Seedcamp London
Over 100 mentors and a record 22 teams joined us on 31st January for Seedcamp London. Thanks to iStockphoto, eOffice and Talk Talk, we had a fantastic venue in the heart of Soho and, true to the area, the buzz and energy throughout the day was intense. Seedcamp London was organised in our typical style of quick presentations from the teams, a masterclass panel and then an afternoon of intense mentoring sessions.
The winners We had a record number of applications for the event, so all the teams were immensely proud to be selected. We were very impressed by their shared enthusiasm, drive and ambition – a really positive atmosphere throughout the whole day.
Despite the fierce competition, four teams really won us over, and in two weeks’ time they – along with 15 other Seedcamp teams – will be travelling to the US with us to meet over 300 key players from both the East and West Coast. The US trip is a priceless opportunity for all our teams to refine their pitches, win new customers, form partnerships and of course attract further investment.
So who are the winners?
24symbols from Madrid, Spain What: Spotify for books. 24symbols is an HTML5 service that lets anyone read books (or sections of books) anywhere, with a freemium model. Why: There is a strong and growing demand for ebooks, and 24symbols is in an incredible position to disrupt this industry.
Bluefields from London, UK What: Bluefields intelligently organises amateur sport. Bluefields.com takes away the administrative burden, reducing a weekly organisational workload of around four hours to five minutes. Why: Bluefields joined us from Seedcamp Paris in December, and showed impressive capabilities at building a sleek platform to disrupt a common pain-point in amateur sports.
Checkthis from Brussels, Belgium What: Checkthis, a micro-publishing tool (between nothing and a blog), enables anyone to instantly publish and share webpages to sell an object, advertise a job, and do practically anything else you might want to do online. Why: We see huge potential in this beautiful product and are excited to add value along the way in their journey to growth.
Pult from Tallinn, Estonia What: Pult lets you stream your content to any screen with a browser. Pult’s platform transforms your smartphone into a hub that carries your identify and billing information. Why: As this is our sixth Estonian investment, we obviously have a soft spot for the incredible talent coming out of this country. The Pult team is very experienced and convinced us with their ambition and simple, but ingenious idea.
Thank you to: Everyone who attended Seedcamp London on 31st January, and all 22 teams who challenged the mentors and were eager to drive their business forward and seek advice from a room full of experts. All 112 mentors who gave up their precious time and expertise in order to help startups map out the road to success. Last but not least, we’d like to extent a huge thank-you to our generous Event Sponsors, iStockphoto, and our fantastic hosts, eOffice and TalkTalk, who all worked tirelessly to ensure the day was a success. And, of course, we can’t forget the invaluable contribution of our yearly sponsors, Microsoft BizSpark, Qualcomm and Google, who support Seedcamp on a ongoing basis. Also, we announced PayPal as a new partner for us – we’re looking forward not only to work with them here in Europe, but also to visit their US HQ during our trip.
What’s next? If you’re a startup wanting to get involved in the Seedcamp action, then applications are currently open to: • Seedcamp Tel Aviv, taking place on 27th March. See here for further information about the event and how to apply. • Seedhack FinTech, taking place on 30th–31st March and 1st April in London. We’re looking for talented developers who are keen to disrupt the financial world of technology. To join us, apply here.
Stay tunned for our coverage of the US trip!
