Mar 26 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
It may sound like the name of a friendly Tyneside neighbour or an affable local shopkeeper, but CannyBill is a new piece of software which is expected to help a fledgling technology firm take on the world.
And such is the global appeal of the product – which is aimed at any company looking to handle online payments – it has already been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian and even Geordie by its Newcastle-based creators.
Digital company dpivision.com Ltd has already gained 600 clients from around the world in the five weeks since its launch and is now in talks with investors in the US over the possibility of setting up an office in North America to grow the business.
Dpivision flew to Texas last week to attend the South by South West Interactive festival – one of the biggest events on the planet for technology businesses which gives firms exposure to more than 29,000 key industry players in the US.
The company was chosen from hundreds of entries in a UK Trade and Investment competition to attend the event and its founder, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, says he has met “hundreds” of potential clients and investors during the trip.
He said the company now plans to roll out other products under the Canny label in the hope of growing it into a global brand and is currently in talks to secure investment to fund expansion in the States.
He also said the firm had developed a special Geordie version of the software to highlight its commitment to the region and raise the profile of the North East.
Should any clients sign up to the Geordie language package, buttons which are usually labelled ‘return to the home page’ will read ‘gan hyem’ and rather than clicking ‘continue’, users will select the ‘howay’ option.
Mr Baranoff-Rossine said: “We’re proud to be based in the North East, and we called this product CannyBill because it does what it says on the tin, it’s a great piece of kit to sort out your billing process.
“The uptake so far has been incredible – and that’s even before its official launch.
“We put out a request for beta testers to businesses who were using our ecommerce system Tradingeye, and the response was terrific.”
“Our turnover has doubled year-on-year and we are looking into the possibility of setting up an office in Texas.”
Meanwhile dpivision recently won a place on the Crossover 4iP Lab initiative – an international scheme supported by broadcaster Channel 4 which gives digital entrepreneurs the chance to land financial backing for their innovative ideas.
The company has also been chosen to battle it out against 19 other businesses to be crowned European start-up of 2009 at the internet-focused Plugg conference in Brussels later this year.
The business fought off fierce competition from 126 businesses from across Europe to get through to the finals, where they will be giving a short presentation of CannyBill.com.
