Guidewire » Innovate!100 http://guidewiregroup.com Connecting Innovation and Opportunity Mon, 07 May 2012 21:17:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Innovate!100′s #5 ividence Closes $4.2M Series A http://guidewiregroup.com/2011/03/innovate100s-5-ividence-closes-4-2m-series-a/ http://guidewiregroup.com/2011/03/innovate100s-5-ividence-closes-4-2m-series-a/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:51:29 +0000 chrisshipley http://guidewiregroup.com/?p=1640 Who says European startups can’t raise serious venture capital?

Word came from ividence CEO Eric Didier this morning that 2-year old startup, ividence, closed a $4.2 million Series A financing with A Plus Finance, a Paris-based private equity firm.  ividence is a SaaS email ad network that generates traffic to [...]]]> Who says European startups can’t raise serious venture capital?

Word came from ividence CEO Eric Didier this morning that 2-year old startup, ividence, closed a $4.2 million Series A financing with A Plus Finance, a Paris-based private equity firm.  ividence is a SaaS email ad network that generates traffic to advertisers’ Web sites by using targeted email campaigns.

The company’s proprietary algorithms and innovative email ad server belie the current thinking that email marketing is no longer effective. When we first met ividence in late 2009, the company was already generating revenues of about $100,000 per month. Since that time, Didier has guided the company’s expansion across Europe and into the U.S.  The new capital will allow him to move more aggressively to capture the market.

So why was ividence successful raising venture capital when so many European entrepreneurs (or for that matter, U.S. startups) struggle to do the same? See the previous paragraph.  ividence has focused on revenue from Day One.  The site now manages some 3,000 email campaigns a month generating thousands of leads for clients including Groupon, Citreon, and Dish Network.

ividence intends to use its new cash position to aggressively grow its team. The company expects to add 20 jobs to the business this year.

]]> http://guidewiregroup.com/2011/03/innovate100s-5-ividence-closes-4-2m-series-a/feed/ 2 1 Year, 5 Continents, 30 Cities, 100 Top Startups http://guidewiregroup.com/2010/12/1-year-5-continents-30-cities-100-top-startups/ http://guidewiregroup.com/2010/12/1-year-5-continents-30-cities-100-top-startups/#comments Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:10:49 +0000 carlacthompson http://guidewiregroup.com/?p=1550 A year ago, Guidewire Group embarked on an ambitious plan to seek out the Innovate!100, a global list of the 100 startups demonstrating high potential and higher velocity as they build their businesses from idea to sustainability.   Today, after more than 30 Pitch Slam events in more than 30 cities on five [...]]]> A year ago, Guidewire Group embarked on an ambitious plan to seek out the Innovate!100, a global list of the 100 startups demonstrating high potential and higher velocity as they build their businesses from idea to sustainability.   Today, after more than 30 Pitch Slam events in more than 30 cities on five continents, we’re proud to announce the Innovate!100 for 2010.

It’s been an incredible year and an incredible honor to meet, assess, and in some cases work closely with so many innovative companies, founded and run by an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs.  At each  Pitch Slam, startups presented their businesses to panels of judges who used our G/SCORE assessment methodology to evaluate how far each company was along seven key vectors of business growth.  The G/SCORE measures a company along seven factors: overall concept, market opportunity, competitive risk, product development, business development, team, and business model.  In each factor, our judges compare the company to key milestones that represent achievement in business building.

Using the G/SCORE data, combined with other information about the companies, our judges ranked the startups at each event.  The top company at each Pitch Slam event automatically made the Innovate!100 List.  Then, we selected the top-scoring companies, overall, and then the top five companies in each of our growth stage tiers (prototype, beta, product complete, revenue).   Finally, this week, 16 companies honed their pitches at the Guidewire Group Studio G workshop in Zaragoza, Spain.  Yesterday, the companies competed in the final Pitch Slam at the Innovate!Summit 2010, received a G/SCORE benchmark assessment, and answered questions before our panel of judges.  By the end of the day, one company- Anboto Group – took the top spot upon the Innovate!100 List for 2010.

We wish to thank all the companies that applied and pitched at an Innovate! event this year, as well as the many judges and attendees who worked to make the event a success.  We’re also grateful for the sponsors that made this quest possible, including Microsoft BizSpark, SWIFT, Atlassian, Microsoft Bing and Microsoft Azure, Cisco, O2 Litmus, PayPal,  and Quickstart Global, along with our long-time partner, Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation.

On behalf of all those entrepreneurs, sponsors, and supporters, we’re delighted to announce this year’s Innovate!100 List.

