Social networking may be dominated by teenagers, but a British start-up aims to cash in by developing a networking website aimed at executives.

Talkbiznow is being launched today in a sector dominated by LinkedIn, a website valued at $1 billion (£536 million), in the belief that professional networking is distinct and potentially as lucrative as the market dominated by MySpace and Facebook.

The growth of LinkedIn, which is signing up one million members a month, suggests that there is a distinct business social networking market. The site has 25 million members globally and 1.5 million in the UK - a tenth of the professional workforce.

Talkbiznow believes that this demonstrates potential in the sector. Martin Warner, chief executive of Talkbiznow and its co-founder, said: “The lead shown by LinkedIn is great because it has pointed up the value of social networks in business.”

Mr Warner, 36, previously worked in technology for JPMorgan and for Bearing Point, the consultancy unit of KPMG, and has raised “a substantial sum” to employ 11 people. Talkbiznow hopes to raise a further $25 million to fund development.

Mr Warner said: “This is not about pictures of your dog or the latest celeb gossip - this is about making your work more productive.”

Revenue is intended to come from advertising and members can embed their own advertisments on their profile and share them with contacts.

Rebecca Jennings, an analyst for Forrester, reckons that a business networking site will succeed only if it attracts high-quality members. “It will be about how many senior executives the site can get,” she said. “There's no point in, for instance, advertising a senior position to a network of graduates.”

Mr Warner hopes to capitalise on the perceived weakness of LinkedIn's in-depth search features. Talkbiznow will use carefully listed criteria for profiles to help members to find exactly what they are searching for.

Nevertheless, Talkbiznow is joining an increasingly competitive field. In Europe, one of the market leaders is Xing, which has 6.1million members, nearly half a million of whom pay for its premium service. The company started in Germany and has grown partly by acquiring sites in Spain and Turkey. It wants to expand in Britain. Revenue for the last quarter almost doubled to €15.9 million (£12.5 million)

LinkedIn, meanwhile, is protecting revenues of $75 million to $100 million this year. Revenues come from advertising and subscription payments from those wanting extra features, such as advanced searches. Its average user is 41, with a salary estimated at £70,000.

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