When the closing bell rang three companies emerged as winners: Gloucestershire, UK -based Versarien swept to first place; Porto, Portugal-based Tuizzi.com nabbed second; and London, UK-based MediaDevil took third.
Announced by the Prime Minister in January and organised by UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI’s) Tech City Investment Organisation(TCIO) in partnership with StartUp Britain and main sponsor , the Start-Up Games saw 270 bright entrepreneurs from 120 start-ups being put through their paces during intense training and competition.
The participants represented more than a dozen countries including Australia, Brazil, India, Italy, Russia, Spain and the US; competition was tight but there could be only one champion.
Neill Ricketts, co-founder of gold-medal winning Versarien, an advanced materials company, said: “Being recognised by our peers and the judges has given us such a boost; it’s real validation that we have a good idea. We didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for but it was a superb event and gave us the chance to meet and network with companies from around the world, and to have conversations with companies like Google, which we simply wouldn’t have been able to do without the Games.”
In addition to the medal winners, 16 additional companies were recognised as particularly strong competitors: The Avaverse, 001 Marketing, Actus Performance Management System, Intellixente, The Giving Card, Uvuu.Me, In Your Face Productions, Babelverse,BeefJack, Hedgehogg, Present.me, Ci-Co (Clock-in-Clock-out), Tyze Personal Networks, CogniCor, Fabsie and Lutebox.
The winners visited Number 10 Downing Street where they received their awards from Lily Cole, GREAT campaign ambassador, model and founder of start-up impossible.com, and Jonathan Luff, advisor to the Prime Minister.
“There is a fantastic energy in Britain at the moment, and an increasingly connected start-up environment, “ said Oli Barrett, co-founder of StartUp Britain. “We are seeing more people than ever starting out on their own, and it’s fantastic to be able to play a role in helping British companies to go global, and in welcoming overseas founders to Britain. It is also encouraging to be reminded that, as a country, we are producing exciting companies and passionate founders with the potential to make a difference on a global scale.”
During the competition participants traded “stakes” in each other’s companies, with each company being valued at the beginning of the Games at £1 million with 100 shares.
Total valuation at the end of the Games was a key factor in deciding the winner. Additionally, the three overall winners were those who – in the opinion of the independent judges – had not only gained the support of their peers in the game, but showed potential for growth and expansion and had a strong team capable of executing their plan.
“One of the greatest benefits of the Games was as talking to experts, getting invaluable feedback from them and hearing about their experiences,” said Callum Bush, founder and MD of silver-medal winning MediaDevil, a company that sells screen protectors for mobile devices. “The fact that I was forced to talk to other companies and people in a very ambitious way throughout the Games was a fantastic challenge.”
Ben Southworth, Deputy CEO of the Tech City Investment Organisation, said: “It has been a real honour to be around such an inspiring and diverse group of start-ups and entrepreneurs this week. We hope everyone leaves the Games feeling more confident in their ability to create and grow a great businesses – whether that’s in London or further afield.”
Afonso Santos, founder of bronze-medal winning Tuizzi.com, a company that is shaking up the outdoor advertising sector, said: “This was an awesome experience and exceeded all my expectations. It was a big risk and investment to come here from Portugal, but for the first time in my life, I saw effective networking where everyone had to talk to everyone in the room. I’ve come away with investors as my friends and a mentor. I’m now going to be saving up to relocate and expand my business to London as a result of the Games.”
