maekit founder, Matt Holme
Just weeks after acquiring the WordPress technology assets of UK-based development agency, Human Made, Brisbane start-up, maekit, is on the hunt for fresh investment to boost its standing in the global WordPress market.
Maekit, which operates a cloud platform aimed at giving web designers and small agencies the ability to manage multiple websites in a single platform, acquired the intellectual property (IP) of Human Made’s WP Remote platform for $40,000 in September.
Human Made is a WordPress development agency headquartered in Derbyshire, UK, known for building The Sun newspaper and USA Today websites, among others.
After launching in 2010, the agency’s WP Remote platform, which had been developed to help web designers manage and upgrade many WordPress websites via a single platform, quickly developed a cult following, with designers, developers, and agencies around the world using it to manage up to 126,000 websites.
However, the technology was little used by the agency, which had been focused more on the services side of its portfolio, leaving the platform on the sidelines. When a buyer was sought for the IP, maekit stepped up.
The acquisition of the technology by maekit saw the Queensland start-up see its global user base grow from 25 to 20,000 overnight.
For maekit’s founder, Matt Holme, the new IP, along with his company’s existing technology addresses a “global problem” in a billion-dollar industry.
“There is currently no single platform for designers or small agencies to centralise a web design project from start to finish,” Holme said. “Web designers focus on the front end and are not necessarily technically minded – they don’t want to think about security or hosting, for example. This is where maekit comes in.”
According to Holme, WP Remote remains free to users following the acquisition, but if designers want access to more features to develop and deploy their websites, they can now access maekit’s full range of functions.
With WP Remote under its belt, maekit is now looking to raise an initial round of funding to further grow the platform’s customer base.
Until now, the company has been largely bootstrapped internally with funds from the business it emerged from, the website development firm, MyWork – another start-up founded by Holme. It is understood that Holme is hoping to raise about $600,000 to push further into the web services market with maekit’s new offering.
