Startup Spotlight: Float App

Each Friday the RookieOven Startup Spotlight highlights a member of the Scottish tech startup community. The aim is to, as the name suggests, put the spotlight on the best startups from across the country. In creating a more cohesive startup community in Scotland I feel it’s important to share information about exciting Scottish startups you may not have heard of. With the Startup Spotlight I give a brief overview of the company, what they do, where they are and who they are. This week the spotlight falls on Edinburgh based Float App.

Float comprises of Philip Roberts, CTO, and Colin Hewitt, CEO. Based in the Edinburgh TechCube (on the 4th Floor); Float provide cash flow forecasting software for small businesses. This is done by syncing with various online accounting software  services. Float allows users to set up budgets and sales forecasting. The aim for Float is to produce a forecasting tool that business owners with no accountancy background can actually use and understand.

Float have raised small amounts of money thus far,  £5k initially from Edinburgh University to get started and then £20k from a private investor. Colin’s previous company, IfLooksCouldKill, supported Float for the first 18 months however in April Colin sold IfLooksCouldKill. With Float no longer receiving supported from the company, Float has relocated to TechCube. It’s also worth noting that Float is also generating revenue; this has been done through selling “Founders Plans” which has created revenue of £15k.

The idea for Float was born in IfLooksCouldKill. Colin was spending a lot of time keeping all the company financials in a spreadsheet and it was “getting out of control”. After coming back from Startup School in 2009, Colin approached Phil about helping replacing the spreadsheet with a web app. The idea being to remove all the manual bank reconciliation by connecting in with their new accounting software (Edinburgh based FreeAgent).

Things accelerated for Float in 2010 when they were accepted for Seedcamp in London. Phil quit his job and Colin started devoting more and more time to it. During this time Colin was effectively a customer for his own startup; as the Float product was being developed Colin was constantly testing it as a user within IfLooksCouldKill. This was invaluable in defining features and functionality in the product.

Float is now in it’s forth iteration and the guys are about to release integration with Xero, another service providing online accounting software and services for small and medium businesses. With Xero integration in the pipeline Float are looking for Xero users to test the new functionality*.*

With the online accounting market growing massively at the moment things are looking good for the guys at Float.

P.S. Also worth pointing out the excellent blog by Phil - https://blog.latentflip.com/. On the blog Phil shares his startup experience and a lot of invaluable advice.