Founders: Darren Westlake and Luke Lang
Founded: February 2011
Website: www.crowdcube.com

When Crowdcube launched in early 2011, crowdfunding was an alien concept to most – and unheard of as an alternative to angel-led seed funding. Little over a year later, the platform – which empowers a nation of “armchair dragons” to invest as little as £10 in return for business equity – has successfully funded more than 15 businesses, to the tune of nearly £3m. Furthermore, the founders have DRIVEN a new path, to help entrepreneurs access alternative finance streams.

As well as advising the Cabinet on how to effectively accommodate crowdfunding in mainstream legislation, they have partnered with similar platforms to launch the Next Generation Finance Consortium and Crowdfunding Accreditation for Platform Standards – pioneering the movement around the world.

Founder: Oli Christie
Founded: March 2010
Website: www.neonplay.com

Gloucestershire-based game developer Neon Play is already seeing its mobile apps downloaded over 20,000 times a day. In his previous life as a creative director for digital marketing, Christie made hundreds of branded games for clients including Tesco (he maintains that the popular ‘paper toss’ app was inspired by a game he made for the BBC).

Applying his expertise to his own venture has paid off, and the start-up is making some of the most popular games on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Indeed, Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, has admitted that Neon Play’s apps received more downloads than Angry Birds did in its first year. The firm is now extending its proposition to make games for Android and Nokia devices, which represent a huge opportunity for the company.

Founder: Hayley Gait-Golding
Founded: January 2009
Website: www.bearnibbles.co.uk

BEAR’s fruit nibbles may be selling like hot cakes in leading supermarkets, but that’s where the comparison to sugary snacks ends. The company creates treats made from freshly-picked, seasonal fruit, which is gently baked and packaged without sneaking in any extra sugar or preservatives. As a personal trainer, Gait-Golding was faced with clients who couldn’t resist unhealthy snacks, so she decided to create a low calorie alternative. She named the brand BEAR, referencing the unsavoury habits of city bears who eat from waste bins, in contrast to their slimmer counterparts in the country.

The brand was an instant hit, drawing in £2.2m in the first year and securing deals with The Co-operative, Asda and Boots. Employing marketing initiatives such as online games, collectable cards and forest-based events, BEAR just keeps growing.

Founder: Greg Marsh, Demetrios Zoppos and Tim Davey
Founded: September 2009
Website: www.onefinestay.com

Most of us want the same thing when we travel – to get under the skin of a city, and find out how people there live. It was with this in mind that former venture capitalist Greg Marsh started onefinestay – simultaneously seeing an opportunity to fill London’s idle luxury homes. Marsh’s own home became the first to be listed on the site and two years later 500 Londoners are listing their properties with onefinestay.

Well-heeled guests get to stay in a distinctive home; however, they still receive hotel perks, including toiletries from The White Company and use of an iPhone. Fresh from a £7.6m funding round, onefinestay is about to launch in New York. Who says there’s no place like home?

Founder: Marc Worth
Founded: September 2010
Website: www.stylus.com

Not many entrepreneurs start a business, sell that business, then start a rival brand four years later – but then, Marc Worth is no ordinary entrepreneur. The restless risk-taker, best known for arranging the £142m sale of his fashion-forecasting firm WGSN in 2004, has re-entered the start-up scene – after more than 30 years in business. His latest offering Stylus reinvigorates the WGSN concept, by recognising the crossovers in contemporary culture to provide ‘design inspiration’ (from fashion to travel) to more than 200 corporate clients, including Marks and Spencer.

With a seven-figure turnover and a global body of staff, Stylus’ client base is already dominated by international demand – particularly from the US. Next stop? China and the Far East.

Founder: Callum Bush
Founded: July 2009 
Website: www.mediadevil.com

MediaDevil’s range of products to protect smartphones and tablets, may not sound that exciting. However, it is founder Bush’s unwavering focus on service which has made his business both innovative and sustainable. Selling his range through marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Play.com, in 2011 he bounced back from a thwart of malicious attacks by competitors to become Amazon.co.uk’s fourth ‘most five-star-rated product’ of the year – ahead of Adele’s record breaking 21 album.

His screen protector brand remains the best-selling on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.it and projected turnover for next year is £4.5m. Customers so far total 300,000, but with other products in the pipeline and expansion to Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, and Amazon.es, this number is set to rocket.

Founder: Felix Leuschner
Founded: August 2010
Website: www.stylistpick.com

Not many start-ups manage to secure a tie-up with a major celebrity. Yet convincing Cheryl Cole to design an exclusive collection for the brand is just one of Stylistpick’s stand-out achievements. The site offers an innovative take on online shopping. Users can fill out a style questionnaire, to determine their ‘style profile’ (one of six). A team of top stylists, including the fashion editor of Marie Claire, then curates six different ranges of shoes and accessories each month, based on these profiles, which appear in a “personalised showroom”.

Along with more than 600,000 members, investors have flocked: the business has raised $19m (£12.2m), in two funding rounds, from top venture capital firms Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, Index Ventures and Accel Partners.

Founders: Jay Bregman, Russell Hall, Gary Jackson, Terry Runham, Caspar Woolley, Ron Zeghibe
Founded: July 2011
Website: www.hailocab.com

When the venture capital firms behind Facebook, Groupon and Spotify decide to invest (plus the founders of Skype), there’s a good chance the company concerned has got something going for it. Hailo already claims to have the largest app-based taxi network in the world, enabling customers to order a licensed cab with a mere two taps to their iPhone or Android device. Founded by three experienced entrepreneurs and three London cabbies, Hailo takes a 10% cut of every booking.

The app has now been downloaded well in excess of 300,000 times and works in four cities globally – London (which has 19,000 black cabs), Chicago, Toronto, and Dublin – with more locations to follow. Bregman (who co-founded eCourier.co.uk with Shutl’s Tom Allason) claims a Hailo cab is booked every minute of every day in London – demonstrating what a yawning gap in the market he has discovered.

Founder: Titus Sharpe, Tom Morgan, Jules Hopkinson, David Walton and Simon Venturi
Founded: September 2009
Website: www.mvfglobal.com

Lead generation companies are ten a penny. However, pay-per-lead is more unusual, and sets MVF Global apart. Sharpe became disillusioned with the traditional lead generation model while using a service for his previous start-up. Although the number of leads he received month-on-month began to dwindle, the set monthly fee he was charged remained the same. MVF instead charges clients a pre-agreed fee for every lead it sends. The business has built up a publishing platform of 60,000 members, writing articles and undertaking research in order to generate high quality content at low cost.

It has also developed email behavioural targeting software, which adapts to a user’s behaviour. Founded only three years ago, turnover for 2012 is projected at a whopping £16.5m. The next year will see further growth, through acquisitions, a new office overseas and, potentially, seeking investment.

Founder: James Connelly and Declan Reddington
Founded: November 2009 (launched January 2010)
Website: www.fetchmedia.com

Mobile marketing agency Fetch is set to more than quadruple turnover in 2012 – via some of the world’s most recognised brands and advertisers, including Sony Music, Hotels.com, William Hill and Cancer Research UK. The start-up earns a commission on the media it plans and buys, as well as taking a fee for creative projects. Reddington has previous experience in the industry, having started media planning firm AdConnection 10 years ago.

That business now has a turnover of around £20m. It is also where Reddington met 26-year-old Connelly, and together they have set Fetch on a similar path to success. With a staff of more than 30, Fetch is already competing with the big boys of Silicon Valley, opening a second office in San Francisco.