Funds set course for Kiltr network’s UK-wide launch

Published on Sunday 1 January 2012 00:00

SCOTTISH social networking firm Kiltr has secured a third round of funding that will pave the way to the UK launch of the service in the coming weeks.

A pilot has been trialled since August 2010 and the full service will have new features and add-ons designed to improve the user experience.

An international launch to reach out to the estimated 40 million people of Scots descent around the world is expected in the summer.

The fresh round of funding from existing investors brings to roughly £1m the total raised by Glasgow-based Kiltr since its inception in 2007. Backers in this latest cash-call – which closed the week before Christmas – include lead investor Par Equity, Scottish Investment Bank and Glasgow-based venture capital group Barwell.

The deal comes amid an acceleration in the number of users registering with Kiltr. It took a year for the company to secure its first 10,000 registered members, but that figure has doubled in the last four months to nearly 20,000.

“We are growing – things are definitely moving in the right direction,” Kiltr co-founder Brian Hughes said. “A lot of people are getting comfortable with it, and a lot of them are pushing it out virally to their own contacts.”

Kiltr members have to date invited some 95,000 of their contacts to join the network. New members are said to be signing up at a rate of roughly 100 per day.

“We are ahead of the curve at the moment,” Hughes added. “When you look at it plotted out, you can actually see where it speeds up.”

Hughes and co-founder Stewart Fraser, Kiltr’s chief technology officer, met while they were students at Glasgow Caledonian University. They stayed in touch as their career paths took them in different directions, eventually coming back together to set up a professional business network catering to Scots and those of Scottish affinity.

Revenues to date have been generated through sponsorship and marketing agreements with firms such as JetLogic and BAA Glasgow.

The new version of Kiltr will include a number of additional features that should boost income. Hughes said the focus would be on “giving businesses a purpose to be on the system”, and added that recruitment tools would “play a large part in the future”.

“What we don’t want to do is to start charging people straight away for functionality,” he said. “Anything that you currently get on Kiltr will continue to be available free of charge.”

The business has hired a new graduate developer on the back of the funding deal, taking the total number of full-time employees to five, plus seven further contracted and part-time staff.

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.