App incubator AppVillage launches with $250,000 seed backing

AppVillage, a new incubator for start-up app developers, has rolled out with plans to grab a slice of a growing global downloads market, after snaring $250,000 in seed funding.

The Sydney-based business, founded by Steve Fanale and Patrick Visser, secured the investment from a selection of digital entrepreneurs, including Matt Griffin, CEO of creative agency Deepend.

AppVillage will work with aspiring developers by assessing the viability of ideas for new apps, then developing and marketing the ventures. It is already working on five apps, in the fashion, food and entertainment sectors.

Fanale says that there is a gap in the market due to the growth of the app market and the fact that nearly 60% of all projects for Apple’s iOS platform fail.

“Everyone has an app idea, but there are stats out there that show that the funding for marketing of apps is low, so there needs to be work done to help app ideas commercially,” he says.

“We aren’t after people who can do it all themselves. We want great ideas that can’t get to market.”

“We’ll assess applications rigorously to see whether they have potential in the marketplace and see if people in the community are interested.”

“If it passes those tests, we’ll work on making the highest quality product possible, something that is often missing in the Android market in particular. And then we’ll work on the final process of building an audience and marketing, which is often missed out by app developers.”

Fanale says that he aims to gather a community of expert developers, marketers and investors to provide input to the apps. They will be rewarded via a royalties system that will see the profits of the app split among those who have worked on it.

“We want to be a global business and I believe we can be because we are still only scratching the surface when it comes to apps,” he says.

“Smartphone penetration is still small, we are only at the start of the growth.”