A group of University of Wolverhampton graduates who formed their own company thanks to help from a business start-up project have launched their first app.

Chris Carter (Computer Science graduate), Jake Rogers (Games Design graduate), Neil Cooper (Interactive Media and Web graduate) and Adam Talbot (current part-time Computer Science student) set up VOiD Games in June with the aim of developing apps and games for iPods and iPhones.

The quartet, who are all from Wolverhampton, are successful participants in the SPEED Plus project, which gives students and graduates the opportunity to launch a business idea and receive financial support, access to business facilities and mentoring.

As part of the scheme direct financial support of £1,500 is available, as well as access to business development workshops including a weekend residential to enable networking and to help people learn useful skills for running a business. There is also access to business facilities such as incubation space and up to 12 hours of support from a business consultant.

VOiD has recently launched its first creation on the Apple app store called Guess the Game, a 10 level application in which you have to identify logos and box art from computer and console games down the years.

Chris Carter, managing director of VOiD Games, said: “The feedback since the launch has been amazing. We’ve had people from all over the world downloading and playing our game. We’ve had people contacting us through Twitter and Facebook to give us feedback on how it plays and any other features they’d like to see.

“Before starting the SPEED Plus project none of us had any business background or training and it has really helped us develop our business faster. We are currently using hot desking space provided by SPEED as our office, this was vital for us as now we have somewhere to work from that isn’t each other’s living rooms.

“It has given us business training in areas of marketing, accounts, legislation and business structure. We have a business mentor which helps us with the development of the business and makes sure we are on track. They have also supported us financially for equipment and setup costs.”

With the first app completed the company is now looking forward to creating more products from its city base.

Chris added: ““We all were born in Wolverhampton, lived in Wolverhampton all our lives, went to school in Wolverhampton and attended university in Wolverhampton. It was the perfect place to set up.

“Our plans for the future are to finish off our second app which is in development; this will be released for the end of January. We will then continue to develop different ideas and release more apps. We aim to have at least five apps on the app store by the end of the summer.”

SPEED Plus is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is open to 600 students and graduates from the University of Wolverhampton as well as those from Coventry, Keele, Staffordshire and Birmingham City universities.

For more information on SPEED Plus visit www.wlv.ac.uk/speed