Sponsors
Partners | |
Platinum Sponsor | |
 | NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - an independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative. Our endowment status means we operate at no cost to the UK taxpayer. We invest in early-stage companies, inform policy, and deliver practical programmes that inspire others to solve the big challenges of the future. NESTA does not work alone. Our success depends on the strength of the partnerships we form with innovators, policymakers, community organisations, educators and other investors. We bring the best ideas, new flows of capital and talented people together, and encourage others to develop them further. |
 | Nokia is committed to connecting people to what matters to them by combining advanced mobile technology with personalized services. More than 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia, from our most affordable voice-optimized mobile phones to advanced Internet-connected smartphones sold in virtually every market in the world. Through our services, people also enjoy access to maps and navigation on mobile, a rapidly expanding applications store, a growing catalog of digital music, and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, and Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the leading providers of telecommunications infrastructure hardware, software and professional services globally. |
 | "TCIO was set up by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to help the existing cluster of tech-digital and creative companies flourish. Tech City stretches from the financial heart of the City of London to Stratford and the Olympic Park in East London, and is the fastest growing technology cluster in Europe. The TCIO team is a unique combination of experienced entrepreneurs and UKTI business specialists. Their role is to help existing companies succeed, as well as attract global business, entrepreneurs and high-value investment to the digital capital of Europe. For more information, visit www.techcityuk.com or www.ukti.gov.uk/techcity or follow us @techcityuk |
 | UK Trade & Investment is the Government Department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy, and overseas firms bring their high-quality investment to the UK. We offer expertise and contacts through our extensive network of specialists both in the UK and overseas. UKTI is a leading partner in the promotion of Tech City where investors can take advantage of UKTI’s support services to help them set up and expand in the UK UKTI’s TechWorld, is where top talent, from small businesses to blue-chip companies, can meet a truly global audience to discuss investments, partnerships and deals. |
Gold Sponsors | |
 | BT is one of the world's leading communications services companies, serving the needs of customers in the UK and in more than 170 countries worldwide. Our main activities are the provision of fixed-line services, broadband, mobile and TV products and services as well as networked IT services. In the UK we are a leading communications services provider, selling products and services to consumers, small and medium sized enterprises and the public sector. We also sell wholesale products and services to communications providers in the UK and around the world. Globally, we supply managed networked IT services to multinational corporations, domestic businesses and national and local government organisations. |
 | DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests in European technology companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have been active in technology investing for three decades. They have experience of investing in over 200 companies, generating strong returns for investors through building valuable global companies alongside founders and management teams. The DFJ Esprit partners have invested and helped build many of Europe’s most successful venture companies of recent years, including Apatech, Buy.at, Icera, KVS, LOVEFiLM, CSR, Domantis and Zeus. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for Silicon Valley based Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Global Network of venture funds. DFJ Esprit invests across Europe and has partners located in London, Cambridge, Dublin, Helsinki and Paris. |
 | In the Microsoft Academic Team, we focus on helping educators and students get the most out of Microsoft technologies, as well as conducting research into new ways of teaching and learning. From new and emerging technologies and devices, to building relationships with innovators, students and academics – our mission is to inspire the next generation of technologists to develop solutions and applications that change the world. Students and educators can get our software through a variety of programmes led by the innovative www.dreamspark.com |
 | Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. We aim to have a positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole. Our 141,000 people are the foundation of our success. We assemble the right multi-disciplinary team for your business, drawing on our global network of professionals. Working with you in a collaborative style, we gain a clear understanding of your organisation and strive to identify issues before they become problems. You get the people you need, wherever in the world you need them, backed up by leading practices, methodologies and tools. |
 | Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. |
 | Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Beginning in 1996, Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin built a search engine called "Back- Rub" that used links to determine the importance of individual web pages. By 1998, they had formalised their work, creat- ing the company that you know today as Google. |
 | Growthpoint Technology Partners is a different kind of investment bank. We provide M&A, fundraising and strategic advisory services to a wide range of information technology, energy technology and healthcare IT companies. As former CEOs, executives, board members, investors and advisors, we bring a wealth of strategic and financial experience to our clients with the sole objective of helping them achieve success. Whether our clients are large or small, public or private, we bring our collegial, team approach and our collective experience to every engagement. We are energized by finding the optimum strategic outcomes for our clients. We also believe that the technology world is flattening and involves not only understanding Silicon Valley and the US, but also the rest of the world. Recognizing the need for a broader, more global reach, we have established select partnerships with a narrow set of senior technology bankers around the world that are complementary to the needs of specific mandates, such as an international capital raise or a discrete technology acquisition in a foreign market. Each of these relationships have been established over numerous transactions where we have proven the relative skill set of the professionals we work with. Collectively this network substantially extends the geographic reach and real time support of our investment banking and advisory services for information technology, healthcare IT and energy technology companies around the world. |
 | IBM |
 | LinkedIn started out in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002. The site officially launched on May 5, 2003. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network. Roughly one million new members join LinkedIn every week, at a rate equivalent to a professional joining the site faster than one member per second. The company is publicly held and has a diversified business model with revenues coming from user subscrip- tions, advertising sales and hiring solutions. |
 | Microsoft® BizSpark™ is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, and providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business. |
