Founders: Nick Moger, Crispin Moger, Nigel Lacy
Website: www.provisionalmarmalade.co.uk

Provisional Marmalade is a spin out from Young Marmalade, the combined car purchase and low-cost insurance scheme for young drivers set up by father and son duo Nick and Crispin alongside family friend Nigel. Provisional Marmalade provides low-cost insurance for learners to practise in a family car without risking the no claims bonus of the car owner.

The company’s highlight of 2010 has been a joint venture with Halfords promoting the insurance inside every set of L Plates – possibly the most obvious sales platform ever!

Founders: Hugh Andree, Lucy Wood, Andy McNab, General Sir Mike Jackson
Website: www.forceselect.com

ForceSelect is a specialist recruitment agency for former and outgoing members of the armed services. A percentage of revenue goes directly into funding the company’s charitable arm, the ForceSelect Foundation, and the associated mentoring and support scheme. The breakthrough moment for the team, which includes former SAS soldier and best-selling author Andy McNab, came when they received official approval from the MoD to support its service leavers and veterans policies. The business now has a 2010 target to place 10% of UK service leavers in new roles and is aiming to raise £1m for its foundation.

Founder: Glenn Norman
Website: www.bubblecreative.net

Bubble, part of the Grab group, is a graphic design company that offers ‘agency-standard services at freelancer prices’ to small businesses as well as to top brands including Domino’s Pizza, Playboy and Hennessy Sports. Working in large agencies, self-proclaimed uni drop-out Glenn realised professional, responsive design is often out of the reach of smaller businesses and he thought he could make a better business model. Bubble works only with self-employed professional designers to deliver a decentralised agency-standard service.

Founder: Malcolm Scovil
Website: www.leapanywhere.com

LeapAnywhere.com is an online portal which showcases all the different charitable and volunteering opportunities people can get involved with in various cities around the world. The site generates revenue through sponsorship funds and its Leap Corporate Responsibility platform which companies subscribe to enabling them to organise and measure their CSR strategies. Charity partners include Oxfam, Wateraid and Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Foundation and corporate sponsors include the likes of Green & Blacks, Kodak and Innocent.

Founders: Colin Beattie, Manvir Kenth, Joachim Krebs
Website: www.tuxebo.co.uk

A marketplace for equipment rental, Tuxebo is the brainchild of Colin, a former stockbroker and qualified barrister, who had previously started an online website which sold machinery. So many requests came in for rentals he thought he could make a separate business out of it. In one month this year, Tuxebo, which has already secured Silicon Valley backing, had almost 1000 rental companies sign up to its service. The next 12 months will see the company move through various rental verticals such as cranes and diggers, and a US launch is also in the pipeline.

Founder: Daniel Callaghan
Website: www.mbaandco.com

MBA & Company is an online platform which allows companies to post short-term bespoke project and research work aimed at MBA students and graduates from the world’s leading business schools. Launched in June 2009, the enterprise has a global membership of over 2000 MBAs from all of the world, over 150 companies registered with the service and a client base ranging from blue chips such as Lloyds and Syngenta to small start-ups. Daniel is a Shell Livewire and Startups Awards winner, and over the next year wants to push the company into the EU market and build a sales force based in New York.

Founders: Sophie Mei Lan and Louise Wilcockson
Website: www.sophie-mei.net

Co-founders Louise and Sophie (semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent) met when working on a PR job, and took the idea from there. The umbrella company of Sophie Mei Schools bellydance school franchise and Creative Octopus Media Services, MEI International specialises in PR, events and entertainment. Its key aims are to bridge cultural gaps, improve health literacy and increase social mobility. Most work is freelance and projects have included work with Sheffield City Council, Yorkshire TV and Sheffield Wednesday FC. The company has won numerous awards and Sophie was also nominated for Sheffield’s Young Business Person of the Year 2009.

Founders: Keld van Schreven and Peter Brooke
Website: www.diary.com

A mobile application and website that provides a single view of all your diaries, events, to-do lists and reminders, Diary.com will revolutionise our approach to organisation, if Keld and Peter have anything to do with it. Keld has start-ups such as Hard Reality, Freedom Telecom, TimeTagz and Kobalt Music Group behind him, and mobile consultant Peter headed up the Internet Bank of America and helped found Findware.

Founders: Gareth Weir and Andrew Eames
Website: www.urbanmole.com

UrbanMole.com is an online community platform, offering services as diverse as dating and property sales, designed specifically to connect like-minded Londoners and provide access to a wealth of London-centric information, opportunities and ideas. The site generates revenue through classified adverts, partnering with corporations and subscription-only sections. Set up by lawyer Andrew, and management consultant Gareth, UrbanMole’s breakthrough moment came when it was selected as one of three finalists in the Esquire magazine New Business Challenge.

Founder: Cate Trotter
Website: www.insider-london.co.uk

From an ethical marketing and design background, Cate is used to looking at things from a different angle. Offering alternative and original tours, the idea behind Insider London, founded June 2008, is to give visitors and locals alike the opportunity to see the capital in a fresh and new way. Highlighting all London has to offer from eco design and architecture to street art and graffiti, the company was picked as a Timberland Earthkeeper Hero, and has won several other industry titles.