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Archive for the ‘Local News’ Category

New Startup Community: Launch of the Student Market a Huge Success!

Posted in Events, Local News, tagged , , , , on 22 November, 2010| 2 Comments »

We were blown away last week by the Student Market, the new place for young entrepreneurs to get seen and promoted. We covered the project earlier this month, and their launch event last Thursday evening was absolutely superb.

The event was a chance for student entrepreneurs to exhibit their businesses, ranging from web apps to fashion to race car driving. With about 20 companies of all types on display, it drew an impressive crowd of around 200 visitors throughout the evening.

The Student Market is an online portal showcasing student businesses, but it’s more than just a website. It’s also events like these where student entrepreneurs can exhibit, meet each other, and speak directly to potential customers in a friendly environment. And beyond that, it’s the creation of a supportive community. (more…)

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Meet mobile and tablet technology folk

Posted in Events, Local News, Opinions, tagged , , , , on 18 November, 2010| 1 Comment »

If you are interested in:

  • building mobile or iPad apps
  • creating a startup company over a weekend
  • meeting designers, developers or other like-minded types
  • pitching a mobile or tablet based business ideas
  • listening to upcoming mobile and table tech chat from the likes of Adobe, Paypal and Microsoft

then count your lucky stars!

On Nov 26-28th, Launch48 will be holding a mobile and tablet based entrepreneurial event that will allow you the opportunity to pitch a business idea and build up a business in 48hrs!

I’ve been to a couple of Launch48 events now and have found them to be tremendous!  I’ve learnt new things, stepped out of my comfort zone, worked with a variety of people, made some cool friends, been under a wee bit o’ pressure and LAUGHED a lot!  If that’s not incentive enough to take part, what about the free beer and pizza?  Other members of the StartupCafe team who’ve (more…)

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The Student Market – A new community for new entrepreneurs

Posted in Events, Local News, tagged , , , on 17 November, 2010| 1 Comment »

There’s a new site in town to help startups get spotted, and we’re delighted to see The Student Market showcase products and services from student entrepreneurs. The project has been pioneered by one of our favourite student groups iCUE Business & Entrepreneurial Society, and we’re excited to go exhibit and support their launch event tomorrow night – everyone is welcome, join us and check out the student startup scene!

Launch Event: Thursday 18th November, 7:30-9:00pm, Appleton Tower Concourse
 Open to startups, students, the curious, potential customers, and the wider business community – yes, everyone 🙂
Free with free wine and snacks too!

More juicy details from The Student Market team: (more…)

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Theory Mine in the Herald!

Posted in Local News, tagged , , , on 17 November, 2010| 2 Comments »

Theory Mine – the local startup that offers personalised mathematical theorems as a novelty gift – was featured in the Herald yesterday!

The startup is headed by Flaminia Cavallo and Prof Alan Bundy and is currently based in Appleton Tower. Launching just in time for Christmas, it’s the perfect present for the maths geek in the family.

We managed to catch Flamina beaming with the newspaper article – incidentally if you think she looks familiar, she was featured earlier on this year as the winner of SIE’s new ventures competition!

(more…)

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Launch48 – in blog posts and tweets

Posted in Events, Local News on 5 November, 2010| 3 Comments »

A few of the startupcafe team are still reeling from the crazy weekend that was, Launch48. We now have 4 more startups in Edinburgh over the period of 48 hours:

 

Startup summaries

Compare The Universities
CompareTheUniversities.com allows prospective students to fully investigate their options for attending universities by aggregating information about each university, programme of study, and associated tuition fees. By inputting their qualifications, skills and interests, users are provided with potential prospects for further education.
http://comparetheuniversities.tumblr.com/

run2see
For those who love to run and travel this is a one stop site. Arrive in a new city and keen for safe routes to go running? Look no further. The run2see mobile app harnesses the inbuilt GPS in smartphones to provide users with the safest running routes nearby. Along the way, the app will narrate a guided tour giving the listener interesting information about historical landmarks and sites of local significance.
http://run2see.com/ (more…)

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Mobile Acuity signs deal with shopping site

Posted in Local News, tagged , , on 5 November, 2010| 15 Comments »

Our favourite visual search startup – Mobile Acuity – has recently announced that they have signed a deal with sccope.com – a mobile shopping site – which allows sccope to take avantage of the product image recognition that Mobile Acuity has developed.

Mobile Acuity’s technology enables users to search for a product simply by taking a photo. Simple you might say … but I guess, that’s the point! Well done Anthony and Geoff. Rumour on the grapevine is that there have even more good news to announce next week, so come back and listen out for more! (more…)

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Valley Girl gets some funky moves

Posted in Events, Local News on 3 November, 2010| 3 Comments »

We’re sitting here in the Edinburgh Business School and really lucky to be listening to Jesse Draper (aka The Valley Girl). She is currently interviewing Ralf from Funky Moves. Here is our transcript…

Jesse: What are your best tips for bootstrapping?

Ralf: Be honest and don’t spend any money.

Jesse: What are the benefits of bootstrapping? (more…)

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FreshMax – The “No Sweat” Shirtmaker

Posted in Local News on 28 October, 2010| 2 Comments »

Every shirt-wearing man has been there. You’re feeling confident and looking good when out of nowhere an unsightly sweat patch appears, and knocks you off your stride. So, you put on your jacket to cover it up – despite the searing heat – or lock your arms down by your side to make a distinctly un-natural looking handshake… Well things are about to change, because the embarrassing and uncomfortable sweat patch is set to be banished to the annuals of fashion history, thanks to new British shirt brand FreshMax. (more…)

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Looking for your two cents to make banks more entrepreneur-friendly http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C5YYC6X

Posted in Local News on 20 October, 2010| 11 Comments »

Two cents
This just in from University College London: “As part of a UCL Masters Programme, we are undertaking a marketing strategy study into entrepreneurs and their banking habits.”

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C5YYC6X

“The purpose of this survey is to try to understand entrepreneurs’ and young business owners’ banking habits and preferences, to try to improve available banking services. Target group: below the age of 45 and in one way or another engaged with entrepreneurship.”

If you’ve tried to open a new bank account recently, you’ll understand how critically important this work is. Please lend UCL (and yourself and all of us!) a hand by filling in the survey now. I just did it: very quick and easy, and helps me hope that we might see improved—and better targeted—service from the banking sector sometime soon.

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An Edinburgh mobile ticketing startup, Mobiqa, acquired by US giant NCR

Posted in Local News on 19 October, 2010| 7 Comments »

Today, NCR has announced the acquisition of Mobiqa, an Edinburgh based startup specialised in mobile ticketing. Founded in 2002 by Ronnie Forbes, they pioneered bar code delivery through mobile phones. CEO Nick Rankin refocused the sales effort on airlines, where they quickly became market leader. They also cater to rail operators, the entertainment industry (think TicketMaster), and to retailers. If you ever received a bar code on your phone, it’s likely it came from a noisy server locked in a cupboard in Edinburgh. (more…)

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