A SCOTTISH entrepreneur hopes to double the staff working on a new social network to around 60 by the end of this year.
Amina Nabi has already raised around £700,000 of private investment from friends and family to get Kinnect2 off the ground.
The social network has been built as a dedicated platform to connect businesses with interested consumers.
Ms Nabi plans to eventually cover a wide number of sectors including technology, cars, education and sport.
The Glasgow venture, which is already employing 28 staff around the world, is targeting a further £1 million to £2m of investment in the near term to support its growth plan.
That includes spending on marketing and hiring additional staff including software engineers to build a mobile device app and add e-commerce functions to the existing web browser based version.
Ms Nabi, who completed the Saltire Fellow programme four years ago and has also been in the Entrepreneurial Spark business incubator, confirmed she is speaking to more private investors rather than approaching banks or venture capital firms at this stage.
She wants to have 750,000 active customer accounts by the end of this year and also to have signed up 5,000 brands.
She said: “I would be really keen for Scottish brands to get involved as we are based here.”
The businesses involved can get direct feedback from consumers while the people interacting with the brands get access to special deals, discounts and competitions.
The revenue is generated through online advertising as well as by providing analytics to the brands.
Ms Nabi said the company also plans to take a portion of revenue on transactions made on the platform and look at offering purchases from within the app.
Kinnect2 also plans to allow users to collect and spend a currency, called Kinnect2 Coins, inside the network.
Ms Nabi added: “With Kinnect2 my aim is to change the way market research and big data is both collected and used. I believe there is a gap in the market for something like this which will benefit a big audience and inspire others.”
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