App of the Year: Could it be you?

Why have we got an App of the Year category?

Britain’s app economy is thriving, whether you want to order food directly to your door, book a taxi or manage your productivity – whatever you’re after, there’s most likely an app for it.

According to Google research, the UK’s app market will be worth over £30bn by 2025 and Cisco recently predicted that there will be a 66% increase in smartphones every year for the next four to five years with an estimated 2.7 billion smartphone users by 2018.

Following the meteoric rise of apps such as Uber, Snapchat and Twitter, start-up entrepreneurs across the country are now looking to build the next big app, and succeeding. Just look at teen tech mogul Nick D’Aloisio who sold his news summarising app Summly for £19m to Yahoo! or the founding trio behind Hassle – the early-stage cleaning app and platform recently acquired for €32m.

In the service space, on-demand apps are scaling at pace as entrepreneurs capitalise on the mounting number of time-poor consumers looking for an easy solution to tasks such as doing the laundry, picking up shopping or even going to the hairdressers.

Given this growth of the app market and the sheer quantity of start-ups competing for a share of the app industry (there are now over 1.5 million apps in the App Store), we felt the 2015 awards warranted a category that would recognise and celebrate Britain’s up-and-coming apps making waves in tech.

What are we looking for in a great app?

Be it an app to boost efficiency, run an errand or offer an immersive gaming experience, this category is all about championing cutting edge mobile technology start-ups. App businesses will be judged on design, user experience and performance, as well as business traction of course and the company must be UK-based and privately owned.

While App of the Year was a new award for 2015, we’ll be looking for apps that match the calibre of previous Startups Awards winners such as 2013 Simply Business Startups Business of the Year YPlan; the mobile events booking app which had over 500,000 users and endorsement from Stephen Fry and Pharrell Williams at the time of its win.

Why you should enter App of the Year:

Entering your business to win App of the Year gives you the chance to get endorsement and validation from leading players in technology. With David Buttress; the CEO of world-leading takeaway ordering app JUST EAT, on the judging panel, alongside TechHub’s Elizabeth Varley and Joe Scarboro of Tech City UK, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

The winning app will  also receive national and local press coverage and a video interview which will be displayed on the Startups Awards website. Winners and finalists will also receive a template press release to maximise media coverage, and a logo to use for marketing content.

What’s more, you’ll be able to connect with other innovative app entrepreneurs and tech businesses at the prestigious Startups Awards ceremony which will no doubt help boost exposure.

Have you got an award-worthy app? Enter the Startups Awards today.