St John’s-based CoLab Software released the beta version of its collaboration platform this week.

CoLab helps engineering teams better communicate and manage feedback when designing 3D models with its integrated platform, called Gradient.

The platform lets engineers share input on a design model, which is a process normally done through a convoluted string of emails, spreadsheets and other messages. Gradient keeps communications to a single platform.

“In a world today where we are making everything centralized and collaborative, (managing communication) is still a really slow and linear process that can take up almost 20 percent of the time just trying to manage the feedback without actually doing the work,” said co-founder Adam Keating in an interview.

CoLab was able to revamp and release its beta version of Gradient using feedback from its early adopter program, which concluded last month. The new and improved Gradient includes bug fixes and upgrades to its interface.

“It sounds like trivial things, but being able to organize files in a folder or have certain permissions to add and delete certain things is really important,” Keating said. “We learned that through our early adopters.”

Keating and his team had to be selective with the companies and verticals they worked with during the early adopter phase. Currently, they have over 10 paying customers on their platform and that number is growing.

“Now that we have this platform we can actually start bringing on companies more freely,” said Keating. “We’ve been talking to bigger companies throughout the entire process and we’re circling back to them now to figure out how to better position ourselves before we launch a full-market product.”

CoLab plans to have its go-to-market product completed by early winter. The open beta will allow them to continue to hone and develop the product so companies and manufacturers of all sizes can use the Gradient platform.

CoLab already has users in Ontario, Colorado, Georgia and California. And this week CoLab will onboard a client based in Vietnam.

“By Christmas, I imagine we’ll be operating in quite a number of different countries,” said Keating.

For a company that started a little over a year ago, CoLab has had impressive growth. In June, the company closed a $600,000 financing round from Pelorus Venture Capital, Killick Capital, and Panache Ventures.

Today, the CoLab team is made up of 11 employees, all based in St. John’s. This fall, the company plans to hire its first senior-level team member to add experience to the business.

With the beta launch, CoLab is setting itself up to become a household name in the world of high-tech design and development.

“We want to get into the coolest projects in the world, whether it's driverless cars or a new energy project, we want to be the platform that enables that to happen quickly, effectively, and save people money and time,” said Keating.

“I think we’ve built a good foundation. We’re getting people on board early who really get what we're doing.”