 | Drawing on the resources of Taylor Wessing across the globe, including our recently opened office in London's Tech City, our Venture Capital group provides specialist corporate, intellectual property, tax, employment, pensions and real estate advice. We also have a specialist group that works with companies and investors to create appropriate employee packages, share option and long-term incentive plans which have become an integral part of venture capital transactions. Experience gained through acting for a wide range of institutions, venture capital trusts, founders and early and later-stage IP-rich companies gives us an in-depth understanding of the various transactional standpoints. This enables us to provide streamlined and cost effective solutions which balance the often conflicting objectives of the parties, focusing on their mutual interests and not on individual positions. From the outset, we can assist with tax planning to ensure the most efficient structures. |
 | The Technology Strategy Board is the UK’s innovation agency. Its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation. Established by the Government in 2007, the Technology Strategy Board works with business and across government and the research community - removing barriers to innovation, bringing organisations together to focus on opportunities, and investing in the development of new technology-based products and services for future markets. Digital technologies and services are an important focus for the Technology Strategy Board, in their own right and because they enable and support innovation in many other market and application areas. |
 | We make it easy to build killer apps that communicate. |
Silver Sponsors | |
 | Since their original seven founders established the company in 1981, Metaswitch has evolved into a 700-strong, internationally-renowned technology provider, powering a new generation of communications applications and infrastructure. Their solutions are central in helping their customers (including BT, AT&T, Cisco, Ericsson and Microsoft) drive the communications revolution. Sharing information at a touch of a button without disrupting your conversation via Thrutu? Answering a call to your mobile on your laptop while sitting in Starbucks? Reading your voicemails transcribed to text? These services were unknown just a few years ago - but Metaswitch has enabled their delivery to millions of people. |
In Kind Sponsors | |
 | Since early 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has provided companies of all sizes with an infrastructure web services platform in the cloud. With AWS you can requisition compute power, storage, and other services–gaining access to a suite of elastic IT infrastructure services as your business demands them. |
 | BookingBug is a flexible online platform that sits at the heart of a service business, running services, classes, events, bookings, CRM, customer engagement, payments and invoices. BookingBug is fast becoming part of internet infrastructure. As online engagement becomes increasingly vital to a service business, they require a full-service platform that is the online window to their customers, just as e-Commerce platforms are for product businesses. BookingBug also allows a business to capitalise on daily deals through providers such as Groupon by enabling them to take online redemptions, collect customer data, manage their capacity and track attribution. |
 | The Government is releasing public data to help people understand how government works and how policies are made. Some of this data is already available, but data.gov.uk brings it together in one searchable website. Making this data easily available means it will be easier for people to make decisions and suggestions about government policies based on detailed information. |
 | Entrepreneur First exists to provide a prestigious and practical route into entrepreneurship for graduates. Our goal is to increase the number of students who choose to become entrepreneurs when they graduate and to increase their chances of success. Announced in March by the Prime Minister, Entrepreneur First is a programme that offers young entrepreneurs up to two years of support through mentorship, training, and access to funding. We are funded by entrepreneurial corporations and supported by leading London entrepreneurs. As a not-for-profit, we are able to offer our programme completely free of charge to top graduates. |
 | HackFwd is a pre-seed investment company looking to support and invest in Europe's most passionate geeks. We invest in technically talented teams with great ideas Europe-wide, providing funding and support for a full year, accelerating the route to beta, profitability, and success. HackFwd is led by the European technology entrepreneur Lars Hinrichs. The Board includes other proven technology and investment entrepreneurs. HackFwd employs and involves top grade professionals in talent management, finance and marketing to serve as guides and support excellence for the individual business ideas. |
 | MagicSolver - the mobile apps discovery specialists. We help 6 millions of users to save money every day getting iPhone apps for free through Free App Magic http://www.freeappmagic.com/ We provide an innovative user acquisition solution for developers seeking to stand out from over 500,000 apps. Our end-users have saved over £3 million and our 200 developers partners around the world received over 20 million additional downloads in 120 countries through our innovative mobile platform. MagicSolver is a Spin out of Cambridge University, Winner of Cambridge University Entrepreneurs 2009 and Silicon Valley Comes to the UK 2009. http://www.magicsolver.com/ |
 | McKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm that helps leading corporations and organisations make distinctive, lasting and substantial improvements in their performance. Over the past eight decades, the Firm’s primary objective has remained constant: to serve as an organisation’s most trusted external advisor on critical issues facing senior management. With consultants deployed from over 90 offices in more than 50 countries, McKinsey advises companies on strategic, operational, organisational and technological issues. The Firm has extensive experience in all major industry sectors and primary functional areas as well as in-depth expertise in high-priority areas for today’s business leaders. |
 | Plug and Play Tech Center is Silicon Valley's leading high-tech accelerator and is home to more than 350 technology start-ups. Plug and Play partnered with over 180 institutional VC firms, 100 corporate venture arms and 300 Angels for funding, M&A and business development opportunities and has been hosting a broad spectrum of technologies from digital media, mobile, enterprise software to wireless, clean-tech and semiconductor. Plug and Play is supporting all stages of the startup lifecycle, from seed to growth and later stage. Since 2006, companies residing in PnP raised more than $750 million in funding; in 2010 only over $150m in funding and over $700m worth of acquisitions. |
 | Skills Matter helps a community of 35,000 passionate developers learn and share skills to write better software. We collaborate with the world's leading innovators in software and thousands of passionate developers meeting up at Skills Matter, to produce some 450 intensive workshops, 500 talks & meetups, 2,000 hours worth of skillscast video's, quarterly Open Source Journal magazine's per year. Join our community to learn and share skills on leading ideas and truly bleeding edge technologies (from HTML5, Android and iPhone to F#, Clojure and Scala, from DDD and CQRS to RDFa and NOSQL and from Lean, Kanban and Agile Leadership to Software Craftsmanship and Agile Testing to BDD) |
Appathon Sponsors | |
