We were lucky to be in London for this year’s TechCrunch Europa Awards this past week.
Held half in a venue that was separated by a wide hallway (great for networking), one section had a stage set up while the other was dedicated to passing plates of food and a bar.
There were many differences between similar events in Silicon Valley, notably the diversity, the level of enthusiasm and the dedication to staying up all night to celebrate, well after the venue closed its doors.
Outside, people gathered as it was a relatively warm night; cameras were shooting, flips were activated and wine was pouring.
Mike Butcher hosted the event, who was able to command an audience despite the fact that it grew louder as each award was presented.
Robert Scoble jumped on the stage at one point to say ‘hey’ to the crowd, one which began dancing and networking in full force once the ceremony ended.
Spotify landed three awards this year, which we had an opportunity to play with at London’s Seedcamp earlier in the week.
As for the winners, they ranged from digital music and social innovation that benefits society to mobile and entertainment.
Best Web Application Or Service went to Spotify.
Best Design went to Songkick.
Best Bootstrapped Startup went to Soup.io.
Best Social Innovation which benefits society went to Mendeley.
Best Enterprise / B2B Startup went to Huddle.
Best Cleantech / Environmental Startup went to Alertme.
Best European / Real World Gadget went to Poken.
Best Entertainment Application or Service went to SoundCloud.
Best Mobile Startup went to Nimbuzz.
Best Mobile Application went to Spinvox.
Best Startup Founders went to Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon of Spotify.
Best Investor (VC or Angel fund) went to The Accelerator Group.
Best Investor Personality went to Yossi Vardi (go Yossi :-)
Best New Startup and the Europas Grand Prix both went to Spotify.
Below are some shots I took at the event:
Sven Hock of Segno Consulting
Surai Sharma of eMarket
Michael Birch, Renee Blodgett
Rahul Verma of Kubera Money
Emmanuel Carraud of MagicSolver
The Skimlinks Team
Mike Butcher, TechCrunch Europe
Symbian Foundation’s Joe Neall, Renee Blodget, Roelof Kotze
Joanna Butler and David Freeman from Latitude and Anthony Eskinazi, CEO of Park at my House
Tom Foremski and his son
Cognitive Match Glen Conybeare and Jon Hadley from Odbody
Cedric Giorgi from Goojet and Stephanie Valorge from Clipperton Finance
Bretton Putter from Forsyth
Bebo founder Michael Birch
Ash Jhaveri and Christian Hernandez from Google and Andrew Blachman from Get Me In
Alex Bellinger from SmallBizPod
Aidan Fitzpatrick from Reincubate and Louise Campbell from eHive Creative Community
Additional photos and video here.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
