A list of the top 100 hottest emerging and most innovative tech companies in the media industry was released today, and everyone here at Hubdub was delighted to be included as hot property in the Games & Entertainment category. According to the press blurb, the Tech Media Invest 100 aims to:

“…showcase young entrepreneurial companies that are developing innovative new ways to serve business and consumers and have the potential to radically change the shape of the technology and media industry….these companies have potenial and we look forward to seeing how they monetize their innovation”

Congratulations to everyone else who made the list!

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Techcrunch Europe is hosting the European Tech Awards next month in London and we were pleased to hear today that Hubdub has been nominated for Best European Web Application.

If you’d like to vote for us (and of course we very much hope that you will!) then click here to vote (no need to register, just click on Hubdub then scroll down and click the Vote button at the bottom of the page).

Thanks!

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The Independent is the first media company to introduce “Powered by Hubdub” - a new product developed by us at Hubdub to allow other news organisations to host Hubdub’s functionality on their own website. This first iteration is focused solely on the Six Nations Rugby Tournament, but “Powered by Hubdub” can be configured to offer predictions and forecasts on any combination of news, sport or entertainment, all hosted on a third party site. We expect to be announcing more deals like this shortly.

The press release follows:

The Independent Launches Six Nations Fantasy Betting Market

Edinburgh, Tuesday 3^rd February 2009 – Cash-strapped sports fans can now bet on the results of Rugby’s Six Nations Tournament without breaking the bank, thanks to a new fantasy prediction game available exclusively on the Independent’s website (http://independent.hubdub.com/ )
Powered by the media technology company, Hubdub.com, the Six Nations Fantasy Betting Market gives players a pot of virtual dollars with which to make predictions on the outcomes of questions such as how many points will Gavin Henson score and how many kicks will Danny Cipriani have charged down. The game is free to enter with predictions being bought and sold, and managed much like a stock portfolio, with the top predictors winning prizes at the end of the tournament. Players can set yourself against your friends and colleagues or see how they rate against the Independent’s wider community and try to earn the accolade of the canniest rugby supporter online.

Hubdub launched their main prediction game, www.hubdub.com in January 2008 and has proved that fantasy betting can bring added excitement and engagement to avid news followers. This is the first white labelled product that Hubdub has produced, and media organisations are lining up to bring the technology to their own news sites. As Jimmy Leach, Director of Digital at The Independent, says, “It’s a fantastic opportunity for sports fans to show off their knowledge of every aspect of the Six Nations tournament and be able to prove to their mates just how much they know about everything from full-back to prop and from Edinburgh to Rome”

Current predictions include:

Who will win the Six Nations? Currently Wales has 58% chance of winning http://independent.hubdub.com/m16634/Who_Will_Win_The_RBS_Six_Nations_2009

Who will complete the Grand Slam? Current forecasts says 55% chance nobody will complete it http://independent.hubdub.com/m26178/Who_will_complete_the_Grand_Slam_in_the_2009_Six_Nations

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We’re delighted to announce that we’ve successfully raised our first round of venture capital funding. It’s been a tough climate out there, I’m sure you’ll all agree (we pitched the day Lehman Bros went bust!) but we’re very excited to now be able to focus all our energies on improving and growing Hubdub even more. We want to thank you all for making Hubdub what it is today, and hope you’ll join us all on this next part of the Hubdub journey. It’s going to be awesome! Here’s the Press Release that we issued today:

Edinburgh, January 14th, 2009 - Daily reports of dire economic circumstances have not prevented , Hubdub.com, the Scottish-based web start-up, from securing £810,000 ($1.2m) in Series A funding.
In a downturn, more people stay at home and look for cheap entertainment. And that can only be a good thing for Hubdub – a website which allows users to predict the outcome of news events by staking virtual cash on the results.

In these difficult times, raising series A funding is indeed a feat in itself. But Hubdub has also successfully brought on board some big hitters in the European web scene.

Led by Pentech Ventures, the UK’s leading software VC company and Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Co-Investment Fund, funding is also backed by a group of angel investors, including Rikki Tahta, CEO of Covestor.com; Simon Murdoch, CEO of friendsabroad.com and Tim Jackson, founder of QXL.com.

Since launching last year, Edinburgh-based Hubdub has garnered a substantial and loyal following. With a quarter of million unique visitors trading around 100,000 predictions per month, Hubdub has altered the way news is being discovered and interacted with. Some users are spending several hours a day on the site, with many of them confessing to a definite Hubdub “addiction”.

Currently partnered with Reuters, The Independent and Huffington Post, Hubdub will now focus on growing its partnership base and developing functionality to allow media partners to carry Hubdub prediction markets on their site. With each user generating hundreds of page impressions per month Hubdub technology is delivering social media type engagement to regular news content.

