Applatch recently hit an exciting milestone with Sheffield Digital, when Co-Founder and CEO Samson Opaleye moved from an Individual Member to a Startup Company member. This reflects the company’s growth and progression, following a new product launch in summer 2024, completion of Sheffield Technology Park’s Cooper Project and being accepted on the Baltic Accelerator, which secured £30,000 in funding for the company. Applatch is making strides in the digital wellness and e-learning space for children under 13, so we caught up with Samson to find out more about his entrepreneurial journey and where the inspiration behind Applatch and Applatch Kids comes from.

Where it started

Applatch was born out of a common but nonetheless serious issue: smartphone addiction. After seven years in digital marketing, creating social media campaigns for global brands like Pepsi, Intel and HP in Nigeria, Samson realised his relationship with social media had grown into something unmanageable, seeping beyond working hours and into his personal life. He explains,

“I had to spend a lot of time on social media, particularly Instagram, to understand the type of content people loved, current trends, the algorithm, and the activation mechanics that would resonate with people. It helped me professionally, but it was also too much fun, and I ended up getting addicted to Instagram.”

He continues,

“My addiction became so severe that whenever I picked up my phone, I would unconsciously open Instagram, even if I intended to make a phone call. I was spending an average of 5-6 hours a day on Instagram.”

Research confirmed that this wasn’t just a personal issue; a vast majority of millennials and Gen Z report similar challenges with smartphone dependency, a problem only exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Samson knew he wanted to tackle this issue head-on, especially as it affects mental health and productivity.

With Applatch, Samson developed a solution that treats smartphone addiction like any other addiction, as a serious behavioral challenge. The app allows users to lock their apps for a specified time and they can only be unlocked with the support of an accountability partner. This concept resonated quickly, amassing over 40,000 users before Samson decided to pivot to a new solution based on user feedback.

Focussing on younger minds: Applatch Kids

Samson identified a particular need among parents who struggled to balance their children’s education and screen time. Inspired by what parents with young children were telling him, the idea for Applatch Kids began to form: an app specifically designed to help children manage their screen use – particularly on tablets – while promoting learning. The app incentivises children to complete educational quizzes to unlock limited screen time, creating a healthy balance between study and play.

In the development of Applatch Kids, Samson teamed up with co-founder Aliyu Odumosu, an experienced developer who brought over 15 years of experience to the team. The two met through Sheffield Technology Parks’ Cooper Project incubator, where they discovered their shared values and goals.

“I was focused on building Applatch Kids but lacked a CTO co-founder. Given Ali’s experience in building over 50 apps within the last 15 years, I saw an opportunity,” remembers Samson. “Being a parent of four children himself, Ali immediately understood the challenges parents face in seeking a balance between learning and playing online. He decided to join Applatch Ltd as CTO and co-founder. Since then, we’ve been working together incredibly well. I believe that our shared cultural background and similar value systems from childhood have contributed to our strong working relationship.”

As they both live in Sheffield, the pair are able to collaborate closely and move quickly on data-driven decisions, something that Samson cites as fundamental to the early success of Applatch Kids. Considering how the process of developing Applatch Kids has compared to the original product, he stresses,

“We built smarter this time. All the mistakes and learnings from our first product helped us create a more user-friendly app, providing greater value while making fewer technical mistakes. We now focus on tracking essential B2C metrics rather than vanity metrics, ensuring our approach is data-driven.”

Whilst there’s obvious parallels in the two products, shifting focus to a younger market still gave Samson and Ali plenty to think about.

“Initially, I thought the challenges would be similar since we’re still addressing excessive entertainment screen time, but the shift to a completely different demographic, along with the mechanics of pairing two or more devices for users (the children and their parents) to get value, brought new complexities.”

Becoming a part of Sheffield’s tech community

Moving to the UK nearly two years ago, Samson quickly integrated into Sheffield’s tech community with the help of Sheffield Digital. From making connections on Slack to attending Sheffield Digital events, Samson was soon linked up to key parts of the ecosystem, including the Cooper Project and Business Sheffield, helping him to build a strong foundation for Applatch Kids.

Samson’s new role on the Sheffield Digital Membership Board gives him the opportunity to support Sheffield’s tech ecosystem. As the representative for Startup Company Members, he wants to help create safe landing opportunities for young people with startup ideas in the city, explaining:

“It’s hard to leave a well-paying job and focus on building a product for months with no compensation or certainty that the solution will be successful. Taking risks is difficult, but if the city provides opportunities that make this transition easier, we can foster more innovators within the city.”

What’s Next for Applatch?

In just three months since the product launch, children using Applatch Kids have completed over 57,000 quizzes and the company’s revenue is growing by more than 100% month-on-month.

With Applatch Kids gaining traction, Samson and Ali remain focused on delivering more impact and innovating their product. The team is in the midst of a pre-seed funding round, aiming to raise £250,000, and they were accepted on to the Baltic Ventures accelerator in Liverpool, which Samson describes as ‘instrumental’ to Applatch Kids’ growth. The programme provides £30,000 in funding and has helped the duo gain access to advisor relationships, workshops and events geared towards UK and international fundraising.

The process of developing Applatch Kids has given Samson greater clarity about the company’s strategic direction, with the ultimate goal of supporting digital wellness across society. He says,

“We believe it is smarter to solve the problem from the ground up, starting with children under 13 and cultivating in them the habit of balancing learning and playing. Our vision is to see a world where this balance is ingrained in all of us.”

The startup wants to evolve with the digital age, adding features that address VR gaming, smart TVs and mobile gaming devices as well as mobile phones and tablets, providing a holistic approach to managing screen time across all platforms.

Applatch is poised for an exciting future and we are proud to have them not only as members of our community, but as active advocates for tech startups in the city, aligned with our mission to make Sheffield the best environment to start and grow a digital business.

Find out more about Applatch on the website: applatch.com/applatchkids/.