If the app fits, share it with the world
CORK start-up company Tweekaboo is seeking global recognition for a new social network which gives families a private space online to share and organise photographs and stories of their children as they grow up.
Company founder Eugene Murphy developed the Tweekaboo app when he realised that many of the best video clips and photos of special childhood moments were getting lost amid a multitude of items posted on Facebook and a growing mountain of content being stored on parents’ smartphones.
In development since 2010, the mobile app is now in use in 120 countries and Mr Murphy is targeting a million users by the end of this year.
Currently in the process of raising $2 million (€1.4m) in funding in the US, the company is negotiating partnership deals in America and Asia and is formulating ambitious plans for growth.
“There are 130m babies born around the world every year. The market for this type of app is huge and recurring because of the massive growth in smartphones and cloud based products,’’ says Mr Murphy, an engineer.
In a previous career he had his own consulting company which designed and built houses.
The collapse of the property market prompted him to start looking for other ideas, and he found one when he realised that he and his wife Caroline were having difficulty organising and keeping track of photos and videos of their four children.
Researching the market and looking at apps and social networks, he decided to create a product which would do two things for parents: “Keep a journal of their kids’ lives using smart phones and also share this journal privately with families,” he says, pointing out that the images people choose to share are usually ones they want to keep.
Since 2011 he has worked on developing the mobile app, which was beta tested last year and is now available free in the iPhone App store, while an Android version is also in development.
The second part of the plan was the launch of a print service that turns the shared images on Tweekaboo into printed photo journals.
“We started shipping the first books at the start of the year. Prices start at €24.95 for a 24-page book and the response has been very positive. We have already delivered books as far away as Hong Kong and we are now in early revenue,’’ says Mr Murphy.
In 2010, the company started out on a shoestring budget, using the services of a UCC intern to develop the first prototype of the app. This was tried, tested and tweaked with the help of feasibility funding from Enterprise Ireland.
Operating from a premises on the Kinsale Rd, where Mr Murphy had previously based his engineering company, Tweekaboo secured $100,000 in Angel funding in 2012 and began recruiting, taking on a chief technical officer and mobile app developers.
In 2012 Tweekaboo participated in the iGap programme and last year the company was recognised by Enterprise Ireland as a high-potential start-up. In mid-2013 Mr Murphy secured $800,000 in seed funding, including some from Enterprise Ireland and from Liam Casey of PCH International.
This has allowed the firm to increase staff numbers to six. It aims to add another six this year and bring the number up to 18 during 2015.
The app came out of Beta testing earlier this year and Tweekaboo is now planning to invest in advertising and marketing to grow the brand. To date, 60% of users are in the US, which is a key market for the company.
“We plan to set up an office in Silicon Valley before the end of the year; a presence there is important for sales and marketing, as well as for growth and business development,’’ explains Mr Murphy.
Tweekaboo is now working on localising the app for non-English- speaking markets and expects to launch Spanish and Chinese versions in the coming months.
“Our long-term vision is to become the ‘go-to’ platform for families to record and share life stories,” says Mr Murphy.
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