About us

A brief history of our time

The macOS version of Texifier was started as a our first project in the summer of 2011. Having finished writing our PhDs in theoretical physics at King's College London, we as Mac enthusiasts had become all too aware of the lack of a polished, LaTeX editor. Texifier was born partly out of these frustrations and partly due to our other passion: staying out of a job that involved a boss we had to answer to.

It has been a mixed blessing; uncertainty has often accompanied the freedom of being you own boss. Most importantly, we've survived and have done so despite good (and free) competition and despite the poor working conditions of app developers working on operating systems where tooling support is not always there. And here we are now, rather proud of having made the macOS and iOS versions of Texifier, as well as Texifier Connect to weave it all together as a researcher's workspace. It's software that we love using ourselves and wish we had at our disposal when we were writing our theses.

Valletta Ventures Ltd

The name Valletta Ventures was inspired by the capital of Malta where we spent a burning summer launching Texifier as expats.

Founders

Jawad
Dr. Duncan P Steele
After working on a mining technology startup in Canada, Duncan got sick of the cold and headed to Malta for some scorching heat. He's now hopped over to an even smaller island in different seas, the Isle of Wight, on which he feeds his sailing passion while staying out of its sprawling sailing clubs.
Jawad
Dr. Jawad A Deo
Wishing for a break from big cities after King's, Jawad spent the better part of 2012 globe-trotting, clutching his Macbook and developing Texifier in any cafe that would offer a workable WiFi connection. He's finally decided to stop for rest in Munich, all equipped with lederhosen for the annual Oktoberfest.

Get in touch

Email us both at admin@vallettaventures.com with any questions and feedback you may have regarding our products, the exciting plans we have for their future, and if you'd like to get involved in any way.