Founders: Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain
Website: www.zoopla.co.uk

Zoopla.co.uk is aiming to become the UK’s most comprehensive source of residential property market information. With the aim of helping buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents gain an advantage in the property market, Alex and Simon set up Zoopla.co.uk following the success of their other venture, LOVEFiLM.com.

The service offers greater transparency to customers, offering free instant value estimates on every UK home and enabling buyers to express interest in any residential property online. The acquisitions of Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group and the Propertyfinder group in the summer were key turning points for the company last year.

Founder: Robert Matthams
Website: www.shiply.com

Robert came up with the idea for Shiply.com while studying at Manchester University. After chatting to the driver that delivered him a pool table he discovered that haulage companies often have partially or fully empty vehicles while travelling between delivery routes. His solution was a marketplace where users could post details on items they need moved or delivered and haulage companies could bid for the jobs that follow similar routes to the ones they’re already travelling.

The result is a reduction in CO2, cheaper delivery options for customers, and more profitable delivery routes for transport companies. Shiply’s commission-based revenue model has seen company turnover enjoy a 10-20% monthly growth rate over the past year, and Robert has bagged a whole trophy cabinet’s worth of awards along the way.

Founders: Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz
Website: www.wonga.com

Wonga offers short-term instant loans over the internet. Launched by Errol and Jonty in 2007, the site utilises a sophisticated risk and decision-making automated system which determines the user’s credit worthiness instantly. The payment terms are about as transparent as you can get with users told exactly when and how much they need to pay back in total.

Errol says it’s all about bringing a convenient and speedy solution to short-term cash needs, and lending as responsibly as possible. Wonga has already processed well over half a million loan applications and secured a $22m venture capital funding round in the summer of 2009.

Founder: Joe Cohen
Website: www.seatwave.com

Seatwave offers buyers a secure environment in which to buy secondary tickets, with delivery guarantees and a host of other measures to keep the touts at bay.

Since launching in 2007 the site has grown its user base to 1.4 million and has at least 700,000 tickets available on the site at any given time. The company topped the Guardian’s Tech Media 100 list in 2009, in addition to winning a string of other business and industry awards.

We’re incredibly proud of how far the company has come since our last Startups 100 list. Joe has massacred the competition securing some fantastic partnerships and incredible growth for his fan-to-fan ticket exchange.

Founder: Ryan Notz
Website: www.mybuilder.com

Stonemason Ryan launched MyBuilder.com in May 2008 after winning tech start-up competition Seedcamp based on his prototype site the year before. The site allows users to post jobs they need doing on their homes and buildings to a network of registered tradespeople who then offer quotes for the work. Centred on customer reviews, Ryan says the site brings accountability and trust to an industry plagued by its often-slighted reputation.

The site has gained enormous traction since launching. Its revenue model, consisting of a subscription fee for the tradespeople, as well as commission on all work gained through the site, has allowed the company’s revenues to grow quickly and Ryan has already had over 85,000 jobs posted on the site.

Founder: John Treharne
Website: www.thegymgroup.com

The Gym offers customers a fitness option they’ve simply never experienced before. John has torn up the gym owners’ handbook. No minimum contract, no sales pitch (you join and manage your account online), and a price tag that seems too good to be true.For £15 a month members have access to state of the art gym equipment in bright, clean and airy facilities all over the country.

With more than 30,000 members in six gyms, and plans to open a further 10 each year, look out for a Gym near you soon.

Founder: Rowan Gormley
Website: www.nakedwines.com

Naked Wines, which launched in December 2008, is the brainchild of Rowan and 17 other former employees of Virgin Wines who decided to strike out on their own after the company was sold.

The wine retailer and online community connects independent winemakers with UK consumers cutting out the industry buyers and distributors that usually sit somewhere in between.

The company supplies unique, premium brands that are not available in the supermarkets at an affordable price. With more than 60,000 customers and a £9m turnover predicted for this year, Rowan has certainly uncorked a winner.

Founders: Matthew Churchill, Charlie Burnell, Colin Wilkinson, Henry Meakin
Website: www.peterpantheshow.com

Three Sixty Entertainment’s first production, Peter Pan, was the smash hit live show of 2009. Out-selling the West End’s Mamma Mia!, the tented production which uses state-of-the-art 360 degree projection effects to transport the audience right into the middle of the story, enjoyed a fantastic initial run in Kensington Gardens, followed by a stint in the O2’s Millennium Gardens before heading to San Francisco.

Co-founder Colin led an unprecedented funding effort securing £2.75m from 58 separate angel investors in just four months. With more adaptations of children’s classics on the horizon, and a theatre model that can travel the globe, Three Sixty Entertainment is on course to become one of the most successful theatre ventures of the decade.

Founders: Mike Soutar and Tim Ewington
Website: www.shortlist.com

While the publishing world cowers in the face of plummeting newsstand sales and advertising spend, Shortlist Media is striding ahead. The company, which produces the most widely circulated men’s mag in the country, Shortlist, and its sister publication Stylist (both handed out free to commuters across UK cities once a week), will turnover well in excess of £10m this year and is within touching distance of profitability – an awe inspiring feat for a print business that only launched in 2007.

Going some way to explain the company’s impressive fortunes, the founding team reads like a who’s who of the publishing industry and includes the former editorial director of media giant IPC Media, and the launch editor of Nuts and Men’s Health.

Founders: Alastair Mitchell and Andy McLoughlin
Website: www.huddle.net

Huddle is, without doubt, one of the most successful tech companies to come out of the UK in years. With its clear path to global domination already mapped out, the company was an easy choice to sit at the top of our list.

Huddle provides packages of project management and online collaboration software and, while there are many players in this market, has managed to gain a remarkable stronghold both in the UK and the US, securing some impressive blue-chip and public sector clients including Nokia, Panasonic, Kia Motors and the NHS.

Although launched in the UK, a substantial chunk of the company’s revenue comes from US clients which is what led Andy to San Francisco this year where Huddle opened its American base with the help of $10.2m funding from Matrix Partners.