Since the covid-19 broke out, the acceleration of the digital world has not stopped.
And digital platforms like Qustodio have experienced unstoppable growth.
Experiencing increases in business volume of between 20% and 30% per year with the pandemic, this parental control application invoices more than 10 million euros, with a figure of more than four million users that has doubled in the last three years.
It all started in 2011 in Barcelona, when the implantation of smartphones among children and young people and the massive use of the Internet at home led Eduardo Cruz, Josep Gaspar and Josh Gabel, the three founding friends of Qustodio and experts in cybersecurity , to think about the need to promote the appropriate use of the Internet among the new generations and that parents could control the use of devices by children to avoid the risks derived from the digital connection through specific
software
.
Reason was not lacking.
Today, 65% of 12-year-old children have a mobile phone with Internet access, according to company data.
And when they are between 9 and 12 years old they spend at least six hours a day glued to screens;
which is four and a half hours in the case of children between 5 and 8 years old.
More than half of the children admit to being addicted to their
smartphone
, a lower percentage than those who admit to having sleep problems (63% in the case of secondary school students).
At the same time, at least four in ten are exposed to internet pornography and three in ten have experienced cyberbullying.
Launched in 2012, Qustodio was initially helped by an American investor, 8W Ventures, and later by Kibo Ventures.
Both provided four million euros for it to start working.
"Since then we have not needed additional financing and we have floated on our own," boasts Eduardo Cruz, CEO of the
start-up
, which is established in 190 countries and has 98% of its clients outside of Spain, mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom. United.
content and time
The tool filters the content that children can access, monitors activity, sets time limits, has a locator and tracks calls and messages, among other services.
Available in eight languages, according to the person in charge of the company, Qustodio is the independent leader of a market in which they were pioneers and which companies such as Google or Apple have later joined.
Last year, its application was among the 20 most downloaded free applications in Spain from the Google Play Store within the lifestyle area, according to data from Similarweb.
Families have two main needs, Cruz explains, protecting children from access to inappropriate digital content and managing the time they spend in front of the device in order to establish "healthy uses" of video games, for example.
Aimed at families, Qustodio offers control of one device for free and, from there, the others are paid.
Your rate for five telephones or computers is 40 or 45 euros per year.
They have also focused on schools, among which are implemented through subscriptions that, depending on the number of devices to be monitored, cost between 5 and 10 euros per device per year, according to Cruz.
The CEO of the Barcelona start-up assures that its main objective is to provide a service that helps people.
"We want to grow, but we don't prioritize crazy growth, nor do we think about going public or selling the company," he says.
With more than 60% of the capital in the hands of the three founding partners, Cruz acknowledges that they have received offers from international investors to buy the company.
"But we are delighted to have created the company here and we want to continue adding value to Spain," he adds.
Qustodio is not generating any profit yet.
"We are at the breakeven point and we reuse the money that comes in to continue growing," Cruz maintains.
In 2020 they hired 20 people with a budget of one million euros and their workforce rises to 90 employees.
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