Scottish startup Kindaba, whose secure messaging service is aimed at families, has won a seed funding round ahead of a crowdfunding campaign, from Skyscanner founder Gareth Williams. The undisclosed sum will help the Edinburgh-based company to grow its user base – and adds to a growing “famtech” market that has secured over $311 million since 2015, according to Tech.eu.
Kindaba, which markets itself as “a new way for families to share”, is an ad-free, privacy-led messaging platform that allows families to share information anywhere without fear their information will be compromised. The company was founded in 2017 by Lizzie Brough, Robert Gelb and Will Wright, who wanted to consolidate notifications like birthdays and family photos in one place.
The company has since focused on privacy in the wake of social media scandals like Cambridge Analytica, and plans to fully launch the messenger in the next 12 months. Skyscanner, a fellow Edinburgh startup, was bought by Chinese travel giant Ctrip in 2017 for $1.75bn. Skyscanner creator Williams sees value in Kindaba’s founding trio.
“The team is fantastic,” Williams said. “I can see in Rob, Lizzie and Will an intense desire to make something happen. Whatever the problem space, founders need to have that laser focus in order to stand a chance of getting to their destination. In my experience, the founders and the team they build are so important to the future success of their company.”
Kindaba currently employs eight members of staff and wants to grow its user base to 100,000 soon. Its team values its market at around $59bn.
Williams’ money, which will go towards marketing and product development, will help Kindaba achieve a significant foothold in the growing “famtech” space, said co-founder Brough: “This investment will allow us to scale our customer outreach and bolster our development team so that we can continue to work smart and at speed developing the features our families are searching for.”