LeWeb'08 Startup Competition: Companies Selected and Judges Announced



Update on Nov 26, Agenda  - Startup Competition Dec 9, 2008
10h00    doctorSIM    Madrid, Spain
10h10    Haploid    Paris, France
10h20    Zipipop Ltd     Helsinki, Finland
10h30    Nimbuzz    Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil
10h40    Kaltura    New York, US
10h50    Viewdle, Inc.    Kiev, Ukraine
       
11h00    Popego Inc.    Buenos Aires, Argentina
11h10    Brozengo SA    Paris, France
11h20    dimedonde    Paris, France
11h30    PUBLING    Bievres, france
11h40    MyID.is Certified    Paris, France
11h50    Silentale SAS    Paris, France
       
12h00    Box.net, Inc.    San Francisco, USA
12h10    Producteev Inc.    New York, USA
12h20    Konolive 2Win-Solutions    Grenoble (FR) and Raanana (IL)
12h30    Zoover Holiday Reviews    Utrecht (NL)
12h40    Zavedenia.com    Sofia, Bulgaria
12h50    samedi GmbH    Berlin, Germany
       
14h00    Apture    San Francisco, USA
14h10    Trendiction     Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
14h20    ConTrust    TLV, Israel
14h30    3scale networks S. L.    Barcelona, spain
14h40    Edicy    Tallinn, Estonia
14h50    Westcom, s.r.o.    Brno, Czech Republic
       
15h00    ShoutEm Ltd.    Zagreb, Croatia
15h10    Charge Ventures    Malta
15h20    SquareClock    Paris, France
15h30    IZI-collecte    Paris, France
15h40    Radionomy    Brussels, Belgium
15h50    Cmune    Beijing, ChinaThis year's LeWeb Start-up Competition generated quite a lot of interest and more applications than ever! Our friends at SeedCamp have been working diligently to drive the review of information from each company and after several weeks of deliberation we are thrilled to announce the truly international (18 different countries!) class of 30 companies that have been selected for the 2008 Start-up Competition. 

They are (in alphabetical order):

    1.    2Win-Solutions - FRANCE
    2.    3scale networks S. L. - SPAIN
    3.    Apture - USA
    4.    Box.net, Inc. - USA
    5.    Brozengo SA - FRANCE
    6.    Charge Ventures - Malta
    7.    Cmune - CHINA
    8.    ConTrust - ISRAEL
    9.    DoctorSIM - SPAIN
    10.  Edicy - ESTONIA
    11.  Haploid - FRANCE
    12.  IZI-collecte - FRANCE
    13.  Kaltura - USA
    14.  MyID.is Certified - FRANCE
    15.  Nimbuzz - NETHERLANDS
    16.  Popego Inc. - USA
    17.  Producteev Inc. - USA
    18.  Publing - FRANCE
    19.  Radionomy - BELGIUM
    20.  Samedi GmbH - GERMANY
    21.  ShoutEm Ltd. - CROATIA
    22.  Silentale SAS - FRANCE
    23.  SquareClock - FRANCE
    24.  Tellmewhere - FRANCE
    25.  Trendiction - LUXEMBURG
    26.  Viewdle, Inc - UKRAIN
    27.  Webnode.com - CZECH REPUBLIC
    28.  Zavedenia.com - BULGARIA
    29.  Zipipop Ltd (Zipiko) - FINLAND
    30.  Zoover Holiday Reviews - NETHERLANDS

This selection was made among the completed applications received for the competition by our October 20 deadline. The team at SeedCamp reviewed each application in its entirety and scored the content. All companies were then listed in ranked order based on the score they received, and the list above represents the top 30 companies from that ranked list.

Please note that this list may change a bit in the coming week as companies that applied may find themselves unable to participate for some reason.  We have identified potential back-up companies from our overall application pool that ranked next in the scoring from SeedCamp. We will ask the selected companies to confirm officially within the next 24 hours and so will update this blog post with any changes that might arise.

The Competition and Other Activities:

So that's the list, now what can you expect in Paris?  As with last year, the competition will take place only on day one of LeWeb, Dec 9th, and we'll be presenting the three winners on the main stage on the afternoon of day two of the conference. Unlike last year, this year we have arranged the program so that the three winners will each get a chance to actually present on the main stage!

In terms of the competition itself, the companies each will have 7 minutes during which to present their companies and do a demo. They will be given a set of requirements for the content they will have to cover during that stage time, and will be judged against how well they match the clearly defined criteria. As we get closer to the conference we'll provide additional details explaining the competition more specifically and even introducing you to the companies directly!

This year we're also adding another benefit for the competing companies - a special Start-up Competitors' Lounge in which companies will have a chance to get a contact to anyone who's interested. Important to note that this is not a formal exhibit area where companies will have dedicated booths, but there will be a dedicated area in which you can find the start-ups to talk further with them (and they with you!).

The Judges

Now I'm sure you'd like to know who's going to be judging these companies in Paris. Good question, and here's the answer. Please meet the current list of judges for this year's competition: (Note that we are awaiting official replies from two additional judges so will post them as soon as they are confirmed.) Tose judges are not the one who participated to the selection ....

    •    Ola Ahlvahrsson - Result
    •    Roberto Bonanzinga – Balderton Capital
    •    Mike Butcher - TechCrunchUK
    •    Laurent Chiozotto – Sun Microsystems
    •    Julien Codorniou - Microsoft
    •    Don Dodge – Microsoft
    •    David Hornik –August Capital
    •    Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet -  Price Minister
    •    Simon Levene – Accel Partners
    •    Dave McClure - 500Hats
    •    Freddy Mini - Netvibes
    •    Marc Samwer – European Founders Fund
    •    Axel Schmiegelow – Sevenload
    •    Gary Shainberg – British Telecom
    •    Megan Smith – Google
    •    Pascal Thomas - Orange
    •    Martin Varsavsky - FON

The Partners:

Finally we would be remiss if we didn't offer a huge thank you to our great friends and partners at
SeedCamp for the stellar support they have offered so far on this competition.  We have no doubt that with their able guidance this year's competition will be our best ever!




We also want to give a special thank to Orange and SUN Microsystems who will be our partners for this year competition.

We also have a great news, SUN Microsystems will offer a server to the final 3 winners of the competition!

Stay tuned for more updates on the competition, an opportunity to talk with/offer
thoughts on the companies and a chance to hear from the judges as well!







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