Education pays off for software company

Aug 21 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A CHANGE of direction has paid dividends for a fledgling software firm which is on target to double its annual turnover to £250,000 next year.

Twisted Studio, which was spun out of Teesside University in 2006, is on track for rapid growth after winning a number of recent deals including a contract with Lincolnshire County Council to develop software to teach English to the area’s large immigrant population.

The business is also working on a mobile technology-based project in Edinburgh to develop user guides for festivals and recently produced an internet game for childrens TV channel CITV.

The company, which is run by Teesside graduates Graham Bryan, Kevin Jones and Michael Kirby, is also hoping to receive around £75,000 in financial backing through an investment fund and a grant from regional development agency One NorthEast.

Graham Bryan believes the firm’s recent strong performance can be put down to a shift in its business model.

Late last year, the company was set to approach gaming giant Nintendo in the hope of producing software for its Wii and DS consoles.

The company remains in talks with Nintendo which, according to Mr Bryan, are progressing slowly. However, increasing interest in its educational software has seen the firm give its video games arm a back seat for the time being.

He said: “We have taken a change of direction and we have been getting a lot of interest for the educational software we have been doing.”

He also said that the company, which broke even last year, will see its revenue grow to £250,000 next year.