Last year we were very pleased to be named as a winner in Red Herring’s Top 100 European Start Ups. Well now we’re even more pleased as we have been chosen as a finalist for their global awards.
This is one we found out about by looking at where the traffic to our site was coming from. Zygo has won the Always On Global 250 Award, the tech blog’s “list of the hottest, most disrupting private companies in technology”. As they put it, “this year’s AO Global 250 reflects a set of trends that are about to ignite new market opportunities the whole world over.” We couldn’t agree more - and thanks, guys! Read the article here.
Last summer, we were invited by our friends at SHM, a social change consultancy, to work with them on a project called Zumbido, which was set up to develop solutions to the problem of social isolation. The pilot was set up in Mexico, and focused on a community with a particularly acute sense of social isolation in that country: those living with HIV and AIDS
People living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico, particularly in rural areas, suffer from severe social isolation, due in part to the stigma attached to the disease. This isolation brings with it low levels of practical and emotional support, which in turn leads to poor health outcomes for example, when sufferers stop taking their medication because of unpleasant side-effects. SHM’s hypothesis going in to the trial was that, by using our group messaging technology to overcome this isolation, we would create or enhance social capital and improve health outcomes.
The pilot of Zumbido started on the 3rd of June 2007 in Jalisco, Mexico and ran for three months. The majority of the participants were living with HIV/AIDS, some recently diagnosed, and others who had been living with HIV/AIDS for over twelve years. In each group there was a professional with experience in HIV/AIDS and a family member of someone living with the disease.
All the participants were given a mobile phone, and with Zygos Zygohub technology they were able to simultaneously communicate using text messages with their nine co-members. The participants got to grips with the technology and started using it very quickly, sending 5,000 SMS messages in the first three days, and over 240,000 messages over the course of the whole three-month trial.
There was a clear need amongst the participants to communicate and share experiences. This result was particularly interesting, as over half of them had never used a phone before. Participants shared information about access to healthcare services, discussing human rights and how to deal with problems of discrimination and ignorance. They also gave one another support in day-to-day problems such as personal relationships, encouraging one another to take their medication, and dealing with isolation. In addition, those from rural areas received practical support from those in urban areas when coming into the city to receive medical attention.
The social capital that was generated in this project has had huge benefits for those who took part. A participant told his group before the project ended that “it was an amazing experience to be able to share and learn from all of you. These past three months have changed my life, thank you my friends.” Although the groups no longer have access to the ZygoHubs service, many of them are still keeping in touch with one another.
The technical challenges to making this all work in Mexico were considerable. In order to run the groups on local numbers we sourced four Movistar SIMS, brought them back to the UK and put them in modems in our data centre in Slough. We sent text messages out locally by connecting to a messaging platform in Mexico. Our pals at Anana helped us to deliver a voicemail and conferencing service on the same numbers hosted on a voice platform in Australia!
Anyway, it all paid off in the end because Zumbido was selected as a finalist in the prestigious Stockholm Challenge awards for the use of ICT in development projects. SHM invited us to join them at the awards ceremony on May 22nd at Stockholm Town Hall, home of the Nobel Prize, no less. We got to meet some truly inspiring people from all over the world who were as passionate about the transformative power of technology as we are.
From the 15th to the 17th of April Jeremy and I were in Malta with some very cool European tech startups and European VCs to see whether we would make the cut as one of the Top 100 Tech Companies in Europe as voted by Red Herring magazine’s editorial team.
As Red Herring puts it:
“For 10 years, Red Herring’s editorial team has diligently surveyed entrepreneurship around the globe. Technology industry executives, investors, and observers have regarded the Red Herring 100 lists as an invaluable instrument to discover and advocate the promising startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation.”
Anyway, to cut to the chase, on the Wednesday night (16th April) we learned that we had won this prestigious award. Given that past winners have included Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Netscape, Salesforce.com, and YouTube, we felt honoured indeed.
A couple of personal highlights from the conference:
Webjam
Webjam is a Web 2.0 startup that allows groups and communities to create their own shared space on the web with minimal fuss and maximum personality. I’ve been using it for some of my own projects for over a year now, so it was a pleasure to meet and speak to their CEO and co-founder, Yann Motte, a man with a genuine passion for his product and his customers.
Trampoline Systems
I’d never heard of Trampoline Systems before, but the presentation from their CEO Charles Armstrong was for my money one of the best at the conference. Using principles derived from the social sciences, Trampoline have developed a social networking platform for enterprises that helps to unlock the hidden knowledge and networks of expertise within any business, using existing data sources (such as email) as a starting point. It’s a sort of Facebook for business that automatically updates your profile with all the projects you’re working on and the people you’re talking to. That might sound a bit scary but what you expose and to whom is completely under your own control - the privacy aspects have been thought through very carefully.
Malta , March 20, 2008 – Red Herring today announced that Zygo Communications was named a Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.
“This year’s impressive list of submissions from companies demonstrates Europe’s growing role as a major center of innovation in the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of European technology startups and entrepreneurs are a testament to the rapid advancements being made in building the European innovation ecosystem.”
Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.
Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.
About Red Herring
Red Herring is a global media company which unites the world’s best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine, an online daily technology news service, technology newsletters and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider’s access to the global innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. More information about Red Herring is available on the Internet at www.redherring.com.