Smarta 100 Business Awards: TheUmbrellaShop

 BEST BRITISH SMALL BUSINESSES UNVEILED IN
THE SMARTA 100, TOGETHER WITH O2:
THE UMBRELLA SHOP NAMED AS A WINNER!

Smarta.com and O2 present the UK’s 100 most dynamic and innovative small businesses

         Quotes from Piers Linney (Dragons’ Den and Outsourcery) and Shaa Wasmund  (Smarta) below

-          The competition: The UK’s most well-known small business awards

-          The judges: Piers Linney, Sháá Wasmund, Ben Dowd, Holly Tucker, Al Gosling, Tom Cohn, Lynne Franks, Will King

        VOTING LIVE for £10,000 top prize ‘Smarta 100, together with O2, Business of the Year’ and £1,000 for the category winner

Smarta and O2 proudly announce that The Umbrella Shop is a winner of the 2013 Smarta 100, together with O2, and named among the 100 most innovative, disruptive and resourceful small businesses in the UK right now.

The Umbrella Shop was chosen in the top 10 business in Start Up of the Year. This list captures the cream of UK small business, this year’s Smarta 100 are a credit to entrepreneurial Britain. While two thirds are self-funded, the list are turning over £67m, generating profits of £12m and have created more than 900 jobs

Other businesses joining The Umbrella Shop in the list of 100 winners include Blaze, whose innovative laser light projects the symbol of a bike onto the road ahead of a cyclist and into a motorist’s ‘blindspot’; London Nail bar Ciate London, run by 23 year-old Charlotte Knight who has overseen growth of 500% in the past two years and expanded into 21 countries; tech trailblazers Thread are bringing top fashion stylists to the masses; and Spreddit, is turning the credit industry on its head by enabling people to pay for luxury products in installments for free.

There are also some more unusual entries in this year’s 100. Eat Ento believes its edible insects is the next food craze; My Sex Doctor is a sex education app for teenagers; Plan Bread, makes low carb Broccoli bread; while Gary Downie’s social enterprise Streetkleen Bio Ltd has been adapted by local councils to convert dog waste into renewable energy.

The 2013 Smarta 100 join previous winners Naked Wines, Huddle, Funding Circle, Graze, Zoopla, Crowdcube and SuperJam as companies identified by Smarta at early stage.

The businesses have been split into ten categories of ten, including Innovative Business of the Year; Biggest Social Impact; Best Use of Technology (full list below in notes).

Voting is now open to decide the winners of each category. The 10 winners will receive £1,000 and make the final shortlist for the grand prize £10,000 ‘Smarta 100, together with O2, business of the Year’ award.

The overall winner will be decided by the Smarta 100 judging panel, led by Dragons’ Den star Piers Linney, founder of Outsourcery and including Holly Tucker MBE, co-founder of notonthehighstreet.com, King of Shaves founder Will King and enterprise editor of the Mail on Sunday, Helen Loveless.

The chosen business will be announced at the Smarta 100 awards ceremony on the 12 November at London’s Café de Paris.

Discover more business stories and view the full 100 below and here: www.smarta.com/smarta100

Commenting on their inclusion in the Smarta 100, The Umbrella Shop said:  

We are delighted to have made the final of such prestigious awards  which is a testament to all the hard work we have put into starting the business. Our company profile and credibility has increased immensely as a result of this nomination. To receive such an accolade in the company of so many distinguished businesses from across the UK is an honour for us all. It gives our potential customers the confidence that we are a recognised award winning company and that they are dealing with a fully-fledged business that has very high standards and great customer service."

 

PIERS LINNEY, Dragons’ Den investor and founder of Outsourcery, said: 

It's fantastic to see such range and depth of innovative business ideas spread throughout the Smarta 100 together with O2. It's inspiring to know Britain is producing so many disruptive and forward thinking enterprises that are making a positive impact on the UK economy and helping to reduce unemployment.  I'm looking forward to crowning the overall business of the year and meeting the winners at the awards ceremony."

SHAA WASMUND, Smarta founder, said:

 “Once again I’ve been left open mouthed at the number of high quality small businesses operating in Britain.  Now it’s time for us to give them the exposure they deserve. Head to www.smarta.com/smarta100 now to vote for your favourite and put them in contention to win our £10,000 grand prize.

