If you'd invested in: Taptica and Microsaic Systems

published 16 December 2016

Taptica (Aim: TAP) is an Israeli digital marketing company with offices in San Francisco and New York. The company has recently moved its efforts away from display ads on desktop computers to focus on advertising on smartphones as traffic and revenue moves to handheld devices. As part of the transition, it changed its name from Marimedia to Taptica. After listing on Aim in 2014, the shares fell sharply, but in the last year they have risen by more than 140%.

Woking-based Microsaic Systems (AIM: MSYS) makes mass-spectrometry instruments for the pharmaceutical industry, which it claims are much smaller and more cost efficient than traditional equipment. It was established in 2001, and does not currently make a profit, with a pre-tax loss of £1.7m in the six months to 30 June, a performance the management called "very encouraging". Shareholders don't seem to agree: the shares have fallen by more than 80% in the last year.

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Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.

If you'd invested in: Taptica and Microsaic Systems

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