Nicolas Demarchez presents My Keeper!

-Tell us about yourself (background, diplomas, programme, specialisations, etc.).

My name is Nicolas Demarchez, I’m 23 and I just graduated from the MSc in Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management. I also spent 4 years studying on the BBA EDHEC programme with a dual specialisation in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

I am now the Managing Director and co-founder of My Keeper. I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset, and while completing my studies at EDHEC I managed to create two start-ups, one in the events sector and the other in property rental. The idea for My Keeper came to me during my studies, when my friends had to make it home in the evening on their own. I would like to give the My Keeper community a sense of security and the freedom to travel. I also practised skateboarding intensively, which left me with a lot of broken bones, and I can tell you in that kind of situation you count every second until help arrives!

- How did your entrepreneurial project come about?

The My Keeper project came about during a family dinner and a discussion about the lack of security. Some parents wouldn’t allow their daughters to go home alone after a night out; a cousin told me she was sometimes afraid when jogging alone in the woods, and one of my grandfathers, who lived alone, was worried he would fall at home and not be able to let anyone know that he needed help.

So I came up with the idea of a connected bracelet that would send out an immediate and geolocated alert signal to one’s friends and family. But why not make it available to as many people as possible? And so My Keeper was born!

The intention is to adopt a value creation strategy in the long term.

It is not just about creating an application and an alarm button but to continue to develop new services and functions and extend the range of connected objects.

- Tell us about your company (product, market, target, team, originality, etc.).

My Keeper is a community for mutual assistance and security which uses a mobile application and a range of connected objects to make the lives of users easier and safer on a daily basis.

Our market:

My Keeper targets a wide range of people, meeting the needs of those who are mobile outdoors, whether in urban or rural environments. The community brings people together who want to help each other and watch out for each other:

• Feel safe on a daily basis
• Monitor the security of your loved ones and those around them
• Stay informed about the right response in different situations and be more self-reliant

Our offer: My Keeper has launched a collection of connected objects that have been personalised by a young French designer, Evahia Bijoux. They are simple and streamlined and available at affordable prices. My Keeper geolocates the wearer in the event of a problem and alerts their “guardians” (family, friends, etc.), the community of nearby users and the company that the person is in danger. Our vision is of a collaborative community platform for mutual assistance.

Founders: Three associates from the same family with complementary skills.

We’ve created a family company because it carries several advantages: we are cautious when it comes to decision-making, we are economic and dynamic, and we have a long-term strategy, which gives us many competitive advantages. We are not just developing an application or a connected alarm button; we have a long-term vision of value creation.

• Jérémie Demarchez, IT engineer – Master 2 MOSIG-AIW (the academic program for Artificial Intelligence and the Web) – and doctoral researcher at My Keeper in partnership with the Grenoble Alpes research laboratory.
• Nicolas Démarchez, a young entrepreneur who set up two companies while completing his studies at EDHEC Business School, now holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management.
• Evelyne Demarchez, who has over 30 years’ experience in IT and the automobile and energy industries, having held positions in development as well as R&D and innovation management.

Originality: The community!

We are working together to make the world a safer place. We want to create a community with the aim of helping anyone who needs help, warning of dangers, and reassuring loved ones by giving users the possibility to ask for help by issuing a precise location in a matter of seconds whenever they feel the need.

The My Keeper community is you, your friends and loved ones, and your friends’ friends. It is the sum of all the groups of guardians and users and anyone else willing to provide help.

The My Keeper community allows everyone to travel freely and be self-reliant in their everyday lives. It improves feelings of security by eliminating feelings of isolation. Finally, it facilitates mutual assistance and benevolence between members.

The key to a safer world is in your hands!

- What are your prospects for growth?

We are constantly developing new services and connected objects, which are evolving in collaboration with our users, depending on their practices and uses, with several new developments coming out every year. Our technological monitoring unit prepares future versions by drawing on new connectivity technologies and new uses.

In 2017, new services will be made available on the My Keeper application, such as the “Share your journey” function, which will enable users to connect to other people completing the same journey and thereby feel less alone; or the “Never alone” function, through which users can follow the movements of a loved one, with their agreement, to make sure they arrive safe and sound.

We are currently negotiating our first fundraising attempt, with the aim of boosting our development in France and Europe.

- Have you ever benefited from the network of EDHEC graduates?

Not yet but I intend to use the alumni book to give international scope to the Kickstarter campaign which we initiated yesterday.

I’m also working with Laureline Chopard, a former EDHEC student (class of 2000).

-What are your expectations from the network? 

I would like to share my experience with the network to show that EDHEC produces real entrepreneurs but also to boost my Kickstarter campaign in terms of communication.

I would be delighted to give back to the community what it can give me when my start-up has become a Unicorn :-) 

You can also watch video presentations of the company on our YouTube channel.

https://mykeeper.fr/