blur Group is a technology company reinventing how businesses do commerce at blurgroup.com. Its Global Services Exchange delivers services differently: a new way to buy, manage and pay for core services. As of July 2013, more than 30,000 businesses in 141 countries have adopted this s-commerce platform and changed the way they work. 100 projects per month from companies like Broadridge, Coral, Exceed, HCA, Momentive, Red Commerce, the Financial Times, Berlitz, Butlins, GE Healthcare and Tyco are received. Over the same time, average brief value has grown from around US$1,500 in 2010 to US$10,800 in the first quarter of 2013. By mid-2013, more than 2,200 projects had been submitted with a combined value of over US$35 million. These have come from the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Asia with over 28,000 expert service providers on eight exchanges responding to them


http://blurgroup.com/

LISTEN: Philip Letts, CEO of blur Group talks to us about the company's move into Exeter HQ

Click here to listen

blur Group starting new wave in the South-West
By John Harrington December 05 2013, 8:09am Gerry Shattock, business development manager for the Exeter Science Park concluded, “blur’s move to the Science Park is a real milestone in the South West’s emergence as the UK’s own Silicon valley.”Gerry Shattock, business development manager for the Exeter Science Park concluded, “blur’s move to the Science Park is a real milestone in the South West’s emergence as the UK’s own Silicon valley.”

Silicon Roundabout in east London is so 2013; blur Group’s (LON:BLUR) relocation to Exeter is set to make the south-west England’s new tech hub, politicians believe.

The fast-growing services-commerce group is moving into its state-of-the-art Exeter headquarters this week, bringing research & development, marketing and community operations together in what blur described as “one cohesive push that will see blur further expand the horizons of the services commerce market and more”.

In all, 40 employees will move into the new office, with a total of 100 on course to be employed at the headquarters by the end of 2014.

The new Exeter residence becomes the flagship office for blur Group, with supporting regional business hubs keeping strong ties to commerce in London, Dallas and Southern California.

The decision to relocate to Exeter stems from the belief of Philip Letts, the founder and chief executive of blur, that a proximity to the coastline and access to the talents of local universities will lead to a technological revolution in the South West.

Like California’s Silicon Glen, the location is also pretty handy if you are into surfing…

(That’s surfing on a surfboard, not surfing the web).

“It’s perhaps not an expected choice of relocation until you really look into the bedrock there - solid tech foundations, a landscape encouraging businesses to think bigger and the space to expand in at over time,” Letts says.

Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna endorsed blur’s move, saying it was good that regions other than London had their own technology champions.

The MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw, was not slow to draw the comparison with Silicon Glen.

“Silicon Valley was all about bringing young people to a place looking for quality of life – we have a fantastic environment and a forward-looking and innovative university here,” Bradshaw said.

As well as celebrating its move to swish new offices, the group is also basking in the glow of recognition from an investment magazine that gave the company the “Best LSE AIM Company Achievement Award” recently.

Blur wins the best AIM company achievement award from shares.

SMALL CAP MOVERS: 2013 a good year for FTSE AIM 100 - barring last-minute festive surprises

Elsewhere, in the technology sector, blur Group’s (unchanged today at 457.5p) relocation to Exeter is set to make the south-west England’s new tech hub, politicians believe.


The fast-growing services-commerce group is moving into its state-of-the-art Exeter headquarters this week, bringing research & development, marketing and community operations together in what blur described as 'one cohesive push that will see blur further expand the horizons of the services commerce market and more'.


In all, 40 employees will move into the new office, with a total of 100 on course to be employed at the headquarters by the end of 2014.


The rapid growth in blur Group's business is plain to see with even a casual glance at the share price chart. Since listing on AIM last October, the stock has soared, rising over 500 per cent, to record intraday highs of 500p this week.




By Jamie Ashcroft, Proactive Investors

PUBLISHED: 14:55, 6 December 2013 | UPDATED: 14:55, 6 December 2013





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2519427/2013-good-year-FTSE-AIM-100--barring-minute-festive-surprises.html

Topped 104 million today best estimate was a million by xmas KPIs are going to be stupendous at this growth rate

LISTEN: blur Group - Furthers s-commerce ambitions with key appointments in Dallas and London

Click here

blur Group attracting high calibre talent

By Giles Gwinnett

December 11 2013, 5:14pm


blur (LON: BLUR) said it was continuing to attract high calibre talent as it unveiled key management changes across the group.

