The Toulousain Floatee prevents child drownings with a t-shirt
In a few hours, the two entrepreneurs Philippe Rouvier and Thibaut Choulet will be in prime-time on the M6 channel in the program “Who wants to be my partner? “. Co-founders of Floatee, they are competent on this show to accelerate their number of sales. During this, project leaders present their invention, an idea or a service in front of a jury of investors and seek advice and ideally funding for development.
In his case, the Toulouse startup Floatee has imagined an eponymous anti-drowning t-shirt, which turns into a life jacket once submerged in water, in the event of a fall or unsupervised swimming. Intended for children aged between 18 months and 6 years, the Floatee is made to be worn from morning until evening during activities by the water (swimming pool, lake, etc.) without causing the slightest discomfort.
In France, drownings are the firstre cause of“accidents of everyday life in children”. According to Public Health France, between June 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021, 22% of accidental drownings affected children under the age of 6, of which 6% resulted in death. Every summer, about 500 drownings of children under 6 years old.
Today measures, such as barriers, covers or even alarms are applied to protect theaccording toes to swimming pools and thus prevent these accidents. Children are alsoquiparmbands, vests or buoys in the water. However, once on dry land, they are retired for the sake of comfort. However, the majority of accidents occur when the child is not supposed to go in the water.
“In the summer of 2021, Iinterim assistanceI had a drowning that marked me. With my friend and partner, we then decidedcidto act. generally, when children are in the water, they arequipés and parents are at nearé and very vigilant. Once out of the water, vigilance slackens a little, the retired children wear vests and armbands that bother them and all it takes is a short period of inattention and a fall for everything to change. »says Philippe Rouvier who co-founded Floatee in dDecember 2021 with Thibaut Choulet.
A unique product on the market
In fact, the two engineers have thus developed an innovative system which makes it possible to transform, in three seconds, what appears to be a simple t-shirt into a lifejacket, as soon as it is immersed in water. L’innovation patented and compliant with European standards is composed ofa T-shirt inside is placed an inflatable vest, a lung, the thickness of two sheets of paper, a detector which in contact with water will activate a trigger which will open a CO2 cartridge and inflate the vest.
The simple t-shirt turns into a life jacket as soon as it is submerged in water. (Credits: Floatee)
“Once in the water, the mechanism is automatically triggered and brings the child to the surface. His airways are kept above water. It also allows you to turn it over on its back in less than seconds regardless of its position in the water, even unconscious. When the lung is inflated, the child can move in the water to reach the swimming pool ladder for example. The heart of the technology, the UML automatic release system, is already widely available on the market, particularly for life jackets for nautical professionals. We only asked the manufacturer to miniaturize it to adapt it to our solution »explains the CEO of the company.
After a trigger, the system is completely reusable. All that is required is to replace the gas capsule and the soluble detector. The Toulouse company has convsu a one-size-fits-all inflatable lung part that can be kept as the child grows, from 18 months to 6 years. Only the t-shirt needs to be changed when the child grows up.
In addition to protecting against drowning, the Floatee is a t-shirt made from anti-UV fabrics, certified UPF 50+. With separable parts from each other, the t-shirt is machine washable and “withstand the wear and tear of a child’s life with high performance yarns and fabrics”.
Assembled in Occitania
Convsu and assembled in Occitania, the complete anti-drowning t-shirt is sold on the company’s online store at a price of 149 euros. When the child grows up, it will cost 59 euros for a new anti-UV t-shirt.
“We receive the t-shirts in ten different evenings which we assemble in our premises. The fabrics and the inflatable lung are made by French companies. The rest, the various elements of the trigger coming from Slovakia and Austria, because there is no manufacturer of these products in France”, completes the entrepreneur.
A crowdfunding campaign on the Ulule platform enabled the young shoot to pre-sell a hundred pieces between November 15 and December 21. Today, Floatee has marketed over 200 anti-drowning devices.
The startup is counting on its participation in the program “Who wants to be my partner?” on the M6 channel to develop (Credits: Floatee).
Sell several thousand products in 2023
In the near future, the young company wishes to export its innovation in Europe to countries that have border towns with France, namely Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. “We are going to translate our site so that, from next summer, the inhabitants of these countries can easily navigate and buy our product”provide for the young entrepreneur.
Floatee’s ambition is to forge partnerships that would allow it to physically distribute its unique concept froms 2024. The companysummer saw the supermarkets specializing in outdoor activities, sport and early childhood as well as swimming pool specialists.
“This year, we want to affirm the fact that theon a cré a new product which was until now the missing link in the protection of children against drowning and to make it widely known. We gave ourselves the possibilityé with our suppliers to have a production flexibility of several thousand products and therefore sales in 2023. »
Floatee finances son ofdevelopment thanks to the founders’ own funds, loans of honor and competitions. She wants to carry out a first round of funding at the end of 2023, in particular to finance the next stage internationally and avoid being overtaken.
In the meantime, the company is in the process of strengthening its workforce. After an initial recruitment of a communication manager, it is in the process of hiring a technician for assembly and should engage on the marketing/sales, product development and supplier management parts in the coming months. In all, the startup was to have seven employees fromby the end of 2023.