On Tuesday last week, after an application and judging process lasting several weeks, where TechCrunch UK, Doug Richard (Dragon’s Den), UK Trade Invest, Oli Barrett and Polecat all put their heads together to work out which of the many applicants could most realistically do meaningful business in the US, TechCrunch announced the 20 companies selected for Web Mission 08, and GroupSpaces was on the list (at the top)!

The judges also assessed the companies based on their business viability and the strength of their management team, and it’s going to be fantastic for Andy and my credibility now that we’ve successfully run this gauntlet.

Sponsors Heller Ehrman issued a statement saying:

“The sheer volume of applicants provides convincing evidence of the depth and breadth of emerging growth technology companies in the UK. The shortlist of companies selected demonstrates that the UK is able to produce credible web businesses.”

As the mouthwatering agenda takes shape, this is building up to be one of the most exciting weeks of my life, and it all starts on April 19th.

We’ll be staying at the Clift Hotel in Union Square, San Francisco, and the hotel is home to the Redwood Rooms, a plush bar we first visited with Kirill Makharinsky last year.

The week kicks off with cocktails sponsored by TechCrunch on the evening of Saturday 19th, followed by a few days hardcore networking with Valley start-ups and VCs. On Wednesday we’ll have the chance to attend the Web 2.0 Expo, and that evening we’ll be having drinks with Michael Birch at Bebo (or should that be AOL?). Thursday contains some PR, accounting and legal masterclasses then we’ll be flying back home on Friday.

Picking up on Michael though – he’s a fantastic example of what British entrepreneurs can achieve. Having graduated from Imperial College London with a Physics degree in 1991, he’s now just sold a $850M company. And when you think that Bear Stearns is selling for $236M, that ain’t bad.

Hopefully Brent Hoberman and Michael will be just the first of a long line of highly successful British Internet entrepreneurs. Is the next one going on Web Mission?

The final list of 20 companies is (in the order TechCrunch listed them):

GroupSpaces – Web-based tools for groups

Tioti – A social network around TV

Exabre (TheFilter) – Advanced music recommendation

Coull – Interactive video platform

Zogix – Employee services platform

Byteplay (dotHomes) – Real estate search engine

Trampoline Systems – Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour

Hubdub – News prediction social network

WAYN – travel and lifestyle social networking community

TrustedPlaces – Venue recommendation network

Slicethepie – Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans

Mydeo – Mainstream application for storing and sharing video

Skimbit – Research and share decisions

Huddle – Enterprise 2.0 collaboration

Rummble – Mobile social networking and recommendation

Zebtab – Desktop TV application

Silobreaker – Contextual and graphic search results

Kwiqq – Social Website builder

edocr – Making business documents interactive

ShortFuze – Online movie creation tools for social networks

We already know Douglas at Byteplay and we did some filming with Alicia from Skimbit at the BBC recently; however I’m really looking forward to meeting another 17 awesome companies next month.

Doug Richard said:

“some of these companies are as good as anything coming out of the Valley”

So as Mike Butcher entitled the post on TechCrunch.com – The British are Coming. America – watch out!

Today is an exciting day for the Web Misison – we’ve published the list of participants. You can find them on the Web Misison site or see what Mike Butcher had to say at TechCrunch.

We’ve also updated our agenda (though it’s not finalized yet), with a good mix of exciting events and free time for participants to pursue their own individual contacts and activities.

For the selectors, choosing which companies to offer places was anything but easy – with over 100 applications of extraordinary quality, figuring out which ones would get most out of the Mission was far from obvious. The fact that this particular dichotomy definitely comes under the heading “Good Problems To Have” doesn’t make it any easier to have to turn down so many deserving hopefuls.

It may seem scant comfort, but we hope that very existence of the Web Mission will lead to more opportunities for everyone. Certainly it can only help raise the profile of UK entrepreneurs in the influential Valley ecosystem. Heller Ehrman, the UK/US law firm with a major office in Silicon Valley – and a Web Mission sponsor – says:

“The sheer volume of applicants provides convincing evidence of the depth and breadth of emerging growth technology companies in the UK. The shortlist of companies selected demonstrates that the UK is able to produce credible web businesses.”

Roll on April!

Earlier this week, Andy and I submitted our application for Web Mission 2008.

The event will see 20 UK Web 2.0 companies travel to San Francisco to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley. It will be showcasing innovative UK web talent, seek meaningful assistance for companies ready for expansion, and provide a platform for those involved to gain valuable media and business exposure.

Serial networker and entrepreneur Oli Barrett has joined forces with social impact facilitators Polecat to organise the event which runs from 19th-25th April.

The chosen companies will have their trip subsidised, and partners of the event include UK Trade & Investment, Doug Richard (Dragon’s Den and CEO of Library House), TechCrunch, HSBC and Make Your Mark. Also assisting with the event are Bob Goodson, Kirill Makharinsky and the guys at YouNoodle, Michael Birch (CEO, Bebo) and various other ex-pats who are now making a name for themselves in the Valley.

Having visited Silicon Valley last year, Andy and I have some idea of the value of these sort of experiences. Michael’s comments affirmed this:

“The Web Mission represents an amazing opportunity for the best of entrepreneurial UK talent to visit Silicon Valley, and learn for themselves the differences that make the US a breeding ground for innovation and more importantly successful execution of ideas.”

And I particularly like the point about execution. How many UK Web companies have successfully executed ideas on the global stage in recent years? LastMinute.com, Last.FM, Skype (not UK founders though). How many other technology-based Web companies? There are embarrassingly few. How about the US? Well, already this year we’ve seen MySQL exit to Sun Microsystems for $1 billion, Microsoft bid $44 billion for Yahoo! (albeit in vein so far), a TechCrunch source says that an acquisition of Bebo (built and executed in the US) for $1 billion is “definitely happening”…and we’re only just over half way through February!

With the right network of contacts – the right investors, partners and market specialists, there’s no reason why the UK can’t produce successes with much higher frequency. Web Mission is a firm step in the right direction.

We want GroupSpaces to be further evidence that it’s possible to build globally successful companies from the UK. We want to be part of this event.

Wish us luck!