Whilst we frequently bemoan the fact that many UK start-ups prefer to seek their fortunes (literally) in the US, it turns out that the ‘threat’ may well be closer to home. London-based (till now!) education software firm BlikBook has just received a further €1m in funding and simultaneously announced it is to move its HQ to Dublin. The funding round was led by Leaf Investments alongside existing investors Forward Investment Partners, Delta Partners (investing from its Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Fund), and Enterprise Ireland– an active investor in tech start-ups.
BlikBook appears to be in effect a social media platform designed for lecturers and students to share questions and answers. This suggests that there is space in the market for industry-specific platforms that the likes of consumer-oriented platforms – such as Facebook – or highly configurable enterprise ‘groupware’ platforms – such as SharePoint – can’t seem to reach. Perhaps this also offers an opportunity for someone to develop a ‘platform for platforms’ (sort of in the way that Salesfroce.com is doing with Force.com) so that other start-ups can quickly and easily develop similar products for other industries.