The App Labb founder Kundan Joshi started his Toronto-based app development firm while he was still finishing his software engineering degree. Then the company was known as “Joshi Inc.”, while today The App Labb stands at over 50 employees, having created apps for clients like the Canadian Auto Show, Rogers, Bell Media, TIFF and the Banff World Media Festival, among others.
“So far it’s been all self funded,” Joshi told BetaKit. “Its been challenging, its been an interesting journey but its also been fruitful and enjoyable.”
He said what sets them apart from other firms is the fact that The App Labb works with clients across the spectrum: from large enterprise organizations to agencies to tiny tech startups. The company offers development in both mobile and web apps, through an all-encompassing process: strategy, design and development.
“I don’t like to call ourselves just a development shop,” Joshi told us. From the initial strategy to mobile road mapping to creating the UX and the UI to multi platform development (if applicable), quality assurance and marketing, he said they can provide a full solution.
The company actually focuses on two larger domains: custom development, or development revolving around its own platforms, specific to certain verticals. Here The App Labb offers six apps it can develop for someone: the Event App, the Base App, the Contest App, the Retail App, the University App and the Learning App. Joshi said The App Labb’s most popular app is the Event App.
“We have the ‘Retail App’ which provides any retail chain, like grocery stores, with all the standard features like store locators, loyalty programs, prototype logs and so on (which are all scalable), while our platform focused on the education sector, the ‘Learn App’, provides courses and exams accessible on mobile devices,” he said.
But can a startup actually afford The App Labb’s prices? We didn’t talk specifics, but Joshi said the answer is yes. “They can actually, and that’s the unique model that we have. While we pride ourselves on the kind of quality and proficiency in the app experience, we do have very affordable prices and various approaches when it comes to tech startups.”
Working on apps for tech startups, said Joshi, allows the team to work on fresh, exciting ideas.
As for the future, Joshi said the company’s platform segment is growing fast (the pre-made apps that companies can build on top of). In this domain, The App Labb is receiving business from the US and Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and they’ll be opening offices there too.
“Whether its creating custom solutions or making an implementation of one of our platforms, it’s been an interesting journey and we hope for more of the same.”
