23. Seatwave

Founder: Joe Cohen
Website: www.seatwave.co.uk

Seatwave, a secure, anti-tout fan-to-fan ticket exchange, was launched by London-based Joe in February 2007. By June, the website was already listing more than 400,000 tickets for sale – 20 times more than eBay. Joe, who had previously worked for both Ticketmaster and match.com, says he’s not unduly worried about recession. “It’ll be interesting. People may even be more likely to sell tickets they can’t use, because times will be tighter. We might even have an over-supply, which is always good for business.”