Venture capital will send Greenlandic IT innovation worldwide
greenland today March 2016
Greenlandic IT entrepreneur Jens-Jakob Lennert-Sandgreen is ambitious. He challenges Snapchat, Messenger and other of the world’s biggest social media and services. Now, he has received a financial shot in the arm to enable him to distribute the app called Reply internationally.
At first glance, Reply is a little like Snapchat, but Jens-Jakob stresses that the app is different and has a wider reach.
– Briefly speaking, Reply is a message app that shows the latest message between you and another person. It is designed for conversation with people you contact often, says Jens-Jakob.
Messages without fuss
Reply shows messages in full screen format instead of speech balloons. This is important for the user experience and for the way the app is used.
– It is a combination of a post and a message, says the entrepreneur.
– The target group consists of »Millennials« – young people born around the turn of the century and still under 30 years of age who love creative communication and connections with their close friends. Reply gives them a framework for entertaining communication and at the same time, the message is individual with a minimum of fuss.
– Reply was created to kick-start a conversation through messages that require an answer, hence the name Reply.
Perhaps you want to share a moment with your network, but do not want everyone to see it. On Reply you choose who you want to receive your message and then you can start a private conversation with your friends.
One in five users is Chinese
Reply was launched in the autumn of 2014 and despite its Greenlandic heritage; it quickly found followers all over the world.
– About 20 per cent of the users are from China, followed by Russia and the USA, says Jens-Jakob. During the lifetime of the app, he has given it 9 updates over two versions. More than 20,000 messages are now sent each week between the 4,000 users.
In order to take the next step, Jens- Jakob needed the resources to develop an Android version, so iPhone users could communicate with the other half of the smart phone users, who are not on the same platform as themselves.
Version 3.0 designed for the world
The investment from Greenland Venture will make it possible to provide services for Android users and members of the team behind Reply are now turbo-charging their efforts to get a version 3 of the app for both iPhone and Android ready in the spring of 2016.
– We are spending all our energy on creating a really good experience for users in the new version, says Jens-Jakob Lennert-Sandgreen, who has already launched a »teaser« of Reply version 3.
As soon as version 3 has been sent out, he and his team will be ready to promote Reply internationally. He is doing this because he believes in his product, but also because it is his overall mission to create Greenlandic products – designed for the world!
Greenland Venture – Venture capital for innovation
Greenland Venture invests in companies and projects which can create growth and permanent jobs in Greenland and the Arctic. For Greenland Venture, Reply is a different kind of investment, but the venture company believes in innovation, even in areas that are not traditional in the Arctic and it is therefore willing to provide support and funds for development.
– Our investment in Reply is a modest amount. We want to send the message that innovative thinking is necessary and that we support this, even though it can be risky, says Karsten Høy, CEO of Greenland Venture.
– We believe in Jens-Jakob, who has already made his mark on the Greenlandic innovation environment. Regardless of who you speak to here, his name turns up as the person who knows most about apps.
Boosting the software industry
– For Greenland Venture, it is important to boost development of the software industry in Greenland. Reply has already proved itself internationally and we see a huge potential in the introduction of an Android version, as well as in increased development and promotion.
Read the article on page 46
