A HOTLY tipped tech start-up has merged with an established web development agency to accelerate growth and meet soaring demand.

Brighton neighbours StoryStream and Bite Studio announce today they have joined forces.

The deal will see all of Bite’s business and staff come under the umbrella of StoryStream, on West Street.

The company will meet demand for StoryStream’s product – a real-time web publishing platform set to transform how brands find, create and share stories.

Since its formation in 2012 StoryStream has grown rapidly to turn a profit and work with marquee brands such as Porsche, Microsoft and Getty.

The integrated platform allows brands to bring their websites to life with curated content harvested from social media and beyond.

It can be set up and customised in less than an hour – compared to the weeks to build a similar web platform from scratch. People spend 350 per cent more time engaging with StoryStream content on a web page, the company says.

Following the aggressive expansion, which bypasses a potentially lengthy wait for finance, the firm are recruiting five new roles.

Alex Vaidya, chief executive of StoryStream, said: “There is an exciting and important shift happening in marketing.

“Brands realise shouting and interrupting doesn’t work and their communication needs to be driven by content that is live, relevant and social. It must tell a story.

“StoryStream is already recognised as a leading technology at the heart of the digital storytelling revolution.

“It’s a platform that helps brands get results and ultimately makes the whole marketing experience better for everyone.”

StoryStream has been recognised in Wired and influential US publication Mashable where it was listed as one of the UK’s Top 25 tech start-ups.

Bite has several years’ experience building cutting-edge technology including advanced content management systems.

Neil Witten, co-founder of Bite, said: “Our passion for developing digital products that are beautiful to use, scalable and user-centric translates perfectly with the StoryStream platform.

“We feel that the traditional approach of agencies crafting beautiful containers for relatively static content needs to evolve.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to harness our collective agency experience.”