Playfish named Exit of the Year

Social gaming website Playfish won the Exit of the Year award at this year's eighth annual Investor AllStars ceremony.

Ben Holmes, a partner at Index Ventures, collected the award for his involvement in the $400 million (£255 million) sale of Playfish last November.

Holmes also picked up the prize for Venture Capital Personality of the Year. The judges described him as 'a very active investor with a formidable reputation amongst other co-investors'.

Other winners at the awards, held at London’s Park Lane Hilton and organised by investment banking firm GP Bullhound and Business XL publisher Vitesse Media, included Paris-based Sofinnova, for Venture Capital Fund of the Year, and Michael Elias of Kennet Partners, who bagged the Outstanding Contribution award.

Manish Madhvani, co-founder of GP Bullhound and chairman of the judging panel, said, 'The past couple of years have been incredibly testing for the industry as a whole. However if you look deeper than all the negative headlines written about the industry, there are some very promising signals from new and old players.'

Vitesse Media's executive chair Sara Williams comments, 'These awards recognise the investors who are driving innovation and entrepreneurship, working hard to create the blue chips of tomorrow.'