A Dundee tech firm “changing the lives of millions” plans to add 100 jobs this year.
Headquartered in Dundee, Waracle is already Scotland’s largest app developer, employing around 200 staff.
The company has won a “significant” contract to develop the digital tech for Virgin Money’s new business current account.
Along with other major contract wins, the firm expects its staffing levels to reach 300 by the end of 2021.
As well as its headquarters in Bash Street, the company also has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.
Innovative work and visionary clients
Mike Wharton, co-founder and chief technology officer at Waracle, said: “In these tough times we’re proud to be growing our portfolio of innovative work with really visionary clients and excited to be adding new members to the team.
“We grew 25% in 2019-2020 and are expecting a strong year in 2021 with the addition of a number of important client opportunities, including our work with Virgin Money.
“Tech is such a great industry for people to work in. Though app development is less visible than the games side of software development there is huge scope in Dundee to work on projects that fundamentally change the lives of millions.
“We’re always on the lookout for amazing new team members and would like to hire locally if there was more supply of these other software skills.”
Augmented reality
Waracle has extensive experience working with clients in the financial services sector.
The Virgin Money contract will transform the bank’s existing business current account offering into a financial wellness tracker for SMEs. Waracle is one of three technology firms working on the launch of Virgin Money Business.
The companies previously worked together on the creation of an augmented reality currency converter.
Mr Wharton added: “These are tough times. The innovative banking proposition Virgin Money is bringing to the market to help the business community thrive couldn’t come at a better time.”
Gavin Opperman, group business director at Virgin Money, said: “The skills and capabilities Waracle provide are very much in demand and are vital in helping us develop our innovative business banking proposition.
“We’re confident the cutting edge approach to technology the team will deploy will deliver great experiences for our customers.”
Recruitment drive
The new jobs are to be sourced from all over the UK due to the success of remote working arrangements.
There is likely to be an emphasis on Scotland, due to Virgin Money’s head office in Glasgow, with some of the jobs to be based in Dundee.
Waracle works with some of the UK’s largest businesses across sectors including fintech, digital health and energy.
It supports cutting-edge technologies such as the internet of things, augmented reality and voice recognition.
It opened a London office last year and a year ago the company secured a £4.8 million investment from BGF.
The firm’s most recent accounts for the year ending December 31 2019, showed revenues of £11.8m and a £1.4m operating profit.
