I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
- Lyrics Arthur Freed, music Nacio Herb Brown (dance moves Gene Kelly)
It seems that it remains fashionable to knock the London startup community - especially if you’re a former resident. There is no question that London (and Europe) has a long way to go. But we really believe London has a lot to offer as world-class design & marketing, access to global markets and significant capital become more and more of a competitive advantage for ambitious companies.

Our experience investing in London over the last 10 years, is that this is a city that attracts great entrepreneurs and has consistently produced very significant technology start ups. Although we love investing in other established and emerging technology hotbeds like Palo Alto, San Francisco, LA, New York, Berlin, Stockholm, Moscow and Tel Aviv - we love London.

So while the sun may not shine and the rain often dulls the spirit, we humbly submit a first cut at The London List.

Below are 45 London companies, who we know well that have either exceeded $10m in annual revenues (in many cases $100m) or have established and are leading their markets globally.

These companies show that there’s a lot more to London’s future than Wimbledon, the Royal Wedding and the 2012 Olympics.

So next time you’re in town rather than get depressed, why not spend a couple of hours with each of these companies. If you were working Valley hours and keeping to this list, it will only take you 5-6 days. So, still lots of time for visiting the Tate Modern, going to the theatre, a gig at the Round House, the beautiful game at the Emirates or whatever takes your fancy.

No need to even bother with the very significant bases Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, Yahoo, AOL, eBay and apparently Twitter are planning in London to see why they find London so compelling. In fact, let’s hope the London List doesn’t get too much beyond 50 otherwise you’d be staying for at least a month each time :)

Looking forward to your comments on the list below, any additions or corrections - and most of all, looking forward to helping the next generation of world-beaters to get their start from London.

A good place to start might be Seedcamp London - you can still apply.

So....

In the last 10 years:

  1. ASOS
  2. Betfair
  3. King.com
  4. Lastminute
  5. Lovefilm
  6. Messagelabs
  7. Miniclip
  8. Moneybookers
  9. Moneysupermarket
  10. Net-a-Porter
  11. Ocado
  12. Photobox
  13. Rightmove
  14. Shazam
  15. Skype

In the last 5 years:

  1. Alfresco
  2. Badoo
  3. Canonical
  4. Huddle
  5. Just Eat
  6. Livebookings
  7. Mimecast
  8. Moo
  9. Moshi Monsters
  10. Not on the High Street
  11. OpenX
  12. Playfish
  13. Quidco
  14. Scansafe
  15. Seatwave
  16. Simply Business
  17. Spotify
  18. Viagogo
  19. Wonga
  20. Zoopla

On the way:

  1. Alertme
  2. Astley Clarke
  3. Fizzback
  4. Glasses Direct
  5. People per Hour

Emerging Category Leaders:

  1. Amee
  2. Groupspaces
  3. Seedcamp
  4. Songkick
  5. Tweetdeck