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Webmission08 – edocr makes the final cut!

I am proud to announce that edocr has been chosen by webmission08 as one of the 20 most promising UK digital startups to visit San Francisco in April 08. I have known this for a while, but was not allowed to speak in public until TechCrunch broke the news. I see this as a win not just for the edocr team and its user base, but for the whole of the North West of England. We are proud to follow our fellow web 2.0 startup Yuuguu across the pond. Yuuguu achieved significant media coverage and growth since establishing connectivity with San Francisco.

Webmission08 is organised by entrepreneur Oli Barrett and Polecat and backed by UKTI, Heller Ehrmann, BT and HSBC. 20 companies were selected from over 100 applicants.

According to Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch UK:

Who judged all this? TechCrunch UK was asked to contribute thoughts on the applicants (TCUK is also the official media partner), as was well known tech entreprenuer, investor and former Dragon Doug Richard, along with UK Trade Invest, Oli Barrett and Polecat. We were all really impressed with the quality of the applications. In the words of Doug Richard “some of these companies are as good as anything coming out of the Valley”. And sponsors Heller Ehrmann are issuing a statement today saying: “The sheer volume of applicants provides convincing evidence of the depth and breadth of emerging growth technology companies in the UK. The shortlist of companies selected demonstrates that the UK is able to produce credible web businesses.”

What was the criteria? The judges were looking for companies who could do meaningful business in the US; from setting up office, to finding funding, to extending their network, and developing sustainable cross-pond relationships. They also assessed the companies based on their business viability and the strength of the management team. And they looked for a mix of companies that showed the breadth of what the UK has to offer in this space. The aim is for the companies “to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.”

Here is a list of the other 19 companies selected:

  • Groupspaces [Oxford]- Web-based tools for groups
  • Tioti [?] – A social network around TV
  • Exabre (TheFilter) [Bath] – Advanced music recommendation
  • Coull [Bristol] – Interactive video platform
  • Zogix [Hertfordshire] – Employee services platform
  • Byteplay (dotHomes) [?] – Real estate search engine
  • Trampoline Systems [London] – Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour
  • Hubdub [Edinburgh] – News prediction social network
  • WAYN [?] – travel and lifestyle social networking community
  • TrustedPlaces [?] – Venue recommendation network
  • Slicethepie [?] – Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans
  • Mydeo [Wimbledon]- Mainstream application for storing and sharing video
  • Skimbit [?] – Research and share decisions
  • Huddle [?] – Enterprise 2.0 collaboration
  • Rummble [?] – Mobile social networking and recommendation
  • Zebtab [London] – Desktop TV application
  • Silobreaker [London] – Contextual and graphic search results
  • Kwiqq [Brighton] – Social Website builder
  • ShortFuze [Cambridge] – Online movie creation tools for social networks

I have been discussing various ways to collaborate with some of the above companies. Some of these companies have raised funding and are generating revenues. edocr may well be one of the youngest and least funded companies. If you attended my discussions at BarcampManchester and Start Up Camp London, you know how much it cost us to develop edocr.

Raj Anand’s “Blogging for Business” white paper is extremely popular with edocr community. I plan to setup a Special Interest Group within edocr to help collate documents on webmission.

I have secured sponsorship from Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus (where edocr is based) to offset some of our costs and currently looking for two other sponsors. If you are interested, please do get in touch sooner than later.

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