Marc Moens from Pentech says, “The news industry is currently seeing a structural change to their business. While off-line ad revenues are slumping, news media companies are aiming to build web businesses with significant user engagement. We see Hubdub as a key enabler for media companies to build that engagement around their content.” Marc Moens will be joining Hubdub’s board.

Andrew Sloane, Senior Investment Manager at Scottish Enterprise Investments, added: “This is an exciting investment for Scottish Enterprise, as it represents our first venture in prediction markets technology. This sector is still in its early stages, however we see considerable scope for expansion and development, and are confident that Hubdub has the capability to capitalise on these opportunities. We are delighted to be able to support such an innovative Scottish company alongside our partner Pentech Ventures”

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2008 - You Read it Here First! (January 7th 2009)

Hubdub.com, a news prediction site, has been comparing the predictions for 2008 made by assorted media organisations - and awarded the FT’s “crack corp of pundits” top marks. More…

News Pundit Winners: who got it most right and most wrong? (January 7th 2009)

So, at the end of beginning of each year, the news pundits predict what’s new and what’s hot for the 12 months ahead, but who then holds them to account? News prediction site Hubdub took a look at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008 predictions made by news pundits for the year ahead. Which journalists and bloggers were right and which were wrong? And who got it most wrong and took away the illustrious prize of wooden spoon? More… 

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What’s Your and Mine is Ours (Monday January 5th 2009)

…The good news is the consensus, particularly among those who survived the 2001 dotcom crash, that a downturn can be an opportunity for the most agile, intelligent start-ups to prove themselves. “There were lots of awful parties in 2000 that were really for the business development guys,” says Nigel Eccles, co-founder of the news start-up Hubdub. “But it’s the technology that’s cool, not the exits.  More…

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Prizes for Prescience (Dec 22nd 2008)

I KNOW this blog is about the year ahead, but it’s interesting to look back at predictions as well: who was right about what would happen in 2008? Hubdub, a news-forecasting site, is launching “Pundit Awards” to provide an answer. More…

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Wisdom of the Crowds Can Be of Worth to Business Dec 8th 2008

You might imagine that a website which predicts the news is a strange idea for an internet start-up. Strange, perhaps, but not as bizarre as it sounds. As reported in Business Telegraph on November 24, the premise behind www.hubdub.com — which was started by a Co Tyrone couple — is that visitors predict the outcome of the major news stories on a given day. It’s just one of a growing number of prediction sites that rely on the wisdom of crowds.  More…

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Hubdub - the virtual bookie for time-wasting news junkies   (Sunday Nov 24th 2008)

Betting on the outcome of current affairs is the latest internet addiction.

Will President Obama be assassinated in the first year of his tenure? It’s a depressing thought but, as reported in last week’s Independent on Sunday, it’s a possibility too real to ignore. And over the past month $81,783 (£55,300) has been wagered on it. Not in the real world, or even in real money, but on a new prediction market website called Hubdub, which allows punters to bet on the outcomes of everyday news stories. More…

Innovative New Website Looking into the Future (Nov 25th 2008)

A website started by a Co Tyrone man is putting a new spin on the news by giving punters the chance to predict the outcome of big stories.  Cookstown native Nigel Eccles and his wife Lesley this month launched Hubdub.com, a website that gives news junkies an additional fix by letting them engage in stories rather than just reading about them.  More…

Have We Got News For You (Nov 13th 2008)

A FORMER Cookstown High School pupil has set up the first ever news forecasting website. If you thought Facebook or MySpace was addictive and time-comsuming, then be prepared to be sucked into the world of hubdub.com. The idea (www.hubdub.com) was the brainchild of Nigel Eccles, originally from the Stewartstown area, and his wife Lesley who are both keen followers of current affairs.  More…

News Junkies can Gamble on Headlines (Nov 12th 2008)

News junkies are being given the opportunity to bet on the outcome of breaking stories. Edinburgh-based company Hubdub already has more than 200,000 visits per month to its website since launching in the US earlier this year. The website, which has now gone live in the UK, gives users a pot of virtual money to place bets on the outcome of over 2000 running news stories. More...

Hubdub Tries Out Luck in UK (Nov 14th 2008)

News predictor site Hubdub launched in the UK this week as it attempts to replicate its US success. The site allows users to bet virtual dollars on the outcome of news stories by predicting the outcome. The Edinburgh company already has more than 200,000 unique users permonth on its American site with more than two million Hubdub dollars staked each day. More…

Hubdub Launches First UK Site (Nov 10th 2008)

News prediction site, Hubdub.com, launched in the UK today, following its fast growth in the US and partnerships with Reuters and the Independent. The site, which first launched in the US in February 2008, allows users to bet virtual money on the outcome of news stories - up to 2,000 at any one time.  More…

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Bright Ideas: Predicting the News Can Be Profitable

Hubdub’s founder, Nigel Eccles, says his news prediction website appeals to news addicts and amateur punters alike. This week it launches its UK “news predictions” site, having spent the last nine months building up a US version that now attracts 200,000 users a month. More…

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