Technology
Purgo AI
A proof of concept for AI-generated data pipelines built out into a production SaaS platform, with Jira and GitHub integration and QA gates.
App development
Most app projects overrun. Yours has a fixed number.
Koombea builds web and mobile apps as AI Pods. We break the scope into story points and price it before work starts, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
- Since 2007, 200+ apps in market
- Priced before work begins
- Shipped in two-week cycles
Why app budgets move
Around 70% of software projects go over budget or miss their deadline. The reason is rarely bad engineering. It is that the number was a guess, made before anyone had read the requirements closely enough to cost them.
An hourly quote hides that. It prices effort, so every discovery becomes your cost. Scope grows, the invoice grows with it, and the change order arrives after you have already committed.
We price the scope instead. We break requirements into story points first, sizing each one on functional surface area, integration count and the test coverage needed to ship it. That is slower to start and it is the reason the number holds.
- The estimate comes before the commitment, not after it
- ScopeGen AI puts estimate accuracy near 95%, and cuts overruns by up to 60%
- We reprice a change in points, so you see the cost before you approve it
- On Time and On Budget, because the budget came out of the scope
An hourly quote, or a committed scope
| Dimension | Hourly and time-and-materials | An AI Pod |
|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | Effort. You pay for the time spent, whatever it produces. | Delivered scope. You pay for the features you agreed to, at a price set in advance. |
| When the price is set | Provisionally at the start, then again at every change order. | Before work begins, from a scope broken into story points. |
| Who carries the estimate risk | You do. An underestimate becomes more hours on your invoice. | We do. An underestimate is our problem, which is why we scope properly first. |
| What a change costs | Unknown until it is built, then billed at full rate. | We reprice it in points and quote it before you approve it. |
| How progress is read | Hours logged, which says nothing about what works. | Points accepted every two weeks, against software you can use. |
| What you manage | A team, its capacity and its calendar. | A backlog. The Pod runs itself and reports on delivered scope. |
How it starts
From idea to a number in days
Scoping is free and it is real work, not a sales call. You leave it with a document you could hand to another firm.
Step 01
You describe the app
What it has to do, who uses it, and what it has to connect to. If code already exists, point us at the repository. Nothing here needs a specification you have not written yet.
Step 02
We read it properly
Requirements go through ScopeGen AI and then through the people who would deliver them. Existing code gets a review, because estimating work on a codebase nobody has read is a guess with a decimal point on it.
Step 03
You get the scope and the price
A Work Breakdown Structure written as user stories, sized in story points, with the price and the delivery date attached. You also get an honest answer on whether Staff Augmentation suits you better.
Step 04
A Pod ships it
Working software every two weeks, against the scope you approved. You have repository access throughout, and source and pipeline transfer is a gate on Phase 1 acceptance rather than a favor at the end.
Where this fits
Four situations account for most of what arrives. Each one changes what Phase 1 has to prove, so it changes what gets built first.
A first product
Phase 1 is a complete end-to-end loop a real user can finish, not a login screen and a design system. A loop can be tested, demoed and funded.
An enterprise platform
Multi-tenant isolation, single sign-on and audit trails built as you go. Reconstructing them after a compliance review costs more than building them.
Planning and scoping
You have a budget to defend and no costed plan. Scoping produces the Work Breakdown Structure and the number, and it stands on its own.
A rescue
A build that stalled with another partner. Discovery says plainly whether a rescue or a rewrite is cheaper, before either of us commits to one.
What we build
Native iOS and Android where the experience is the product, cross platform where the requirement genuinely allows it. We settle that fork on evidence during scoping, because a team that picks cross platform for the saving and then specifies a native-feeling app pays for both.
Design, engineering, quality and infrastructure all sit inside the Pod and inside the price. There is no separate line item for the parts an app needs in order to ship, and no handoff between firms where the estimate quietly resets.
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android, native or cross platform
- Web applications, APIs and the infrastructure to run them
- eCommerce, including Shopify Plus replatforms and native storefronts
- Product design and UX, priced in the same points as the build
- Quality engineering and test automation, so acceptance is measurable
- Cloud infrastructure and release pipelines, on AWS
Apps we shipped
Apps built here have been acquired by Google, Motorola Solutions, Facebook and Skype.
