Forstå acquires Guntribe web development company

Founded in 2010, Guntribe is made up of Paul Weigartz and Jon van Rooyen. Together they bring with them a combined 30 years of web design and development experience. While Wordpress is their forte, they are also adept in Drupal, Zend Framework and custom PHP development. Their language proficiencies are HTML5, CSS, php and javascript. Paul and Jon will be involved in conceptualising and engineering solutions to meet clients' digital and programming needs.

Forstå Managing Director Denver Berman-Jacob says, "The decision to acquire Guntribe is strategically aligned with our objectives to be a leading full-service agency. Forstå prides itself on offering an integrated service across channels of which the development function plays an integral part. While we have always been digitally strong, the acquisition of Guntribe further bolsters our capacity and ability in terms of full-stack development."

Paul Weingartz

Jon van Rooyen

Since Guntribe was founded five years ago, Paul and Jon have built an impressive portfolio, developing websites for Associated Media Publishing (for Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping magazines) and luxury game lodges to name a few. They have also developed a web application for O magazine and Dentyne competition mechanics.

On expanding Forstå's development capacity, Denver says, "The development needs of our ever-growing client base necessitated having a strong team to ensure efficiency and reliability. Guntribe has been a strategic partner and has worked with Forstå on multiple successful projects in an outsourced capacity, making this a natural transition in terms of culture and fit."

Paul believes this merger will boost Forstå's capacity to deliver a holistic service to clients. "Having quality development capacity in-house will allow us to take a client's vision from inception to completion, all the while controlling every step of the process."

Jon hopes to bring "competitive and world-class digital marketing solutions to clients at Forstå, on time and to specifications."