The Guardian identified ten start-ups in the mature dot-com market for start-ups and noted that speaking English forces UK companies to be far more competitive, as they have to lock horns with their US counterparts.
Britain's dotcom scene is also interesting for its distinct lack of "me-too" websites – copycats of successful services (often from Silicon Valley) that spring up looking for cash. Whereas continental entrepreneurship is littered with imitations of American services (translating an existing concept into German) businesses in the UK are fully aware that rip-offs don't cut the mustard when you already speak the same language.
Most of the companies base their business models upon social networking and the nexus of ideas called Web 2.0, in niche areas such as frequent travellers or loans. My favouites were in recruitment (Zupka), alternate reality gaming (Mindcandy), online identity management (Garlik) and user-generated local information (Trusted Places).