Sydney start-up looks to Cappture slice of app market with US deal

Two 20-year-old Sydneysiders are aiming to roll out their app, Cappture, with the aid of a US partner after seeing their founding team decimated by the headhunting efforts of Google, Apple and Facebook.

 

Mathew Carpenter and Callum Chapman have struck a partnership deal with Mokriya, a Silicon Valley-based firm, to handle the development of the app following the departure of two of their co-founders shortly after beginning work on the start-up in February.

 

“Cappture was originally a four-man team consisting of two designers, a developer and a marketer,” Carpenter tells StartupSmart.

 

“Early on in the beginning of the project, we learnt that two members of the team were approached by Apple, Google and Facebook.”

 

“This ultimately interrupted our progress and unfortunately two members of the team left, leaving just me and Callum.”

 

Chapman adds the headhunting “took its toll” within the team and the two other co-founders ended up departing for “personal reasons.”

 

Despite this huge setback, Chapman says that the Mokriya partnership should enable Cappture to launch in Apple’s App Store by the end of 2012, as well as open doors to some of the major Silicon Valley players.

 

“Originally Callum and I were going to take Cappture as far as we could and eventually either hire a developer or invite a developer into the project,” explains Carpenter.

 

“(Mokriya) has an excellent track record working with some hot mobile start-ups including Hipster, which was acquired by AOL, Path, which raised $41.2 million and SimpleGeo, which raised $9.61 million.”

 

“Our main goal at this point in time is to move forward as fast as possible and get Cappture into the App Store and with the team we’ve built, this shouldn’t be a problem. In terms of raising funds, we’re keeping our options open.”

 

Cappture’s target market is iPhone users with an interest in photography and social networking.

 

The app works by allowing users to take multiple photographs, with each picture accompanied with a caption that will summarise their day. The app will have a calendar-style view and will be integrated into social media.

 

Despite the youth of the two remaining co-founders, both Chapman and Carpenter have significant experience in working on start-ups.

 

Chapman, a designer, has worked on multiple brands in the UK and Australia, while Carpenter launched ZOR Technology as a 16-year-old, before the online tech retail business was scrapped following a legal threat. 

 

“We’re not in this to make a quick buck,” says Carpenter.

 

“Cappture will be free to use and will remain so throughout its life. Ideally we would like to see development finished quickly and Cappture available in the app store this year.”

 

“We would love to see people using Cappture all over the world on a daily basis.”