EDINBURGH technology business Criton Apps is gearing up to expand into London and the Middle East after securing a £5 million cash boost from an anonymous investor.
The firm, which was set up last year by Julie Grieve, the former chief executive of serviced apartments business Lateral City, has built an app that hotels use to inform guests about their own facilities as well as what is on in the local area.
Having already signed up the Chester Residence and the Knight Residence in Edinburgh as well as Crieff Hydro and the Isle of Arran’s Auchrannie Resort, the firm is now setting its sights on international expansion.
“Now that the product is fit to ramp up we want to spread the word across the UK and then other markets,” Ms Grieve said.
“We think that will start with the Middle East because there are a lot of new hotels there and they are very forward thinking in how they look at technology.
“As we move into integrating with the Internet of Things it’s likely that hotels [in the Middle East] will have more of those systems.”
Criton Apps, which began life as Information Apps before changing its name earlier this year, will begin the push by investing in its people.
Currently the business employs six people but expects to have up to 30 staff members within the next two years.
“We’ve got a bit of product rebuild to do so the first hires will be developers,” Ms Grieve said.
“We’re also hiring an internal recruiter because we’ve got a lot of recruitment to do and we’ve started recruitment for down south.”
All Criton Apps’ technical and marketing staff will be based in Edinburgh, where the firm works out of technology incubator CodeBase.
The teams it builds in other locations will be made up of salespeople and in London they will either work remotely or from Ms Grieve’s space in co-working office Traveltech Lab.
The expansion comes after Criton Apps first began to build its technology in June last year.
Original investment in the business came from Ms Grieve as well as Scottish Enterprise, which gave the firm £59,000 in initial match funding via an innovation award.
The £5m investment has come from an individual who does not want to reveal their identity.
“We have achieved a lot in the first 12 months, both in customer sign-ups and awareness,” Ms Grieve said.
“This is a sector, however, where it is important to move fast and this investment will allow us to take Criton to the next level with more staff and an international sales team.”
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