startups

19 of the UK’s top digital companies have been selected in a fiercely competitive process to join the third Digital Mission to New York from 1st-5th November 2010, forging new business and showcasing British digital talent.

Organised by Chinwag and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the Digital Mission to New York provides the ideal platform for the companies attending to make business connections, build international profile, understand the US market and discover the practicalities of setting up shop in the US.

The Digital Mission companies are:

• Adversion
• Amaze plc
• BrightLemon Ltd
• Casual Films
• Cube
• Eresponse Media
• HuzuTech
• Lingo24 Ltd
• Livestation
• Nuji
• Plancentric
• Realeyes Data Services Ltd
• Red Glasses
• ShoutEm UK
• Thrive Digital
• ustwo
• Videojuicer
• Waspit Ltd
• We Are Social

A full list of companies with descriptions and contact details is available on the Digital Mission website: http://digital-mission.org/nyc10-companies

Thinking about expanding your business to the Big Apple? There's been heaps of interest in this year's Digital Mission to New York (1-5 Nov) so we've extended the deadline until Friday 8th Oct.

This trip, the third to New York is timed to coincide with ad:tech New York, the biggest gathering of digital media and marketing types in the city, with 10,000 visitors expected and 290+ exhibitors confirmed. The Digital Mission companies will have access to the UKTI stand, plus Exhibit Hall passes included in the trip.

The Difference Engine, a mentoring programme for digital businesses based in the North East of England, has opened its doors for applications. In fact, if you're interested, you'll need to hurry as applications close on Monday.

Do startups actually get to have weekends off? That's for another post! Companies that get through will receive an intensive thirteen week programme with high-profile mentors from both side of the Atlantic proffering their wisdom. Each team gets £5,000 plus £3,200 per founder to keep the wolves from the door during this period.

Twitter has been hitting the marketing trail over the last couple of weeks as the work to entrance the media buying world was kicked off with stints as ad:tech London and the IAB MIXX in New York and the news that promoted tweets are well on the way.

And it looks like there's plenty to crow about as newcomer(ish) Twitter.com has overtaken MySpace.com. According to comScore (and reported by the WSJ), Twitter had nearly 96 million users last month (August), up 76% from last year, whilst MySpace.com dropped 17% to a mere 95 million uniques.

Over the last five Digital Mission trips, it's been a privilege to work with some of the UK's leading digital companies. Getting the chance to spend a week away with people who are taking the scary, but exciting, journey of expanding their business into the US is a great way to really understand what makes entrepreneurs tick.

So, it was rather humbling last week, when we announced the third Digital Mission to New York (deadline's Fri, by the way), to see these tweets from Digital Mission alumni @kierondonoghue, @mr_mcd and @stuartbruce...