Dundee tech firm Kumulos – used by the men’s professional tennis tour to help engage fans – expects to double its sales this year.
Kumulos’ mobile app messaging and management platform is trusted by thousands of app developers across the globe.
Chief executive Mark Petrie said the current team of 10 will have to expand to meet a surge in demand.
Unique capabilities for developers
The firm started life as part of Dundee mobile app developer Waracle as a tool to help developers build and launch mobile apps faster.
Mark said: “However, we always knew it could be so much more than that and that the real challenge many apps faced came after launch.
“We wanted to give marketers the tools to analyse and understand how the app was being used.
“Then use this to message and engage each user to keep them using the app for longer and help the app become more successful.
“No other platform offers the range of analytics we can offer such as user behaviour, user experience and even user opinion or makes it as easy to feed all of this data into rich, targeted, personalised message campaigns.”
Helping clients during Covid-19
Asked how Covid-19 has affected his firm, the chief executive said 2020 was a pivotal year for mobile.
The pandemic and resultant restrictions accelerated the adoption of mobile by two-to-three years as businesses all over the world had to adapt to new ways of working.
New business had slowed down for Kumulos initially during the first lockdown.
But Mark said it then picked up quickly as customers turned to mobile and then his company to solve the challenges they now faced.
He said: “For example, we continue to work with the Association of Tennis Professionals.
“While all professional tennis was suspended, it increased its usage of our platform, engaging fans with interviews with players and highlight reels from past tournaments.”
Global customer base
The firm also welcomed new national and international customers to the platform last year.
Mark said: “These included the UK’s leading cashback app; Pizza Pizza which has 500 franchises across Canada; a leading Australian financial institution; Asian hotel and casino chain Resorts World; and a global high-street sandwich chain.
“They are all using Kumulos to message, engage and retain their mobile audience.
“70% of our revenue is now international, with North America our largest single market.
“We’ve also brought on a local distribution partner in Germany, which is a fast-growing market for us.
“With the Kumulos platform, our customers can get the visibility, targeting and messaging capabilities that would normally require several other tools to deliver.
“Not only is more cost-effective, it is also means they can get up and running faster. It’s also significantly easier to use.
“The past six months in particular have been extremely strong for us. The total number of mobile devices our platform can reach increased by 130% and our revenues rose 30%.
“Looking ahead, the trends we have seen in 2020 look set to continue. Our forward-looking pipeline is also strong and we’re forecasting our revenues will double in 2021.”
Data-tracking changes
The chief executive said that, as the reputation of Kumulos grows, several large marketing automation platforms have approached the firm looking to license its mobile messaging technology for use by their customers on their platforms.
“This is an exciting avenue of growth for us that will lead to our technology being used by even more, larger customers around the world,” he said.
“We hope to announce our first partnership very soon.”
Mark said there are some wider changes ahead in the industry. Consumer privacy concerns means apps are having to move away from their reliance on third-party tracking data.
“This is leading to an increased focus on retaining and engaging existing users, rather than acquiring new users through targeted advertising,” Mark said.
“We recently launched our deferred deep linking feature. This allows customers to acquire new app users and re-engage lapsed users through messaging channels such as email and SMS.
“This was instrumental to us winning Pizza Pizza in Canada as a customer.”
