Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee app developer adds 60 staff with acquisition

The company, which started as an Abertay University spin-out, now has revenues of £20m a year.

Kenny Shaw of Screenmedia with Chris Martin, chief executive of Waracle. Image: Waracle
Kenny Shaw of Screenmedia with Chris Martin, chief executive of Waracle. Image: Waracle

One of Dundee’s tech success stories Waracle is adding 60 staff with the acquisition of a Glasgow business.

Waracle, which specialises in creating apps, has agreed a deal for design and software engineering agency Screenmedia.

The acquisition – for an undisclosed sum – allows Waracle to branch into new sectors.

It will add transportation, retail and the third sector to its primary industries of health, energy and financial services.

It will take the Waracle workforce, which currently stands at 145 staff, beyond 200 workers.

Chief executive Chris Martin said the move will bolster its digital product development and AI offerings.

He said: “We are ready for the new wave of AI-enhanced, intelligent customers.

“This is a strategic business decision to continue our growth.

“We reviewed what we needed to succeed going forward and this acquisition was a key part of the answer.”

Waracle growth and acquisition strategy

Mr Martin said the company plans to combine organic growth with more strategic acquisitions in the future.

He said: “This is the first step in our ambitious plans to grow by acquiring design and technology services agencies with complementary skillsets.

“We want to continue to employ talented technologists to solve our clients’ digital problems and be able to service changing client needs across the UK by covering a wider range of technologies like service design, artificial intelligence and sensors.

Members of the Waracle leadership team. Back row: Colin Banks, Jon Carlos, Gordon Langford, Sara Kinnear, Sharon Dickie, Sym Chislett. Front row Chris Martin and Kenny Shaw. Image: Waracle

“There are a lot of large, London-based technology consultancies attempting to grow their presence north of the border.

“We are doing the same in England and we have a strong and growing team there with ambitious plans for further acquisitions.

“We want to capitalise on our reputation as an unrivalled mobile development partner and continue to take those problem-solving abilities across the UK.”

Growth of Dundee business

Waracle was founded in 2008 by Michael Romilly, David Romilly and Mike Wharton as a spin-out from Abertay University.

In the last 16 years it has grown to be a business with revenues of more than £20 million.

It has offices in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow as well as its headquarters in Dundee, which recently moved from Bash Street to the Flour Mill.

Waracle’s client base includes Lloyds Banking Group, Royal London, ScottishPower, Roche and Imperial College London.

It supports cutting-edge technologies such as mobile, cloud, voice and artificial intelligence.

Screenmedia has a successful track record in crafting compelling user experiences across web and mobile.

It has worked with Edrington, BBC, NHS, Channel 4, Next and Honeywell. It also has a Bafta on its boardroom shelf for best interactive media.

Screenmedia’s managing director Kenny Shaw will step back from day-to-day operations as Screenmedia becomes part of Waracle.

Conversation