ARIADNE INVESTOR FORUM – 15 January 2008

 

GAME-CHANGERS

 

 

Ariadne will be hosting an Investor Forum on the 15th of January 2008 in London, UK in order to showcase its portfolio companies, to engineer connections for them with target partners, investors, acquirors and talent, and to drive the dialogue on the way industries of tomorrow will be shaped, particularly the Advertising and Search, Digital Music and Content, Life Services [e-Health and Consumer Financial Services] and Communications Technologies and Applications.

 

PAST INVESTOR FORUMS

 

Ariadne held is 1st Investor Forum at the Institute of Directors on the 28th of June.     The event was well-attended by investors, corporates, and entrepreneurs; more than 250 people attended.    Video clips of the speakers may be seen on the Ariadne Capital website at:  http://www.ariadnecapital.com/journal/v6e3/ click on the desired speaker’s name to see their video.

 

 

 

We have selected this theme as most of Ariadne’s portfolio companies are changing the rules of the game in their industries.    Our companies range from ~£1 m to £200 m in revenues, and are operating in [on an average of] 2 continents, and in 5 countries.

 

Many of our companies are raising capital, and this will represent a tremendous opportunity to get in front of them as they pitch their company’s vision and strategy.

 

We will welcome 250 leading investors, both venture capital firm partners as well as the investment directors of family offices, and leading private investors, as well as the media and analysts, and other leading entrepreneurs on the 15th of January.

 

 

ARIADNE CAPITAL’S VITAL STATISTICS

 

 

Just to remind you of the Vital Statistics of Ariadne Capital.    We are a London-based, 12 person strong, investment and advisory firm focused on “game changers” in the communications, digital media and life services sectors.    We have 42 founding Investor Members [Ariadne’s shareholders] who include some of the most successful technology entrepreneurs – the founders of AlphaMosaic/Broadcom [Jalal Bagherli], Element 14/Broadcom [John Redford], BetFair [Andrew Black],  Staffware/Tibco [John O’Connell], Hotmail/Microsoft [Sabeer Bhatia], Systinet/HP [Roman Stanek], WorldPay/RBS [Nick Ogden], SES Astra [Candace Johnson], Giga/Intel [Finn Helmer] and others.  

 

 

We have worked with Skype, Kashya and Espotting early on as advisors well in advance of their exits. We have a roster of private, high-growth, “tipping point” companies, 15 of which we have equity stakes in, including:

 

  • Independent IP – Digital Music Supply Chain
  • DebtResolve – Consumer Debt Settlement and Negotiation
  • Momail – Free Mobile Email
  • Monitise – Mobile Banking and Payment Services
  • Otodio – Personal Audio Information
  • Spinvox – Voice to Text
  • Zopa – Peer to Peer Lending and Borrowing

 

THE LINE-UP FOR THE DAY - PROGRAM

 

The Ariadne Capital Investor Forum will bring together for the day the senior management of Ariadne’s portfolio companies, leading investors, entrepreneurs, the media and friends of the firm.

 

BREAKFAST

 

Keynotes from Leading Entrepreneurs

 

LUNCH BUFFET

 

Panel Discussions in Key Industry Sectors, and Corporate Presentations by their CEO’s

 

Digital Music – Stream 1 - "Reasons to be Cheerful" - A new value chain for Music;

Panelists:

-           Andy Dean (Gen X)

-           Paul Berrow (Artistlog)

-           Martijn Tjho (IndependentIP)

-           David Gjester (Bizmo) 

-           Will Camden (Lickerish) 

 

Subjects;

1.  Where has the record industry gone wrong? 

-          erosion of CD market - partly as result of illegal file-sharing,

-          failure to embrace digital revolution quickly enough,

-          insistence on DRM,

-          failure to engage consumers,

-          slow to embrace new business models,

-          ceding of distribution control to Apple/i-pod, etc,

-          inefficient digital supply chain

 

2. Why is it that the Music Industry - as opposed to the Record Business- remains in rude health?

-          Music has never been more popular - over 500 legitimate Digital Music Platforms exist in Europe,

-          Live Music sector powering ahead,

-          Convergence of platforms and channels creates many opportunities for Music as different services seek to distinguish themselves from the competition (eg MNO's, Broadcasters, handset manufacturers, game-device manufacturers),

-          Brands increasingly prepared to recognise Music's power to engage consumers and pay for it - eg Prince MOS tie-up,

-          Artists can now reach market directly - through MySpace, Bebo, YouTube,

-          Other entrants creating new partnerships for Music - eg Live Nation/Madonna tie-up, Channel 4/Sony Ericsson and 3 unsigned artist platforms.

 

3.  Where are the big wins for the Music Business generally going forward?

-          Curation/navigation services (eg Pandora, Lastfm and now Gen X),

-          Stand-out User experiences with perceived Quality (eg Artistlog),

-          Creation of 360 degree Artist experiences (Gen X, Lickerish, Artistlog)

-          Involvement of consumer armies to marshal marketing and distribution through word of mouse (eg Bizmo),

-          Empowerment of Artists to reach market directly (Artistlog, IndependentIP)

-          Use of power of celebrity to cut through the digital clutter (Gen X, Lickerish, Artistlog)

-          Use of Music and Artists as a source of highly-targeted data for Brands (Gen X, Lickerish, Bizmo, Artistlog) 

-          Use of Music platforms as a trail blazer for other content services such as TV distribution (Gen X, Artistlog).

-          Sophisticated digital distribution platforms that can embrace all these new channels/partners more effectively and/or at lower cost (IndependentIP, Lickerish)