A technology firm providing users of video game Minecraft with an online platform to sell products has marked a major milestone after processing payments worth more than £300 million.
Nottingham entrepreneur Lee McNeil was just 16 when he saw a gap in the market for gamers wanting to sell in-game items, which led to him launching Tebex from his bedroom.
Today, the gCommerce company has branched out to offer its services to 12 games, including Grand Theft Auto V, and has processed more than 21 million payments in the process.
Mr McNeil, now aged 23, said: "We’ve been building great momentum as a business and as we’ve incorporated more and more games to our platform I knew that the 20 million mark was close, then of course 21 million, but it was still a little surreal.
"Tebex started out as just me, a gamer with a passion for coding and then the idea for a business that would help people to actually make money online with these immersive games.
''Now Tebex is truly a high growth company and we are looking to scale-up as we envisage the platform becoming the support infrastructure of the gaming industry.
"The only thing holding us back is the availability of skilled developers as we have the opportunity and capacity to take them on both here at our Nottingham HQ and potentially remotely.
"They will be part of the next chapter of our story, helping us to break through the 50 million transaction barrier and with that to circa 500 million in total payments processed."
It is estimated Tebex, which employs four people, has been used by more than 10 million unique players since it was launched. Its anticipated revenue for this year is £750,000.
Monetisation and payments form the bulk of the company's operations, but it is also increasingly moving into fraud, security and server infrastructure solutions.
