[UK] We’ve confirmed that towards the end of the last year UK-based startup oneDrum, which launched the beta of its free, real-time collaboration platform for Microsoft Office users, secured £1 million in funding. This comprises £900,000 from Amadeus Capital Partners and £100,000 in grants from the UK Technology Strategy Board (creative industries fund) and Scottish Enterprise.
oneDrum adds secure, synchronised file sharing and collaboration (version management, multi-author document creation and editing, and communication and co-ordination tools) to existing Microsoft Office applications which are, obviously, used by millions of people. You can try the software out with this invite code for TechCrunch readers.
Microsoft already allows Office Live users to edit and control a document but this is limited to one user at a time, while other users can only observe the changes. OneDrum lets multiple users author and edit the same document simultaneously in real time.
Locals copies are stored so changes can be made offline. oneDrum also features communication tools like instant messaging. Edit tracking ensures information doesn’t go missing. Any version of Microsoft Office is compatible with oneDrum.
Based primarily in Scotland, oneDrum is headed up by CEO Jasper Westaway, along with John Boyle, CTO.