Less than one yr after its iOS launch, French startup ten ten has gone viral with a walkie-talkie app that permits teenagers to ship voice messages to their shut mates — even when their cellphone is locked.
Whether you assume that’s a recipe for catastrophe or the good factor you’ve heard might rely in your age group, and teenagers clearly heard of that one lengthy earlier than we did; though walkie talkies are clearly not a brand new idea, even in app type. Ten ten is doing the identical, however in 2024.
“We’re ephemeral by design,” ten ten co-founder and CEO, Jule Comar mentioned in a written interview with TechCrunch. He added that In CB codes, 1010 means “Transmission completed, standing by.” According to Comar, this is only one of “multiple meanings that align with our values and the concept.” It appears to be resonating; the app is free and shortly climbing rankings.
Ten ten’s sudden rise is especially noticeable in France, the place it has been downloaded 1 million occasions. Including on Android, the place it grew to become accessible a number of weeks in the past, the app noticed 6 million downloads since its launch, in keeping with information shared by market intelligence agency Sensor Tower with TechCrunch on Friday.
The idea might additionally obtain tweaks alongside the best way. The present UX suggests a 9-friend cap, however that’s not the case. “Ten ten is for close friends but there’s no friend limit, we’re seeing people share their PINs on social media so we’re working on a better friend management system,” Comar mentioned.
The PINs Comar is referring to are the IDs that customers can use to search out one another. The app additionally asks for entry to the person’s contacts (however no person will get added with out person motion.) There’s inherent virality on this mannequin, however that’s not the one development driver; TikTok “played an important role,” Comar mentioned.
Ten ten’s obtain numbers have undoubtedly stored on rising in the course of the weekend: ten ten has been everywhere in the French media recently. Not all the time with a constructive spin; French newspaper Le Figaro, as an example, known as it “worrying.” “I was very surprised,” Comar mentioned. “There’s nothing “dangerous” about ten ten!”
It’s not simply articles wanting on the app in a adverse gentle; there may be additionally pretend information circulating, Comar mentioned. “There were some rumors going around that we were a Chinese app because of the name “ten ten” and we bought wrongly accused of “spying” and “stealing data”…”
Ten ten just isn’t Chinese, although. The firm has been duly registered in France, since 2021, that means it is usually topic to GDPR. Its present phrases and circumstances are formulaic, however point out that the group is within the means of writing higher ones. More importantly, the startup’s privateness coverage is adamant about two factors:
- All your conversations are ephemeral, we are able to’t take heed to your dialog as we don’t even retailer them!
- We won’t ever promote your information!!
Besides that call to not promote information, it’s unclear how ten ten will generate profits. “We have a lot of cool ideas on how we could monetize at a later point,” Comar mentioned. There’s little doubt that their present success will purchase them time — and assist them safe enterprise capital to get to that later level.
Asked if his startup already had or was within the means of elevating funding, Comar replied affirmatively. But, he added with a smiley, “we can’t really disclose how much and [from] whom yet.”
In response to TechCrunch, French VC Hugo Amsellem indicated that though his agency Intuition isn’t considered one of these backers, he sees ten ten as half of a bigger pattern amongst French startups.
For Amsellem, the widespread thread is that “France is king at status game plays.” Individuals are in search of to extend their social standing, and French entrepreneurs are completely happy to assist, whether or not that’s on the software program facet BeReal, Yubo or Zenly, or on the {hardware} facet with luxurious units.
It stays to be seen how lengthy ten ten can…