The appointments relate to three positions across the Dallas and London offices.

Brian Davis joins as general manager of North America, reporting to Gerry Gross, blur's chief commercial officer.

Meanwhile, the London office sees Ariane Gras and Clare McSporran appointed as Head of Global Exchange Support and Manager of Exchange Support respectively.

Davis has 14 years of sales experience including a lengthy tenure within the aerospace and defence software industry.

French-native Gras comes to blur following five years at Google, where she most recently undertook the role of Industry Manager for top Google advertisers in the Telco sector. She will also report to Gerry Gross.

blur Group CEO Philip Letts told investors: “Brian’s appointment will further strengthen the management team in Dallas, TX, reinforcing blur Group’s s-commerce leadership position in the US.”

On the appointments, he said: "The continued attraction of such high caliber talent is a key validation of blur Group in the marketplace

Exponential growth expected at blur Group as new signings bed in

By Jamie Nimmo

December 12 2013, 11:14am
N+1 Singer said the hires reflect continued strengthening of blur’s management team as it supports its strong growth
N+1 Singer said the hires reflect continued strengthening of blur’s management team as it supports its strong growth


Exponential growth is still very much on the cards for s-commerce specialist blur Group (LON:BLUR), according to N+1 Singer.

The broker’s comments come on the back of two important management appointments in blur’s London and Dallas offices.

Brian Davis joins as general manager of North America, reporting to Gerry Gross, blur's chief commercial officer.

Meanwhile, the London office sees Ariane Gras and Clare McSporran appointed as Head of Global Exchange Support and Manager of Exchange Support respectively.

Davis has 14 years of sales experience including a lengthy tenure within the aerospace and defence software industry.

French-native Gras comes to blur following five years at Google, where she most recently undertook the role of Industry Manager for top Google advertisers in the Telco sector. New Zealander McSporran has been promoted from the position of Studio Manager.

N+1 Singer said the hires reflect continued strengthening of blur’s management team as it supports its strong growth, bolstered recently by partnerships with the likes of Chinese online marketplace Alibaba.com and business advertising network business.com.

“Strong additions to its management team and the recent move of its global headquarters to the Exeter Science Park where it has ready access to the talents of local universities should ensure continued robust execution,” said N+1 analyst Tintin Stormont.

She points out that the value of projects submitted to date on the trading platform is US$104mln, which implies the value of projects submitted so far in the fourth quarter is US$53.4mln, much higher than the US$17.3mln and US$9.4mln in the third and second quarters respectively.

Another 3.5 million in contracts added this week makes it 107,605 ie 57mln fourth
quarter.

Just been revised back down to 105,607 dont know why that happens, anyone know
why ??

Kevkan, My take on the counter. As it states its the value of projects submitted .

The client submits their brief of the project to be undertaken and the experts pitch for that business. Blur then choose the best pitches and seem to manage the project in various ways. So it looks like the counter adds the project on very early on in the stage of the cycle. My guess is that the client looking for the project to be done does not have to accept the companies chosen and can withdraw. There must be a point in the cycle where the sort of contract becomes binding, may be after you give your preference of who will carry out your project ?. So perhaps something like the above goes on and then the counter has to be re-adjusted. Just guessing.

Cheers bud that makes sense

blurGroup

by Will van Wyngaarden

16 December, 2013




We’re not the only ones interested in the potential of Exeter as ITV reports on blur’s new HQ and the Silicon Valley parallels.

With interviews with both blur Group CEO Philip Letts and Ben Bradshaw, the MP for Exeter, it’s an interesting watch. Plus there’s some great footage showing the interior of the new office and the blur staff hard at work.




http://blurgroup.com/blog/2013/12/16/itv-reports-on-blurs-hq-move-to-exeter/

Mobile Launch and Project Milestone

RNS


RNS Number : 6899V

blur (Group) plc

17 December 2013






RNS REACH

17th December 2013

blur (Group) Plc

("blur Group" or the "Company")





s-commerce sector's already-stellar growth set to accelerate as blur

Group's Exchange goes mobile



2,000 projects milestone demonstrates accelerating annual run rate





blur Group, the company that is reinventing commerce at blurgroup.com, announces today that s-commerce (or services-commerce) will be going fully mobile. The news comes as blur celebrates another major milestone - its 2,000th project submitted to the Exchange in 2013. By way of comparison in blur's first full trading year, in 2010, under 200 projects were submitted.



