UK firms get venture capital for web projects

Jonathan Bowers, January 23rd 2007, 1:00PM

There’s an interesting piece about UK companies attracting investment in 2006 that provides an insight into some big developments coming online this year.

Paul Fisher provides a great list of all the venture capital ploughed into European companies last year. I’ve concentrated on the UK investment and it seems to present a varied mix of sectors across 21 companies.

I had expected social networking and video on demand to play a majority part but the list provides a couple of glimpses into possible future ground breakers.

Creating communities accounts for 30 per cent of the deals with companies from Bebo through to Mind Candy (Second Life potential) receiving funding. Retail sites have also done well with 4 receiving around £20m between them – the majority going to wiggle.co.uk.

An area of Web 2.0 represented less strongly is Video and audio provision, with only Last FM and web TV site Aggregator getting the nod. It’s likely that Venture capitalists are staying out of this field because of the provisions already being networked by the big national broadcasters.

Two surprise entries in the list are ticket vending sites, specialising mainly in concert and sports ticketing. The most revealing ones for me tend to revolve around new technologies. Skinkers is a device-to-device RSS tool allowing us to receive our web information in various forms and Yuuguu connects remote workers allowing them to share collaborative efforts more rewardingly and efficiently.

Tags: growing_business, internet
# Comment (0 comments)

A growing business is like a starfish

Jonathan Bowers, June 14th 2006, 12:55PM

There's a story going around that Starfish have incredible regenerative powers. So much so that when they lose a leg (or a ray) they grow one back. This may not seem that incredible – after all lizards can grow tails back and there are many other similar accounts in the animal kingdom. What is impressive is the suggestion that the severed leg (ray) can grow itself a starfish.

This kind of regeneration or enhanced recycling is something that we can be doing in business all the time. Every morning I generate business stories based around what our visitors are interested in reading. These in turn create themes and topics that I can discuss with clients and build into podcasting features, which may turn up interesting comment and opinion that can be acted upon and turned into Press Releases and even in some cases, new policy or product for the business.

This cycle of regeneration and development helps to build business in many different ways and reaches out to a global audience just as quickly as a local one.

And by blogging about it, I can create an extra layer within the cycle. How are you making sure you maximise on your information and expertise?

Tags: communication, growing_business
# Comment (1 comments)