Rocket Builders Names Top Technology Companies To the “Ready to Rocket” lists for 12th Consecutive Year

Annual list highlights technology trends and those private

BC companies positioned for high growth in 2014.

VANCOUVER, BC – March 12, 2014

Rocket Builders today released its twelfth annual “Ready to Rocket” lists of British Columbia technology companies that are best positioned to capitalize on the technology sector trends that will lead them to faster growth than their peers. Rocket Builders also released results from its lists, with 1 company being acquired and 2 companies graduating from future consideration having achieved greater than $20 million in revenue.

The annual 2014 “Ready to Rocket” lists provide accurate predictions of private companies that will likely experience significant growth, venture capital investment or acquisition by a major player in the coming year. The lists cover 3 different technology sectors:

●      Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

●      Cleantech (CT)

●      Life Science (LS)

The “Ready to Rocket” lists are the only predictive lists of its kind in North America, requiring many months of sector and company analysis.

“The technology sector continues to grow in B.C. and presents a growing challenge to select and identify the most likely to succeed.” said Geoffrey Hansen, Managing Partner at Rocket Builders. “Three elements characterize these ‘most likely to succeed’ high growth firms: a growing market opportunity, a unique competitive position and customer validation of a must-have value proposition.”

“The majority of companies on the Ready to Rocket lists do the majority of their business in the United States,” said Reg Nordman, Managing Partner at Rocket Builders, “Economic growth in the USA was modest (about 2%) in 2013, but is expected to be well over 3% in 2014. This economic boost, along with the weakening Canadian dollar, is expected to give B.C. technology companies a revenue boost next year. In past years when the Canadian dollar weakened, Ready to Rocket companies were able to be more competitive and increase profitability.”

The 2013 Ready to Rocket list for ICT performed extremely well. The median growth rate on that list was 50% growth, with the 6 companies exceeding 75% growth and 3 companies exceeding 100% growth. The majority of companies on the list had between 20% growth and 100% growth, and the list as a whole represented the creation of over 400 jobs (40% headcount growth). The 2014 list will feature 25 companies, and the list can be found here:

http://www.readytorocket.com/2014/03/2014-ready-to-rocket-ict-list.html

“The number of ICT companies in B.C. continues to grow, with a number of high profile accelerators contributing to this trend.” said Steven Forth, Senior Partner at Rocket Builders. “The ICT sector as a whole has been driven by cloud computing, mobile and social trends and technologies, and we see those factors driving many of the B.C. companies. Of particular interest is the trend of the ‘Internet of Things’ and ‘Big Data’ which seems to be influencing some of the emerging companies.”

The 2013 Ready to Rocket list for Cleantech also performed extremely well, with a median revenue growth rate approaching 75%. The Cleantech list companies created over 125 new jobs, representing over 35% employment growth. The majority of companies had between 20% and 100% revenue growth and an impressive 33% of the companies on the list were able to more than double their revenue. The 2014 list will feature 15 companies, and the list can be found here:

http://www.readytorocket.com/2014/03/2014-ready-to-rocket-cleantech-list.html   

According to Dave Thomas, Senior Partner at Rocket Builders, “The Cleantech sector in B.C. is broad and becoming more diverse. Growth rates are better than many other regions of North America. B.C. has strong Cleantech companies across key industrial verticals such as: Clean energy, Oil Sands, Petroleum, Transportation and Construction.”

The 2013 Ready to Rocket list for Life Science featured many new investments and key milestones. The 2014 list will feature 10 companies, and the list can be found here:

http://www.readytorocket.com/2014/03/2014-ready-to-rocket-life-science-list.html

According to Thealzel Lee, Senior Partner at Rocket Builders, “2013 has seen significant investments in BC’s life science companies. The major trends influencing this sector include evolving regulatory issues, the need for efficiency in healthcare delivery, and the ongoing convergence with IT technologies.”