Denise Touron, 85, is a Sunday Box user -

Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

  • The start-up has some 100,000 users, and saw its turnover doubled in 2020.

  • The idea of ​​the Sunday box is to replace the tablet or smartphone, among people disconnected from traditional social networks, with extremely simplified use.

  • Unlike social networks "which are very individualistic and where we seek like and recognition", the goal of the Sunday box "is to please those close to it".

Dazzling growth in 2020, and development projects for the months to come.

The health crisis has allowed the Bordeaux start-up Sunday to find its audience for its flagship product, the Sunday box families.

Over the past year, more than 50,000 of these boxes have passed which are connected to television, and which allow people in a situation of digital divide and who do not have a smartphone, in particular the elderly, to receive photos and videos from loved ones.

The start-up now has more than 100,000 users, since the product's launch in November 2018. It has more than doubled its turnover, which rose from just over 300,000 euros in 2019, to around 800,000 euros in 2020.

"As soon as I see the heart blinking, I'll see what happened"

At 85, Denise Touron, a resident of Macau (Gironde), is proud to show how she drives the tool, pushes her videos forward and back.

"It's very easy to use," says the octogenarian, who was offered a Sunday box by his son in December 2019. "He explained how it works, and I get away with it right away suite served.

I am very happy because my children and grandchildren send me photos regularly.

As soon as I see the heart blinking, I'll see what happened, and that lets me know what each other is doing.

"

The blinking heart.

Undeniably the big plus of the Sunday box.

“This is our trademark,” says Nelly Meunier, president and founder of Sunday, “as soon as a photo is sent to the box, a heart flashes on the remote control to warn the person, which creates a small sensation.

"

Nelly Meunier, president and founder of the start-up Sunday - Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

The idea of ​​the Sunday box is therefore to replace the tablet or smartphone, for people disconnected from traditional social networks.

With extremely simplified use.

"We estimate that around ten million people are breaking with digital technology, all age groups combined," said Nelly Meunier, who nevertheless recognizes that the product is basically aimed at the elderly.

“When you're 80, you don't go on Snapchat, and since several generations have been born and raised with television, this is the object we chose to connect our box.

"The founder of Sunday underlines that this digital break" is even stronger in nursing homes, where seniors spend a lot of time waiting for news from their loved ones.

"

"This created a real intrafamily bond"

But unlike social networks "which are very individualistic and where we seek like and recognition", the goal of the Sunday box "is to please those close to it", insists Nelly Meunier.

She also notes that the box "allows members of a family to meet around real" Sunday days "to view photo albums or videos, in moments of conviviality.

"

This is confirmed by Morgane, Denise Touron's granddaughter.

“Basically it is for our grandmother, but in reality it has created a real intrafamily bond between all the members of the family, since we all have the Sunday application on our smartphones, and we can thus not only send photos, but also see what each other is sharing.

"" It's a social network, continues Nelly Meunier, but with a community restricted to family members only, and in which we can share photos of children in a secure environment.

"

A Sunday box for hospitalized children

A network that turned out to be "vital" in several situations during the first confinement, among extremely isolated people, assures the boss of the start-up.

But at the same time, Nelly Meunier found that her clientele also tended to get younger over time.

“Today we have users who are 55 years old, who are not at all out of touch with digital technology,” she says.

Sunday becomes for them a new way of seeing the photos of their children and grandchildren, in addition to traditional social networks.

"

Today, the Bordeaux start-up aims to “reconnect all isolated people, whether they are the elderly or children.

”Thus, after its service of cameras installed above the incubators of premature children, to allow parents to maintain a remote link with their child, Sunday will also connect sick children.

“We are installing Sunday Boxes in the Robert-Debré and Necker hospitals in Paris, and at the Rennes hospital, for children aged 6 to 11 hospitalized in pediatric hematology departments.

They sometimes experience moments of increased loneliness, and receiving family photos during the day really does them good.

"

The small company, which has ten employees, continues to work on new products, "because it is believed that the problems of isolation will affect more and more people, and not only the elderly".

The Sunday box is sold for 119 euros, and the application is free with premium paid subscriptions in addition.

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  • Digital

  • The elderly

  • Aquitaine

  • Bordeaux

  • Technology

  • Start-up