Mike Butcher
Mike Butcher is TechCrunch’s “Editor At Large”. As such he has a roving brief to write about Startups, Venture Capital, technology trends and emerging markets. A former grunge rock drummer, he became a long-time journalist, and has since written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. Mike is also a co-founder and shareholder of TechHub, a service company for startups with several locations in Europe.
Mike is the founder and on the steering committee of Coadec, the Coalition for a Digital Economy, which works to lobby for legislation that fosters a sustainable and innovative digital economy for the UK. He also serves on the Mayor of London’s “Smart London” Board, advising on Smart Cities and Entrepreneurship.
A former editor of New Media Age magazine and he was also an Executive Editor on the European edition of The Industry Standard magazine. Since 1996 he has launched or re-launched numerous media web sites.
In 2000 he was nominated as NetMedia’s European Internet Journalist of the Year. In 2004 he was voted ‘One of the 100 Innovators of the UK Internet Decade’ by GfK NOP, the fourth-largest custom research business in the world. In July 2008 he named as one of the Top 100 people in London’s creative industry by The Independent newspaper. In August 2008 his coverage of the European tech scene was honoured in the best “Web 2.0 and business blog” category by Computer Weekly magazine. In 2009 Mike was named one of the Top 10 bloggers on Twitter in the UK. In October 2009 he was named one of the Top 50 most influential Britons in technology by The Daily Telegraph newspaper. In 2010, 2011 and 2012 he was named as one of Britain’s Top 100 “digital power-brokers” by Wired UK magazine. In November 2010 Mike was named as one of London’s most influential people in New Media and “king of dotcom commentators ” by The Evening Standard Newspaper, and again in 2011.
He has spoken at the prestigious Monaco Media Forum and Le Web, among many other conferences, and has been a Davos / World Economic Forum “Media Leader”. Mike is a regular commentator on the technology business, appearing on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 and Bloomberg. Personal blog: mbites.com | Twitter: @mikebutcher | Linkedin.com/in/mikebutcher | Facebook.com/mikebutcher | Google+: Gplus.to/mikegbutcher
Mike supports:
Apps For Good: A non-profit which aims to ignite a passion for technology and social enterprise in young people in the UK. TeenTech: Which runs events to help young teenagers see career possibilities in Science, Engineering and Technology. Coderdojo: Free not-for-profit coding clubs and regular sessions for young people in the UK, Ireland and US. Code Club: A UK nationwide network of volunteer-led after school coding clubs for children aged 9-11. Young Rewired State: The philanthropic arm of Rewired State - which aims to foster the young children and teenagers who will become tomorrow’s technology stars. TeenTechEvent: A non-profit which runs one-day events to help young teenagers see the wide range of career possibilities in Science, Engineering and Technology. YoungRewiredState: A non-profit network of software developers and designers aged 18 and under.
Disclosures (reviewed, approved and signed off by TechCrunch/AOL): I’m a Co-founder and 50% owner of a co-working space in London, TechHub, established because it solved a problem for startups back in 2009, and today (I’m a strategic adviser only - not operational or ‘commercial’). I’m the founder and chair of “The Europas” annual tech startups awards for European startups and its associated events. I’m on the advisory board of The Coalition For A Digital Economy, a UK non-profit which argues for a ‘digital first’ approach to business legislation. I’m an advisor to Seedrs.com, a crowd funding platform, but I maintain journalistically independent views on crowd-funding. I hold 11 shares in BT which makes about $10 a year in dividends and I can’t be bothered to cancel.
CrunchBase profile →Featured Picks from Mike Butcher
Latest from Mike Butcher
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Snapchat Snaps Ups Nick Bell, News Corp’s SVP For Digital
While many have been quietly chuckling at the thought that Snapchat turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook, only to see WhatsApp acquired for $19 billion, the game is certainly not over yet. And what makes the difference with a product like Snapchat is that, even to this day, it has a very distinct product offering, continuing growth and a number of potential business models. Another thing… Read More
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Flash Fashion Site SecretSales Raises £4.5M, Led By Partech
Flash fashion sales site SecretSales.com, a significant UK player, has raised £4.5 million – its third round of funding – from Partech Ventures’ new Partech VI fund and French private equity firm 123Venture, as well as existing investors Pentech and Doughty Hanson. The co-founders and key managers also participated. The cash will be used on product and customer acquisition. The… Read More
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Unnamed Russian Banks Are Using AlterGeo’s Location Data For Credit Ratings
To some extent, AlterGeo bills itself as the ‘Foursquare of Russia’. You can check-in to a location via their apps, get discounts, the usual sort of thing. But on the back end of the consumer facing apps it has a hybrid positioning technology which is a B2B product. It is far more sophisticated than Foursquare. Founded in 2008, AlterGeo employs WiFi, WiMAX, GSM, LTE, IP addresses and… Read More
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Codasip Secures $2.8M Funding Led By Credo Ventures
Codasip is an ‘application specific processor design tool’ and IP provider. Today it’s closed its first round of public funding totalling $2.8 million to push its technology product forward. The funding is being led by Credo Ventures, a VC based in the Czech Republic, and includes additional funds from multiple private investors. In case you’re wondering, an… Read More
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Runtastic Signs Deal With Universal For BPM-Oriented Compilations
Seed-funded Runtastic, which has produced a number of apps and services for health and exercise tracking, is going into the music business. Sorta. It’s has signed a new deal with Universal Music Group to create a fitness-focused music compilation featuring recordings from artists such as Swedish House Mafia, Bastille and others. The idea is to offer users the ideal BPM for working out. The… Read More
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What Would Google Glass Look Like If It Was Designed By Prada?
