Brit Firms Do Well In 2014 Red Herring 'Top 100' Tech Contender List

UK tech start ups have done well in one of the world’s most prestigious business prizes: a place in The Red Herring Global 100, an annual compendium of the small companies with the most promise in the tech sector.

The just-published European version of the list includes a number of British firms, such as cloud firm B.I.S. Advanced Software, process management specialist Bizagi and sonics firm Audio-3D Labs.

In fact, no less than 18 of the Top 100 are from the UK, which means they passed the Herring’s rigorous selection process which it carries out to find “the most promising private ventures from around the world.”

That process involves scoring on 20 indices of potential, ranging from level of IP achieved to growth rate and technological advantage, says the site, which grew out of a popular US tech industry investment publication of the 1980s.

Past winners have included now-household names such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay.

Digital Supply Chains

One of this year’s Brit winners, a so-say ‘digital supply chain’ expert, Actual Experience, has told the press today of its pride in winning the accolade:

“Being selected a winner amongst the notable and innovative companies from across the world participating in the Red Herring contest is quite an honour,” said the firm’s CEO, Dave Page.

The company was born out of five years of software development after ten years of research by Professor Jonathan Pitts at Queen Mary University of London (you can see a video explaining more here).

The company offers software to help organisations better collect what it calls “meaningful data" on how well their digital products function from the point
of view of customers and staff.

For Page, this is significant: “As our customers are learning, understanding the performance quality of internal and external digital products and services can have significant benefits for those businesses focused on building and maintaining their digital brand. 

“It is both imperative for businesses to have tools to measure and information to manage digital performance quality that are as sophisticated as those found in the world of physical products and services," Page added.

“We intend to bring that rigour to the digital world, and thank Red Herring for acknowledging the great strides we have made.”

Actual Experience claims Charles Stanley, Conde Nast, and ITV are customers, while Page’s team recently set up an office in New York and has plans to expand its operations to mainland Europe in the next few years.

Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across the globe, to the Top 100 Winners.

"We believe Actual Experience embodies the vision, drive and innovation that defines a successful entrepreneurial venture. Actual Experience should be proud of its accomplishment.”

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