To ensure that this growth rate can continue the first phase of an immersive mobile experience launched this week. Customers can now start their projects on the Exchange through a buying experience that is optimised across common device formats from PC to tablets and smartphones.



Further planned releases in 2014 will extend the mobile experience by allowing both customers and service providers to manage the key aspects of their projects, including collaboration, project delivery and billing, regardless of operating system or device.



Philip Letts, Founder and CEO, commented,"This is great news for the growth of s-commerce as a sector giving our customers the ability to start projects on the move. Today there are 5 billion mobile phone users worldwide of which 1.5 billion use a smartphone. It is expected that by the end of 2014 there will be around 2 billion smartphone users - all of whom can now enjoy the benefits of s-commerce."



Looking to the future he concluded, "Our success centers around the technology that blur is pioneering - it means that as we take on progressively larger projects they can have just as simple and streamlined a process to execute as for smaller submissions. There's almost no limit to the size or quantity of projects we can take on."





How does it work?

Customers simply tap blurgroup.com into their smartphone browser to see the mobile version. blur's servers detect which device is being used and customers can start their project right away using the streamlined mobile brief app.

blur Group: Panmure Gordon ups target price from 677p to 690p and retains a buy recommendation.

UPDATE - blur Group upwardly mobile

By Jamie Nimmo

December 17 2013, 8:31am
blur's Global Services Exchange has been optimised to suit common device formats to make it easier to use
blur's Global Services Exchange has been optimised to suit common device formats to make it easier to use


--ADDS BROKER COMMENT AND SHARE PRICE---

Blur Group (LON:BLUR) has revealed it is taking its s-commerce platform fully mobile this week.

The group’s Global Services Exchange has been optimised to suit common device formats to make it easier to use.

More releases are planned in 2014 to allow customers and service providers to manage their projects regardless of the operating system or mobile device.

“This is great news for the growth of s-commerce as a sector giving our customers the ability to start projects on the move,” said founder and chief executive Philip Letts.

“Today there are five billion mobile phone users worldwide of which 1.5 billion use a smartphone. It is expected that by the end of 2014 there will be around two billion smartphone users - all of whom can now enjoy the benefits of s-commerce.”

It corresponds with the 2,000th project submitted to the exchange in 2013. To put this into perspective, blur said less than 200 projects were submitted in 2010, its first full year of business.

Broker N+1 Singer said the news should support its expectations of exponential growth in the business.

"It is worth noting that the trading platform is reporting US$106.3mln of value of projects submitted to date, which implies the value of projects submitted in Q4’13 so far is US$55.5mln. This compares against US$17.3mln submitted in Q3’13 and US$9.4mln in Q2’13," said N+1 Singer analyst Tintin Stormont.

"Whilst conversion of projects submitted is a very important metric that drives revenues, this rate of increase at the 'top of the funnel' is highly positive and indicative of the strong momentum the group is seeing," she added.

"Mobile is one of the strongest technology themes playing out in the sector as devices become more powerful and connectivity speeds continue to improve. This is a natural extension to the group’s platform and should accelerate s-commerce adoption even further," Stormont opined.

"We remain of the view that blur’s growth prospects and disruptive offering make it one of the most exciting companies in the sector," she concluded.

Share in blur were up 1.4% to 456.5p in early deals.

blur Group: Panmure Gordon ups target price from 677p to 690p and retains a buy recommendation

blur Group, the company that is reinventing commerce at blurgroup.com, announces today that s-commerce (or services-commerce) will be going fully mobile. The news comes as blur celebrates another major milestone - its 2,000th project submitted to the Exchange in 2013. By way of comparison in blur's first full trading year, in 2010, under 200 projects were submitted.


To ensure that this growth rate can continue the first phase of an immersive mobile experience launched this week. Customers can now start their projects on the Exchange through a buying experience that is optimised across common device formats from PC to tablets and smartphones.

Further planned releases in 2014 will extend the mobile experience by allowing both customers and service providers to manage the key aspects of their projects, including collaboration, project delivery and billing, regardless of operating system or device.

$107,456,460

value of projects submitted

Flip Guy's have you seen the latest scores on the door, $112, 577 & 110 , this going from strength - bloody strength, and I not complaining!! Happy Xmas to you all!

Closed up 6%