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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Announcing Changes to the 2011 Ready to Rocket Program

We are pleased to announce that the 2011 Ready to Rocket Recognition Program will feature 3 Ready to Rocket lists:

  • January 25th 2011 - Ready to Rocket ICT List (Information and Communications Technologies)
  • February 22nd 2011 - Ready to Rocket CleanTech List
  • February 27th 2011 - Ready to Rocket Life Sciences List
Nominations for all 3 lists will open November 29th 2010.

Emerging Rockets 2010 - ICT

The Information Technology and Communications companies recognized as Emerging Rockets:

Clarity Accounting
Cryptolyx
Disternet
Indicee
Oprius
Veridae
Vineyard Networks

B.C.'s Hot and Emerging BioTech and HealthTech Companies for 2010

This year, in addition to the Ready to Rocket list which profiles superior revenue performance, we are recognizing some BioTech Commercialization Rockets. We have identified some BioTech Companies with a breakthrough year upcoming:

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Sirius Genomics Inc.
enGene, Inc.

The 2010 Emerging Rockets list for BioTech and HealthTech companies in B.C.:

ARC Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Cogent Health Solutions Inc.
HealthSpace Integrated Solutions Ltd.
Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Kardium Inc.
LightIntegra Technology Inc.
Zymeworks Inc.

Announcing 2010 Ready to Rocket List

Rocket Builders Names Top 25 Technology Companies to
the 2010 ‘Ready to Rocket 25’ List


Annual list highlights technology trends and those private BC companies
positioned for high growth potential in 2010

VANCOUVER, BC – January 26, 2010 –
Rocket Builders today released its eighth annual ‘Ready to Rocket 25’ list naming 25 privately held BC companies that are best positioned
to capitalize on the 2010 technology sector trends that will lead them to faster growth than their peers.

The annual ‘Ready to Rocket 25’ list provides accurate predictions of companies that will likely experience significant revenue growth, venture capital investment or acquisition by a major player in the coming year. The ‘Ready to Rocket 25’ list is the only predictive list of its kind in North America.

The Ready to Rocket list is viewed by investors from around the world. According to Kevin Cable, an Executive Vice President with Seattle-based Cascadia Capital, "When a BC company hits my radar I check to see if they are on the Ready to Rocket list. It helps me understand if they are a company I should get to know."

There are 19 companies on the 2010 list that repeat as “Ready to Rocket” recipients. The 6 new companies to appear on the “Ready to Rocket” list are:
• MetroLeap Media
• Axia Software Corporation
• Clevest Solutions Inc
• Advanced Ecommerce Research Systems (AERS)
• Conasys Consumer Assurance Systems Inc
• Pulse Energy, Inc

Each year, Rocket Builders does many man months of investigation into market trends and companies to refine its selection criteria. For 2010, much attention was spent on identifying industry sectors where the economy will recover more quickly while also identifying solutions where customer demand is more urgent.

“In the past we have observed how trends like Software-as-a-Service or new wireless technologies like the BlackBerry had driven growth of B.C. companies.” said Geoffrey Hansen, Managing Partner at Rocket Builders. “For the coming year, we are predicting a big impact for Smart Grid technology. We’ve already observed increased Venture Capital interest, including a recent large financing of B.C.’s Tantalus Systems.”

MetroLeap, Axia, Clevest and AERS are past recipients of “Emerging Rocket” recognition, a list that identifies pre-growth companies with high likelihood of acquiring investment and customers to position themselves for future selection as “Ready to Rocket” companies.

Today, Rocket Builders is also publishing its 2010 lists of “Emerging Rockets” and highlights companies across 4 areas of technology:
• BioTech & HealthTech
• CleanTech
• Information Technology and Communications (ICT)
• Internet, Wireless and New Media

According to Dave Thomas, Senior Partner at Rocket Builders, "B.C. has strong clusters of emerging technology companies that are attractive to investors. At this year’s Canadian Financing Forum in Vancouver later this week, attendees have indicated increased interest in early stage investing in B.C. companies."

For details on the ‘Ready to Rocket 25” list and the “Emerging Rockets” lists, please visit http://www.readytorocket.com

2009 Ready to Rocket list results

Rocket Builders Reveals Success of the 2009 ‘Ready to Rocket 25’ List

Despite challenging economic conditions, companies on 2009 Ready to Rocket List have breakthrough growth and drive employment

VANCOUVER, BC – January 26, 2010 –

Each year, Rocket Builders releases a report card of the previous year’s Ready to Rocket list in conjunction with the announcement of the next year’s Ready to Rocket list.

Companies on the 2009 list far exceeded the performance of the economy and the technology sector as a whole (which grew at close to 3% to 4% last year).

“The average growth rate across the 25 companies on our list was 75% revenue growth with 9 companies more than doubling their 2008 revenue performance.” said Geoffrey Hansen, Managing Partner at Rocket Builders. “Equally impressive was the 900 employees employed by these companies and the 11% average headcount growth representing new jobs created despite the slow economy.”

This data is consistent with economic forecasts predicting “small businesses” as they key drivers of new jobs in the current economy.
Many economists are reporting an “asymmetric recovery” for the economy, meaning that some industry sectors will recover much sooner than others.

“With many of the Ready to Rocket companies being vertically focused, we observe their growth to vary across industry focus” said Reg Nordman, Managing Partner at Rocket Builders, “We noted that some companies saw good quarters all through 2009, while others saw increasing performance in the latter part of the year. In fact, some companies observed record lows and highs for their recent company history within the 2009 year.”

Another positive performance indicator was the financial positions and investment and acquisition activity observed:
• Neoteric was acquired by a US company in April of 2009
• 10 of the 25 companies received significant investment capital in 2009
• many companies reported a record quarter in the 4th quarter of the 2009 calendar year
• many companies that did not receive investment are operating as profitable companies

For details on the ‘Ready to Rocket 25” list and the “Emerging Rockets” lists, please visit http://www.readytorocket.com