Press Release: 09 April 2008

edocr picked for UK web mission to California

Manchester-based web 2.0 start-up, edocr, has been selected to join a showcase of UK internet talent visiting California this month to meet potential US funders.
Dubbed the new ‘YouTube for pdfs’, edocr allows users to upload and share documents online. It is one of just 20 UK companies picked to attend the seven-day Web Mission 2008 - and the only one to make the cut from the North West of England.

Web Mission 2008 takes place between 19 and 25 April in San Francisco and is designed to put start-up companies in front of Silicon Valley’s leading innovators, funders and backers and help them secure US publicity.

edocr creator and entrepreneur, Manoj Ranaweera, who is originally from Sri Lanka, set up his company 12 months ago as a way for businesses to post, share and search for pdf documents.

Once uploaded, edocr generates a thumbnail and flash document that can be embedded onto corporate websites, blogs or e-zines. Other users can then interact with documents through commenting, ranking, tagging or book marking.

Ranaweera believes Silicon Valley is still very important to technology companies because it is home to a risk culture that nowhere else in the world has managed to replicate.
“This event will bring significant publicity to edocr, but more than anything else it will fast track the release of edocr version 2, enabling us to make revenue from the product,” he says.
“The next version of edocr will allow companies and professionals to sell documents, promote documents and obtain significant intelligence for lead generation, which are all revenue contributing.”

From day one, having access to the brightest technological minds to help grow edocr has been a critical part of the plan for Ranaweera who chose Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus in Cheshire to base the company and sought the involvement of the North West’s most prominent web innovators, including Rhys Jones who recently sold his second company, e-invoicing company, accountis, for £5m, and Mike Carter and Chris Haslam who founded Ixis, an IT, web development and hosting company.
The decision to base edocr at the Daresbury Campus quickly reaped rewards for the company, thanks the campus’s work to give resident organisations access to networks of funders, backers, advisers and peers from different technological sectors throughout the world. Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus, along with NASDAQ-listed technology solutions company, Sun Microsystems, have also become users and sponsors of edocr.

Ranaweera hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow Manchester internet company, Yuuguu, which became one of the fastest-growing web 2.0 companies in the world last year after it launched on the west coast of America in September 2007.

“The West Coast is the centre of the web 2.0 universe,” says Yuuguu’s CEO and co-founder, Anish Kapoor. “For us there was no better place to launch. Meeting with many of the most influential decision makers and innovators in the technology sector and getting great press in the US has been our springboard to success.”

“Yuuguu has been a great inspiration to us and we’re excited by the prospect of flying the flag for web 2.0 innovation in the North West,” says Ranaweera.
Former Dragons’ Den dragon and technology investor Doug Richard was one of the judges selecting companies to attend the Mission. Richard said of this year's selections: “Some of these companies are as good as anything coming out of the Valley.”

To be picked, businesses had to be innovative; have two years' trading history or compelling early-stage potential; demonstrate some commitment to sustainable business practices and be ready to do business in the US or be potentially attractive to US investors.
Ends

Press enquiries to: Susan Tonge, Smith & Smith PR, tel: 0161 236 5560 / mobile 07985 991130 / e-mail susan@smithandsmithpr.co.uk.