大象传媒

Pitch perfect? Start-ups in Stockholm

• Rory Cellan-Jones
• 16 Oct 08, 16:35 GMT

In Stockholm this week all sorts of smart young technology firms have been pitching their wares to venture capitalists at ETRE, the European Technology Round Table. They each were allowed to present for around 10 minutes, and then took questions. Among the fashionable technologies were semantic search, mobile gaming and all kinds of new ways to use video online.

I decided to make life even harder for the entrepreneurs. I picked four companies and asked them to do what I called the 30 second pitch, explaining their business in language that everyone, not just potential investors, might understand. As you'll see not all of them achieved that - or kept to time

First to take the test was Jonas Homber from Jaycut, an online video editing tool. The idea is that you and your friends upload your video footage onto the service then collaborate to edit the rushes together into a short movie. As someone who uses free desktop editing software - and has no desire to collaborate - I don't quite get the point, but Jaycut has already signed up the retailer Ikea, which is using the service to let customers edit videos about their home decoration projects.

Another player in the increasingly crowded "smarter search" field, Semanti aims to give you better results by developing an understanding of the pages that you visit. Rather than expect searchers to abandon Google for a new site, Semanti is a plug-in that sits on top of the search engine, and interprets your search terms as you type them in. It's multi-lingual so will understand, for instance, that "pomme" and "apple" are the same thing - but could also be either a fruit or a computer firm.

This is a business which is convinced that casual, multiplayer, cross platform gaming is the route to riches. It offers a range of very simple (or at least low graphics) games such as Sudoku, poker and chess, which can be played on mobile phones, on a PC or on interactive television. From its base in Prague, it's built an audience of around a quarter of a million daily players, and claims that it will have 2.5 million by the end of next year, thanks to a new platform it's building. Like so many online businesses, it's dependent on advertising for revenue. I suppose it all depends on whether you think that many people want to a) play Sudoku on their mobile b) watch adverts before they get their gaming fix.

Speaking of adverts, Video Plaza aims to tackle what is becoming a huge problem for the economy of Web 2.0 - how to make money from online video. This company thinks it has the answer, devising ways of serving up adverts in and around video content, without apparently driving away viewers. It highlights a deal with Sweden's biggest commercial television channel, which it claims has tripled the revenue the channel earns from advertising around its web video. The answer seems simple - more adverts, with some popping up during videos as well as before they're played. Not something you will see on this page.

So four companies, and four pitches. I've got no money to throw at them - but let's hear from you. Which of these ideas merits investment in these troubled times?