Red Herring has included their annual Top 100 list in the latest issue. A quick review shows that the UK outstrips other EU countries in terms of activity (no surprise there).
I see several familiar companies on the list: Cognima, Otodio, Skinkers and SpinVox. One of our portfolio companies, Intamac, is included as well.
Quite a few Spanish companies from my days in Barcelona are on the list also- I would expect to see them being replaced by new investments- it’s almost 3 years since I lived there…
Jason Ball 
If you look at the list and who the companies investors are, Benchmark’s portfolio dominates the list. Thier Europe team is quite formidable compared with other VC funds operating in the early stage space.
Fair point. They’ve got the appropriate firepower too. One of the things that struck me was how old some of the companies on the list were- they should have been long gone by now…
Tell me about it – which ones did you have in mind?
No offence to your friends at Ariadne but Otodio shouldn’t be there. I very much doubt the product taking off and more concerned around an attractive consumer commercial model. Way too much competition from podcasting, DAB and 3G. Why listen to a newspaper when you can probably watch the coverage on your mobile or even listen to radio, live and specific podcasts whether on ipod or mobile.
Fractus for example. They’ve been listed before and have been around for 7 years. I know the team member from Apax responsible for the deal, so I’m not dinging the company, simply the fact that they’ve been around for ages- there have to be newer exciting companies this year.
To be fair, Intamac was included last year as well. So, our own portfolio co. shouldn’t have been included again – even though commerically things have improved significantly for them.
I think Simon at Otodio is aware of the competition out there. I, personally, have many issues with podcasts, which I’ve ranted about previously. I still use them very infrequently.
The company to watch on my list is SpinVox. Simple but great product – exit to a large operator is my guess so watch this space.