Seedcamp
These companies range from information technology for the healthcare sector to artificial intelligence to gaming.
Seedcamp says that, even in just three years, it has seen tidal changes in the startup landscape. When it first started in 2007, social networking companies dominated the applicant pool. Now, productivity and publishing applications have surged. How they make their money has also changed, with many startups blending premium subscription content with free content. Before, many of them still relied on advertising revenue.
Unsurprisingly, Seedcamp has witnessed many gaming companies turn to virtual goods for a revenue stream. At the same time, enterprise applications have started licensing their technologies or offering it as a software as a service to bring in money.
The incubator reports that more applications came from Scandinavia, Israel and the Balkans this year. Gaming apps became very popular in Central Europe, and Germany is leading the pack in music-based apps. That said, most of this year's finalists still hail from the United Kingdom. Here's a full list:
Advertag (London) -- Still stealthy.
Boxed Ice (Bronsgrove, UK) -- A service for monitoring server farms and CPU loads, that sends you email or text message alert whenever anything goes wrong.
Brainient (London) -- A site that helps companies create more effective, interactive videos, analyze their performance, optimize their impact, and ultimately monetize.
Codility (Warsaw, Poland) -- A recruiting tool for companies looking for proficient coders, it assesses candidates' programming skills and allows human resources reps with no technical experience to screen applicants.
Comufy (London) -- A web-based app that lets you manage your contacts, and get in touch with any one of them via any messenger.
Erply (Estonia) -- Maker of software for commercial retail inventory and ecommerce that handles data across physical shops, online stores and offices and provides real-time dashboards with relevant data.
Joobili (Budapest, Hungary) -- A guide that lets you find when and where the hottest events in Europe are taking place, so if you're planning a vacation without a destination in mind, you can determine the best place to be at any time.
Kukunu (London) -- Still stealthy.
Los8 Solutions (Edinburgh, UK) -- Maker of customized location-based applications for the iPhone and other devices for companies that want to build quickly from scratch.
Patients Know Best (Cambridge, UK) -- An online platform for patients to send secure messages to their doctors and nurses, receive information about their health, and get advice on preventative and followup care.
Petsicon (Berlin) -- An online medical guide, much like WebMD, for your dog.
Plug in SEO (London) -- A service that analyzes your site's keywords, links and content in order to up page views and engagement.
ShoutEm (Zagreb, Croatia) -- A microblogging provider for niche communities that pulls in data from Facebook, Ning, Twitter and blogs, while allowing photo, video and link sharing.
Pearl Systems (Bristol, UK) -- A centralized dashboard for tracking ecommerce activities, including a task manager, billing options and data collection on inventory and sales.
Talasim.com (Amman, Jordan) -- A humor site and community in Arabic that includes photos, videos and articles.
Teachable (London) -- A library of teacher-made resources in any academic subject that are easily adapted to curricula.
Vooices (Wigan, UK) -- An app that gives you voice control over games, maps, communication with others, and even web site logins.
VouChaCha (London) -- Platform that delivers coupons and discount vouchers straight to your smart phone.
Wondergraphs (Leuven, Belgium) -- Still stealthy.
World on a Hanger (London) -- Fashion software that allows designers and labels to keep track of inventory, calculate material costs to set prices, collaborate as a team and streamline shipping.
Yubitech (Ramat Gan, Israel) -- Provider of technology that allows the migration of any application to any smart phone no matter which operating system it uses.
Seedcamp Week 2009 will take place in London on Sept. 21 to 25. Most of the time will be spent in mentoring sessions and educational panels, with judging taking place on the 24 and winner being announced on the 25.
Come see the most promising new technologies unveiled for the first very time at DEMOfall 09 this September 21-23 in San Diego. VentureBeat readers may register to attend the conference at a special 20% discount off our regular rate. Register now at: http://www.demo.com/f9vb2