London, 20 November 2008: Braben, the public relations consultancy specialising in increasing audiences and building revenues for media brands, has announced that it is partnering with WebMission, an initiative designed to showcase the UK’s Web Entrepreneurs. 

WebMission is an annual competition that takes 20 of the top UK web-based start ups to San Francisco to share experiences with leading web entrepreneurs, extend their businesses and meet some of the world’s leading venture capitalists. The partnership will see Braben providing ongoing media relations support for WebMission 09, its sponsors and those businesses that are selected to participate.

This year’s competition is being launched in London on 19th November, as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, at an event that will be attended by senior Government and Industry leaders. Sponsors and partners already supporting WebMission 09 include Oracle, UK Trade & Investment, UK Technology Strategy Board, Web 2.0 Expo (O’Reilly and TechWeb), TechCrunch and Library House.

Matt Bourn, Managing Director of Braben said: “The current economic climate fosters entrepreneurship. The change in circumstances that arises through a downturn means people and businesses have new problems to overcome and web entrepreneurs are seizing the opportunity to offer solutions to these. As a media specialist Braben’s clients are leaders in digital environments and, whether it is driving audiences or attracting commercial partners, Braben is well versed in using PR to optimise fast growth digital brands.”

James Lawn, co-founder of Polecat and WebMission added: “We looked hard at a number of consultancies when seeking a partner for WebMission 09. We found Braben offered the greatest levels of insight into the challenges facing digital brands, as well as the media knowledge to be able to build the profile of the event and support the participating companies and sponsors.”