The Innovate!100 2010

Rank Company Country
1 Anboto Group Spain
2 Artesian Solutions United Kingdom
3 RedOxygen Australia
4 NUMENUS GmbH Germany
5 ividence France / United States
6 myERP.com United States
7 Relay Foods United States
8 Intelia Consultores Spain
9 SocialSmack United States
10 NUITEQ Sweden
11 FonYou Spain
12 PetsMD United States
13 Now!Innovations Estonia
14 iAsset Australia
15 Gumiyo.com United States
16 Homing.com Spain
17 Anneysen.com Turkey
18 Sopima Oy Finland
19 iletken / SocialWire Turkey
20 FanFeedr United States
21 iFacturas Norway / Spain
22 LUMA International Netherlands
23 Spring Gully Foods Australia
24 Innovalley Spain / United States
25 me & goji United States
26 Evanscorp Australia
27 Skimlinks United Kingdom
28 Optify United States
29 Canatu Finland
30 Smart Logic United Kingdom
31 Waze Israel
32 Scense B.V. Netherlands
33 TicTacDo France
34 SentiMetrix Italy
35 Smart Grains France
36 TellMeWhere France
37 Myworksearch Ltd United Kingdom
38 Siondo United Kingdom
39 Kobojo France
40 Paycheck Manager United States
41 3ScaleNetworks Spain
42 CloudShare United States
43 EventElephant Ireland
44 Inference Communication Australia
45 Over The Top Games Spain
46 Sonru.com Ireland
47 Werkadoo United States
48 Apica Sweden
49 Ulteo France
50 Taleee United States
51 Leetchi France
52 EcoVadis France
53 TaxiPal Estonia
54 Novapost France
55 Stupeflix France
56 Cellictica Ltd. Finland
57 Hiive Systems Australia
58 Green Revolution Cooling United States
59 Austrailian Survey Research Australia
60 Conceptic Israel
61 Kinamik United States
62 Sentinel Spain
63 Valt.X United States
64 Sparkeo Israel
65 The Gifts Project Israel
66 Hypios France
67 BehavioSec Sweden
68 Wozaik France
69 Pantea Italy
70 Pervactive Italy
71 Spreaker Italy
72 Kade System Turkey
73 MyLawsuit.com United States
74 Shutl United Kingdom
75 InternMatch United States
76 DriveK Italy
77 SocialAnnex Spain
78 TaskPoint United States
79 Tracks & Fields GmbH Germany
80 Tribe of Noise Netherlands
81 Vanios Spain
82 WOT Services Ltd. Finland
83 Bookioo Spain
84 Edicy Estonia
85 Whereoscope United States
86 Aviator Controls Australia
87 Fits.me Estonia
88 Tinypay.me Netherlands
89 Jasondb Australia
90 iris2iris BV Netherlands
91 AdTaily United Kingdom
92 Threeplicate Italy
93 Tryane France
94 Sordu.com Turkey
95 IDU Biometrics Israel
96 Nutiteq Estonia
97 GrabCAD Estonia
98 Getitkeepit.com Ireland
99 OrderMapper United States
100 Groupvine United States
]]> http://guidewiregroup.com/2010/12/1-year-5-continents-30-cities-100-top-startups/feed/ 0 Announcing the Innovate!100 http://guidewiregroup.com/2010/02/announcing-the-innovate100/ http://guidewiregroup.com/2010/02/announcing-the-innovate100/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:35:51 +0000 carlacthompson http://guidewiregroup.com/?p=1299 Guidewire Group is looking for early-stage companies that have what it takes to be named one of the world’s most promising startups. Our Innovate!2010 global competition will consist of Pitch Slams around the world, kicking off March 1st in Barcelona.

The top 100 companies chosen from these Pitch Slams will be [...]]]> Guidewire Group is looking for early-stage companies that have what it takes to be named one of the world’s most promising startups. Our Innovate!2010 global competition will consist of Pitch Slams around the world, kicking off March 1st in Barcelona.

The top 100 companies chosen from these Pitch Slams will be featured in a prestigious list known as the Innovate!100 – and the best of the best will receive a share of prizes valued at nearly $250,000. In addition, every startup that applies will receive promotional exposure and free training designed to improve their chances of success.

We have scheduled Innovate!2010 Pitch Slams in a dozen European cities between March 1 and March 29, and additional events will be held in the US in the coming months. There will also be an online evaluation process for finalists that are not able to attend in person.

More information about how startups can enter the competition is available at Innovate100.com. We’re also accepting applications from qualified individuals who are interested in volunteering to judge, and registration is open if you’d like to sign up to attend a Pitch Slam so you can meet and mingle with the finalists.

Help us spread the word! You can find us on Twitter at @innovate100, as well as our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.

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