Health Services
Luna
In-home physical therapy taken from concept to market in three months, with EHR integration, practice management and GPS-tracked visits.
Payments and Lending
Tuily
A Mastercard corporate card and spend platform for Colombian SMEs, built from idea to launch as a Koombea venture and acquired by Bold.
Payments and Lending
Payix
Onboarding a client took months of hand-coded AWS infrastructure. A multi- tenant rebuild turned a new client environment into a configuration step.
Payments and Lending
Paymentez
Electronic payments were 4% of revenue because the people transacting preferred cash. A UX rebuild moved daily transactions from 4,000 to 120,000.
Health Services
Fashioned Health
iOS and Android telehealth apps on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, with video consultation, patient-provider messaging and test result visualisation.
Technology
FlightLogger
Real-time flight tracking across 1,500 airlines and 30,000 airports, on iOS, Android and Apple Watch. Gold for UX at the Indigo Awards.
Technology
LINC
An off-the-shelf LMS left supervisors with no visibility. LINCSPRING replaced it with role-based access, G Suite integration and microcredentials.
Retail and Commerce
Nab
A prototype became a Progressive Web App aggregating more than 25 collectibles vendors into one community hub. Four Indigo Awards followed.
Retail and Commerce
Do It Center
Do It Center called their own eCommerce platform a Frankenstein. Rebuilt on Shopify with POS and accounting integrated, bounce rate fell 90%.
Retail and Commerce
Jamar
Jamar sold furniture from PDF catalogs. Now a Shopify Plus store with region- based pricing, smart search and STEP master data behind it.
The Payix team is very thankful to Koombea for stepping in and helping us move past our previous development partner. With Koombea now by our side, we're achieving our client onboarding goals and maximizing revenue opportunities.
Brands that shipped with us
Partnerships and certifications
Third-party appraisal rather than self-assessment. CMMI-DEV/3 appraised, AWS Partner, Shopify Plus Partner.
Request a free consultation
Describe the app and we will come back with the scope, the price and the date. Our working day sits inside the US Eastern business day all year, so the hours you keep are the hours we keep. Ask and you get an NDA before you tell us anything.
Not a project?
- Partner with us You want to refer clients, or you need delivery capacity behind your own client work.
- Selling us something Vendor and tool pitches go to hello@koombea.com.
What buyers ask first
How much does an app cost?
It depends on scope, and a published figure would be wrong for most projects. What we will do is show you exactly what moves the number during scoping. Distinct states per screen matter far more than screen count, one more system to reconcile against costs more than several more list views, and four permission levels make a different app from the same features with one.
Is the price really fixed?
Yes, for the scope you approved. We break scope into story points and price it before work starts, and the people who have to deliver the work build the estimate. We reprice new scope in points and quote it before you approve it, so a change is a decision you make rather than an invoice you receive.
How long does it take?
Delivery runs in two-week cycles, and the date comes out of the point count rather than out of optimism. You get it with the price, before committing. What most often moves it is content and approvals on your side, and we will say so during scoping if that looks like the risk.
Can you take over an app another firm started?
Often, and this is a large share of what we do. Discovery starts with a code review, because the honest answer is sometimes that a rewrite is cheaper than a rescue. You get that answer before either of us commits to anything.
Who owns the code?
You do, throughout. Repository access is yours from the start, and formal transfer of source and pipeline access is a gate on Phase 1 acceptance rather than something negotiated at the end.
Native, cross platform, or web?
The requirement decides and we show the reasoning. Cross platform is right when the app is forms, lists, content and standard navigation on both platforms. Native wins when the experience is the product, or when you depend on hardware and OS features that move quickly.
What if we just need extra engineering capacity?
Then say so and we will quote Staff Augmentation instead, hourly, with your team directing the work. It is the other model we sell, and it is the right one when you own the backlog and only need capacity. AI Pods suit you when you want committed scope at a known price.
What does AI-First actually change?
AI runs across the whole lifecycle here, from scoping through test generation, which is what makes the throughput per dollar work. ScopeGen AI is why estimates land near 95% accuracy. Tambora is why test coverage arrives with the feature instead of after it.
Get a fixed number for your app.
Tell us what the app has to do. You get the scope broken into story points, the price, and the delivery date, in writing, before anyone writes code.