In a script that could have come out of “The Devil Wears Prada”, German tech site Curved.de has come up with an interesting thought: What would Google Glass look like if it had been designed by Prada? Trust those Europeans to think such a thought. Curved thinks “Google Glass is unquestionably the queen of wearables – but the spacey design makes it equally the Holy Grail of… Read More
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Talent Shortage And Old Immigration Laws Hold London Back, Says Study
You may have heard of the boom in tech companies in London recently, but one thing that continues to hold the scene back is access to international talent. Today a study by an independent private sector group whose 500+ members combine founders and investors from across London focuses in on that problem. And a particular issue is not being able to easily hire people out of Silicon Valley and the… Read More
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Cloud Sound Platform Audioboo Preps London AIM Float To Raise £4M
Audiboo, the British cloud audio platform which once competed with Soundcloud but has found a niche working with media companies, has confirmed its plans for a small public listing on the London Stock Exchange’s Aim market. It’s achieving this via a reverse takeover of the cash shell company One Delta (which has lain dormant for some time). The news comes after floated media company… Read More
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Webrazzi, Turkey’s Main Tech Blog, Sells Minority Stake To Aslanoba Capital
From time to time we like to check in with the European tech blog scene to see what’s up. And there’s a significant update in the form of the news that Webrazzi, Turkey’s main tech startup news outlet, has sold 15% of its equity of Aslanoba Capital, a leading VC in Turkey. Terms were not disclosed, but the cash will be used to to expand Webrazzi’s operations outside of… Read More
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Tuenti Extends Its VoIP Call Function To iOS App
Tuenti, the mostly Latin-country-oriented mobile social network which exited to Telefonica in 2010, has been gradually iterating on its product offering and today releases its free voice calling service for its iPhone app. The move follows a similar update for its Android app. The free voice over IP feature is compatible with Android, Chrome and Opera. The option for making voice over IP calls… Read More
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Who Gets Into Accelerators? Persistent Men With SaaS Apps, Says Study
What kind of startups get into Accelerators? Well, according to new research, it’s startups with around 2-3 founders, most male, often SaaS platforms and ones who are persistent, applying for at least two programs. And on average, less than 4% of applicants ever make it in. Those are the findings of new research from F6S, a web portal which allows startups to apply for multiple accelerator… Read More
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Health Startup Healthberry Soft Launches Beta To Measure Patient Feedback
UK-based health startup HealthBerry has soft launched its beta. Pitched as a “better way to engage with patients” the startup uses social media as a way for national health services to measure patient feedback and thus inform improvements to services. It’s trailing with the UK’s National Health Service. The platform engages with patients, monitors programmes, syndicates… Read More
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Watch Out Moves And Human — Now RunKeeper Releases A Movement App
By now may are familiar with the smartphone apps that track your movements via the accelerometer. There are multiple pedometers on all the apps stores for instance. But a more intriguing sector has emerged in the shape of apps like Human and Moves. Both not only track steps but give you feedback on reaching goals, in a very light-touch manner. The beauty of these apps is that they gradually… Read More
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LongAccess Wants To Cold-Store Your Digital Life For 30 Years
Tech people are probably used to the idea that we’ll have our memories and photos stored online. Sure, we have it in the backs of our mind that it’ll all be on some dusty hard drive somewhere we can access in the nursing home – at least we HOPE that’s the case. At the same time, very few people know how to store something in the cloud for a very long time – other than… Read More
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Turnkey Mobile Apps Startup AppsBuilder Raises New Cash From United Ventures
AppsBuilder, which has developed a platform to “easily” (they say) develop mobile apps has taken in a $1.5 million round of funding from United Ventures. The investment brings the company’s funding total to $3.5 million. Previous investors included Annapurna Ventures, Zernike Meta Ventures and Angels. The cash will be used to consolidate growth and build business in the UK and… Read More
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The London Fintech Boom — TransferWise And Others Hit Record Numbers
Slowly but surely a revolution has been taking place in financial technology, or fintech as we call it these days. These days fintech’s hottest sphere is not in Bloomberg terminals but in disruptive cloud startups, using the Internet as a route around the dedicated lines of the past. Globally, fintech investment has more than tripled over the past three years, according to a recent study by… Read More
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Varsavsky Bets On The Gramofon As A New Take On Social Music
Today, crowd-sourced Wifi network operator Fon launched its new Gramofon device on Kickstarter. This offers a simple Fon-like Wi-Fi sharing functionality via a simple Facebook log-in, can be plugged into any music speakers and comes with a year’s subscription to Spotify. With such a mash-up of services, it’s quite a new concept on the market. The device could be a game-changer for Fon… Read More
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Fon Launches Gramofon, A Router With Facebook And Spotify Built-In
Today, crowd-sourced Wifi network operator Fon launches its rumoured new product, the Gramofon. But unusually for a large tech company with healthy revenues, it’s launched the product with 30-day crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter at a discounted price, starting at $30. This device offers simple Fon-like Wi-Fi sharing functionality after you log in via Facebook, an audio out to speakers… Read More
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Entrepreneur First Thinks It Can Grab The Talent Long Before YC
The world of tech startup accelerators has become an ocean of choices. “Batches”, “programmes”, “mentor networks” are thrown around from one organisation to the other. What sets them apart has become difficult to define. Perhaps it’s geography, such as proximity to investors in a big city? Or perhaps its a programme in a vertical, like fashion or fintech? Read More
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Enterprise File-sharer Egnyte Opens London HQ To Meet Euro Security Demand
Egnyte, the Valley firm specialising in an enterprise file-sharing platform, has expanded in Europe, opening a London HQ. This will compliment its existing Amsterdam data center and design office in Poland. It aims to hire 100 new staff in London over the next 5 years. The company says there is growing customer demand for enterprise-grade file sharing which also addresses data security concerns. Read More
