For the past three years the White Bull Summit in Barcelona has been doing something that too few tech conferences in Europe really do: talk about exits for startups. In recent times it's become so common to have a conference about early stage startups that almost no-one has really concentrated on this crucial life-cycle for companies, and perhaps the only other contender for this discussion has be NOAH in London which tends to attact late stage VC and Pivate Equity. So it's refreshing to see founder Farley Duvall continue to plough this furrow. Duvall piloted Red Herring's brand in Europe for many years, but with the decline of that brand he has struck out with his own, so he's as much an entrepreneur as the tech companies he puts on stage. Some of the companies are familiar, some aren't but it's an instructive filter on the market.
Part of the event is the Bully Awards where tech companies are highlighted for their particular interest to the attendees. This year Swedish companies have topped the list of winners (chosen from 60 companies) with nine companies represented, followed by Finland with four companies, Spain and the United Kingdom with three.
The awards like to divide up the companies into three categories
Thus, the 2012 Bully Award winners include:
Yearlings (firms that seek or have received angel/seed rounds or equivalent; classic start-ups)
AlterGeo - Russia - Yearling
Boole Server - Italy - Yearling
Burt - Sweden - Yearling
CloudMe - Sweden - Yearling
Crowdynews - Netherlands - Yearling
Encap - Norway - Yearling
Everplaces - Denmark - Yearling
eyeOS- Spain - Yearling
MyWidz - Sweden - Yearling
Tictail - www.tictail.com - Sweden - Yearling
Transfluent - Finland - Yearling
Tribe Studios - Finland - Yearling
WeVideo - Norway - Yearling
zero2infinity (Spain) - Yearling
Young Bulls (firms that seek or have received Series A financing; early stage companies)
Canatu - Finland - Young Bull
dukaPC - Denmark - Young Bull
Epuramat - Luxembourg - Young Bull
IOVOX - UK - Young Bull
Kiosked - Finland - Young Bull
Maporama - France - Young Bull
Softkinetic - Belgium - Young Bull
TallyFox - www.tallyfox.com - Switzerland - Young Bull
Wrapp - Sweden - Young Bull
Zyncro - Spain - Young Bull
Longhorns (post Series A firms; growth stage companies)
eCommera - UK - Longhorn
iZettle - Sweden - Longhorn
Klarna - Sweden - Longhorn
Masabi - UK - Longhorn
Rebtel - Sweden - Longhorn
Tobii - Sweden - Longhorn
White Bull has a bit of a record in identifying Europe's leading TMT companies with previous Bully Award winners identified including BuyVIP (acquired by Amazon), JayCut (acquired by RIM), Q-go (acquired by RightNow Technologies), Severa Corp (acquired by Visma Group), SunglassesShop.com (acquired by Glasses Direct), Ubitexx (acquired by RIM), Vilant Systems Oy (merged RFID activities with Swisscom Auto-ID Services AG), and WatchMouse (acquired by CA Technologies).
This story originally appeared in TechCrunch.
