The NACUE Varsity Pitch Competition is about more than just the £10,000 prize from Tata (although that is pretty important). It’s about the opportunity to practice your pitching, to expose your business to new audiences and to receive valuable feedback from an expert panel of judges.
We have an awesome line up of judges this year and we can’t wait to reveal them all to you. This Grand Final judge is an expert marketeer, bringing YPlan app to the masses.
Ian is a digital and mobile marketing veteran having been at the forefront of developing digital industries such as mobile content, mobile entertainment, on-line gambling and financial services for over 13 years. Ian is currently the Marketing Director for multiple award winning start-up YPlan.
YPlan is the ultimate event discovery and ticket booking platform for impulsive city-dwellers in London, New York and San Francisco. YPlan inspires people to enjoy their city like never before. The free app (available on iOS, Android and Kindle Fire) allows users to browse upcoming gigs, food tastings, theatre shows and gallery exhibitions, meaning they can book tickets to some of their city’s best attractions in two taps.
YPlan Fact Sheet
- Launched in London (Nov ’12), New York (Sept ’13) and San Francisco (Feb ’14)
- Secured $37.7 million in funding to date
- Seed: $1.7 million
- Series A: $12 million (more than Twitter, Soundcloud and Dropbox achieved combined when they were at the same stage in their growth)
- Series B: $24 million (more than either Skype, YouTube or LinkedIn achieved separately when they were at the same stage in their growth)
- Investment from Octopus Investments, Wellington Partners, Nokia Growth Partners, A-Grade Investments and Shakil Khan
- Over 1,500,000 downloads globally (around 35% of all iPhones in London)
- Works with over 1,000 event partners in London including the Barbican, the South Bank Centre, the Royal Albert Hall, the Roundhouse and the Comedy Store
- Support from the likes of Ashton Kutcher (investor), Pharrell Williams (advisor) and Stephen Fry
- Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle Fire and Android
- YPlan is available on the web, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire.
YPlan Awards
· Sunday Times Tech Track 100: Ones to Watch
· WIRED: Europe’s 100 Hottest Start-ups 2014
· Forbes: Hottest Global Start-up of 2013
· Evening Standard: Power List Tech Stars (Rytis Vitkauskas)
· Evening Standard: Silicon 60 (Rytis Vitkauskas)
· Hospital Club 100 List: Gaming and Tech (Rytis Vitkauskas and Viktoras Jucikas)
· Startups Awards: Business of the Year
· Startups Awards: Mobile Business of the Year
· Tech City News Elevator Pitch Awards: Fastest Growing Startup 2013
· Appsters Awards: Best Entertainment App 2013
· Annual Angel Investment Award: VC Deal of the Year
· Digital Masters Awards: Excellence in Product
· Tech City News: International Hall of Fame Winner
Before joining YPlan Ian headed up the marketing function for a new special projects division within Paddy Power. He was responsible for devising the brand identity and all acquisition and retention marketing activity for new mobile brands for Paddy Power. Ian was also part of the wider Mobile Excellence and Innovation strategy team that kept Paddy Power as the number 1 mobile gambling brand in the world. Previous to joining Paddy Power in April 2012, Ian spent 2 years as head of marketing & business development in the mobile strategy division of A&N Media, working on the app marketing and mobile direction for A&N Media brands such as Daily Mail, Metro, FindaProperty and Jobsite. Prior to this, Ian was the European marketing manager for one of mobile contents founding companies I-play, working on over 100 Java mobile game launches and 40+ iPhone & Android games. Ian has also spoken at many marketing conferences and events on various mobile and innovation subjects. Want to pitch your business to Ian? Apply today at varsitypitchcompetition.com 
