronavirus pandemic. The sense of Tribu, reconnecting families, became even stronger. The demand for Tribu News subscriptions has literally exploded (+ 1.076% of new customers compared to 2019).
“We had just started the Reaktor support programme to structure our growth when we were inundated with requests from families, the King Baudouin Foundation, nursing homes and experts in the sector. Our innovative concept of reuniting families took on its full meaning. We were keen to be present and to offer our solution to support the most vulnerable people” shared Arnaud de Cartier, CEO of Tribu News.
In June 2019, the company raised €300K from the W.I.N.G. fund and 4 private investors, including Nicolas Debray (President of Smovin and Compliment). The existing investors continue to trust the team with this new round, and are also joined by Leansquare and investors from the BeAngels network.
This funds will allow the startup to multiply by 10 the number of subscribed families and to implement a series of developments that will facilitate interactions between Tribu members.
“We are very pleased with the investors who are joining us. The most important thing is to connect grandparents to the daily life of their loved ones. We will continue to improve the experience on our application every day. This fundraising will allow us to respond to the evolutionary demands of families and to strengthen the links between generations in a very simple way,” said CEO Arnaud de Cartier.
Laurent Burton, President of LeanSquare, also commented: “The founders have demonstrated a very good execution of the project so far and there is no lack of opportunities in this fragmented market. Their solution helps to recreate the family bond, which is what people need. We’re really excited to help them take it to the next level.”
Claire Munck of Be Angels, added: “The exceptional crisis we are currently experiencing has a clear impact on our ecosystem: that of directing the interest of business angels towards companies that develop “must-have” solutions, which have a positive impact on our lives in general. Tribu News is clearly part of this category and has, due to the nature of its product, attracted the attention of BeAngels members who were also seduced by the quality of the team, the results achieved since the launch and the growth prospects”.
