Skyscanner founders back scheduling app Decidz

The app app is designed to help people organise events together and chat about them

The three co-founders of travel search firm Skyscanner have invested in a new scheduling app developed in Scotland.

Bonamy Grimes, Barry Smith and Gareth Williams are backing Decidz, a free app designed to help people organise events together and chat about them.

An initial funding round, which included the trio, is understood to have raised nearly £500,000 for the business.

Decidz was founded in July last year and employs 10 staff in Edinburgh.

It is based at tech incubator CodeBase.

Decidz's co-founders are former senior Skyscanner executives Tom Williams and Craig Parker. Tom's brother is Gareth Williams.

'Missing a trick'

Tom Williams said: "We think the scheduling space is missing a trick and we're developing a product better designed to fit the user's lifestyle rather than being just another tool.

"Decidz is less about calendar management and more about creating a conversation that leads to people doing more together."

Former Skyscanner chairman Ray Nolan, who is also an investor in Decidz, said: "Decidz is solving a problem that has dogged the internet since people first discovered email.

"A simple get-together of more than a couple of people can take literally hours to organise."

Decidz said it was targeting a local audience in Scotland and the UK before extending its user base internationally.

As part of its strategy, the company will use the Edinburgh Festivals in August to showcase the product.

It plans to secure further funding rounds to accelerate growth and scale, including in the fast-growing markets of Asia-Pacific and the Americas.