Brightsolid expansion into US begins with launch of census records site

FAMILY history website operator Brightsolid will today unveil details of its push into America.

The Dundee-based company, which is run by dotcom pioneer Chris van der Kuyl and operates the website Scotland’s People on behalf of the Holyrood Government, will use the RootsTech 2012 trade show in Utah to unveil Censusrecords.com.

Brightsolid’s first US offering will give access to all of the country’s census records, including the 1940 data, when it is released later this year.

Van der Kuyl said: “The launch is just our first offering to the US market. It will be followed later this year by Findmypast.com, which will be our flagship American brand. We know there is a global demand in family history for the sort of data we are known for providing. We are excited about the big year we have ahead.”

Van der Kuyl, who first mooted the US move in October, is also working on his strategy for selling other products and services through Friends Reunited, the social network that Brightsolid bought from ITV for £25 million in 2010.

Brightsolid, which is owned by Beano publisher DC Thomson, said it expected the 1940 US census records to also appeal to existing customers on the other side of the Atlantic thanks to the large numbers of Scots who emigrated to America between the wars.

Expanding into the US follows on from the launch last year of offices in Australia and Ireland and the making of Find My Past, a ten-part series that the company made for Yesterday, one of the UKTV channels available on Freeview.