In December 2007 we wrote a post [1] entitled ‘Ten Companies to Watch in 2008‘. That list, in full was…
- Neo Advertising
- AdWalker
- Motomedia
- Quividi
- Dagobert
- DeMedya
- EnQii (now ComQi)
- Screen Technology
- MultiQ
- The Sound Agency
[2]
and in addition, a couple of intrepid readers threw their two pennies’ worth in (oooh! the danger in doing that – you just know it will end in tears) and added via the comments section [3]…
- Pharmacy Channel
- Cübb
Let’s take a look then, at how those companies are doing six years on…
- Neo Advertising. Doing well in parts. Germany and Italy mainly. Canada gone, China gone, UK gone and ‘Project Avanti [4]‘ which aims to sell the business to someone is seemingly still ongoing
- AdWalker. In July 2009, a mere 18 months after our initial post we had to eat our own words as Adwalker Plc, suspended trading on the UK’s AIM and appointed a liquidator [5].
- Motomedia. Their web site is still up [6] but the last we heard from this Glaswegian outfit was September 2009
- Quividi. The one we got right, winning big deals left, right and centre [7] and going from strength to strength.
- Dagobert. Had a great run but recently went into the French equivalent of Chapter 11 in February 2013 [8]
- DeMedya. Had a fantastic Pharmacy Channel all over Turkey but has pretty much disappeared the last few years
- EnQii merged with Minicom Digital Signage [9] to become ComQi. As a global going concern, ComQi are now a bit of a farce – their latest announcement in getting rid of their CEO was a joke [10] – shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic sort of thing. It’s surely a race to the bottom as to who will disappear first; Ronin, Reflect or ComQi.
- Screen Technology. In May 2009 we wrote “Three years ago these folks in Cambridge, England had a red hot product on their hands (ITrans) but corporate ineptitude and wanton waste of investors’ money surely did for them”. They called in the administrators that same week [11]
- MultiQ. At the time these folks were the go to guys in retail in Scandinavia. They been very quiet for the last two years and that mantle has now passed to the likes of Kloctornet / DISE and ZetaDisplay
- The Sound Agency. Still going strong. Julian Treasure at the helm is as good as ever
- Pharmacy Channel. Despite most niche networks like this working quite well, the management seemed to make a number of poor technology choices, over-expanded and quickly imploded.
- Cübb. A lack of marketing and a proper business plan did for this company and its demise was seemingly announced on FaceBook this week [12]
See also ‘HOT or NOT – The Companies We Told You To Watch In 2008‘ posted December 2008 [13], exactly 12 months after our initial story.