BEN DOWD, business director, Telefonica UK at O2, said: 

“I'm thrilled to see so many innovative British businesses disrupting established companies, and taking advantage of digital technology to grow and thrive. The range of inspiring ideas on show throughout the Smarta 100 together with O2 proves the entrepreneurial movement in the UK is increasing in strength, and we will no doubt see the UK economy grow as a result."

Voting is now under way to find the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year, winning £10,000 courtesy of O2

·     The winner will be presented with their £10,000 prize - courtesy of O2 – at The Smarta 100 Awards final on Tuesday 12 November at Café de Paris,  3-4 Coventry St, London W1D.

·     The evening will also see the 10 special awards presented for the Smarta 100 companies deemed by the public to be the best, in the categories of:

o    Innovation

o   Technology

o   Social Impact

o   Resources

o   Marketing

o   People

o   Social Impact

o   Female Entrepreneur

o   Micro Busines

o   Start-up

·         The shortlisted companies can be viewed at www.smarta.com/smarta100

Notes to editors

The judges

Piers Linney (Dragons’ Den, Outsourcery) Sháá Wasmund  (Smarta) Ben Dowd (O2, Telefonica) Holly Tucker (Notonthehighstreet.com), Al Gosling (TheExtreme Group), Tom Cohn (Kigu), Lynne Franks (B.Hive), Will King (King ofShaves)

About Smarta

Smarta is the UK’s leading online resource for start-ups, small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Smarta also operates Smarta Business Builder, a cloud-based toolkit offering accounts, website, email, legal docs and business planning software from a single web page from £20 a month.

Smarta was founded by Shaa Wasmund and is backed by some of the UK's top entrepreneurs, including Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis, Michael Birch and Sir Richard Needham. At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to encourage more people to start and grow successful businesses. 

www.smarta.com
www.smarta.com/businessbuilder

Smarta press office contact:

Nima Kafai
nima@smarta.com
0203 142 6726

About O2 

O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news

O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team.

Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.

O2 press office contact:

017535 656 56
pressoffice@o2.com

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Made in Britain

• Make it British
• Sir Plus
• Trakke
• Kwickscreen.com
• Cannon & Cannon
• Creams
• Rinz Sound
• Maids to Measure
• Underfloor Heating Store
• The Rag and Bone Man

 Start-up

• Divino
• Saddle & Spoke
• The Umbrella Shop
• Little Miss Geek
• FarmDrop
• Fixflo
• The Detox Kitchen
• Loki Wines Ltd
• Dollz Limited
• Mi-Soul

Mobile

• Trueview
• Bloom.fm
• MyMobileWorkers
• Ensygnia
• My Sex Doctor
• uMotif Limited
• bypost.com Ltd
• Flypay
• Mallzee
• Lime & Tonic

 Micro

• The Willoughby Book Club
• Bluebird Tea Co.
• Uni Baggage
• YUUworld
• Custom Cans
• BeerBods
• New Vision Packaging
• Curious Duke Gallery
• Little Punk London
• FireStar Toys LTD

Marketing

• Uproar Comics
• Jimmy’s Iced Coffee
• Come Round
• Concoction
• Wingman
• Avant Garde Hair Salon
• Don’t Feed The Bears
• PAL Hire
• Mr Cake
• Cappuccino Ads

 Technology

• Thread
• SupaDupa
• Azimo
• Cloud.IQ
• Import.io
• Eyetease
• PowerLinks Media
• Old Bond London
• Parkopedia
• Triggertrap Ltd

Social Impact

• The Reader Organisation
• So You Wanna Be In TV?
• Syntegra Consulting Ltd
• Streetkleen Bio Ltd
• Oomph
• Xing Education
• DGRADE
• Everyclick Ltd
• Loowatt Ltd
• GiveMeTap

 People

• Appear Here
• Appraisly
• Prezzybox.com
• Jacob's Jams and Spices Ltd
• Reincubate
• Propellernet
• The Brilliant Club
• Baravelli's
• Market Gravity
• Eyeful Presentations

 Innovation

• Ento foods
• Containers Hostels
• BuffaloGrid
• Plumis Ltd
• Neo-Innovations UK ltd
• Codlo
• Spreddit
• Toothpick
• Blaze
• Plan Bread Ltd

Female

• i-stay
• Lovework
• SalesGossip
• Chillipeeps Limited
• London Jewellery School
• Ciate
• Songdrop
• Arganic
• G'Nosh
• Home & Pantry

 Discover more business stories and view the full 100 here: www.smarta.com/smarta100