Tech quartet launch funding drive to scale up software venture

Four Scottish tech entrepreneurs have pushed the button on a £1 million crowdfunding drive to scale up their online project management software business in the UK and US.
Ashley Marron was a co-founder of the venture. Picture: ContributedAshley Marron was a co-founder of the venture. Picture: Contributed
Ashley Marron was a co-founder of the venture. Picture: Contributed

Barvas, the latest product from MindGenius, is set to launch commercially this October and its founders are offering 14.6 per cent equity 
in return for investment, which will enable the business to expand sales on both sides of the Atlantic and to hire extra staff.

The new venture was founded by Ashley Marron, Derek Jack, Donald Maciver, and Jamie Rorrison. Jack and Maciver are the brains behind the MindGenius suite of business productivity tools and software firm Gael, which was sold for almost £20m at the end of 2014.

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Rorrison led development of a Skyscanner vertical business product that grew from annual sales of £420,000 to £6m within two years.

Barvas – named after a village on the Isle of Lewis – is an online management platform that supports all stages of a project from front-end planning to task management. It will be offered on a monthly “software-as-a-service” ­pricing model. The funding drive has been launched via Crowdcube.

Marron, chief executive of MindGenius, said: “We chose to crowdfund MindGenius in a bid to find investors who not only provide financial support, but will also add to our database of customers and contribute to, and benefit from, the overall success of the business. Initial uptake of the beta programme has been promising.”