A new Dundee tech firm, which has secured £450,000 of funding, plans to create 50 jobs in 30 months.
Zappaty provides additional features to developers working with the world’s most popular development platform, Unity.
After two years of development, it has taken office space in Dundee to engage with the city’s gaming community.
It is seeking feedback for the beta testing of its platform as part of an aggressive three year plan.
We could have chosen anywhere in the world, but we chose Dundee.
Zappaty facilitates different users to work on different elements of a game with a secure file transfer system.
Spencer Buchan, chief marketing officer, said there was huge global potential for the product.
“We have come to Dundee to launch because it’s at the heart of the gaming community,” he said.
“We could have chosen anywhere in the world, but we chose Dundee.”
Zappaty shares Dundee ambitions
Based at Block 5 in Seabraes Lane, the start-up has raised £450,000 from private investors.
Its plan is to spend three to six months on beta testing ahead of a full launch towards the end of the year.
It projects sales of £500,000 in the first quarter of 2022 and £8.3 million by the end of 2023.
By that time Zappaty hopes there will be 35,000 users of its technology and 50 staff in Dundee.
— Zappaty (@Zappaty1) July 6, 2021
Another funding round is likely next year which may be crowdfunding or private investment.
Zappaty chief executive John Thornewill said he developed the platform based on his own frustrations with Unity.
“I took to researching a dedicated solution that would eradicate and bypass these problems giving the end user confidence in the application and ease of use,” he said.
“I believe Zappaty to be the only backup and collaboration solution written from the ground up to be compatible with Unity.”
The company hopes to develop other ‘powered by Zappaty products’ with its Dundee workforce.
In time it expects the US to account for 60% of its revenue.
“It’s a global product,” Mr Buchan added. “To be able to launch it out of Dundee is pretty exciting.”