CED Announces 2012 North Carolina Companies to Watch Award Recipients

 25 recipients created 936 jobs and represent $191M in revenue for North Carolina

Durham, N.C., May 7, 2012—CED, the Southeast’s largest entrepreneurial support organization, today announced the 25 recipients of the third annual North Carolina Companies to Watch award. The award honors growth oriented, second-stage companies headquartered in North Carolina that demonstrate high performance in their market, exhibit innovative products and display other unique qualities that make them “worth watching.”

The 25 recipients collectively added jobs at an annual rate of 35 percent between 2008 and 2011, totaling 936 new jobs, and grew revenue by an annual rate of 41 percent during the same period, totaling $191 million in revenue.

North Carolina Companies to Watch is presented by CED in partnership with the Edward Lowe Foundation. The 25 recipients will be recognized at an awards dinner on June 7, 2012, at the Raleigh Marriott City Center in Raleigh, NC. The awards dinner is open to the public, and registration for the event is currently open.

“These 25 companies collectively tell the story of how North Carolina is growing jobs and revenue through innovation,” said Joan Siefert Rose, CED president. “We are pleased that the winners represent a wide range of the state’s regions and industry sectors.  Each company is unique and we will be sharing the stories of their success at the awards ceremony.”

The 2012 North Carolina Companies to Watch are:

6Fusion (Raleigh)

ACF Technologies, Inc. (Asheville)

Advanced Liquid Logic, Inc. (Research Triangle Park)

Amidon Contracting Solutions, Inc. (Youngsville)

Argand Energy Solutions (Charlotte)

Argyle Social (Durham)

Automated Insights, Inc. (Durham)

Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, Inc. (Moravian Falls)

Combat Medical Systems (Fayetteville)

d-Wise Technologies (Raleigh)

EvoApp (Durham)

Infina Connect Healthcare Systems, Inc. (Cary)

Intelligent Access Systems (Garner)

Mariner Container, LLC (Granite Falls)

Mother Earth Brewing (Kinston)

Netsertive, Inc. (Research Triangle Park)

PharPoint Research, Inc. (Durham)

Prometheus Group (Raleigh)

Relevance, Inc. (Durham)

Smarter Systems (Charlotte)

Southern Fasteners and Supply, Inc. (Winston-Salem)

The Mother Earth Group, Inc. (Charlotte)

Valencell, Inc. (Raleigh)

XS, Inc. (Morrisville)

Zift Solutions, Inc. (Durham)

“Our research shows that second-stage companies are the champions of sustainable job creation,” said Penny Lewandowski, director of entrepreneurship development at the Edward Lowe Foundation. “In addition to providing jobs, these companies are setting trends in innovation and discovery, powering economic growth in their region, in the state and for the nation.”

The 2012 North Carolina Companies to Watch recipients were selected from an initial pool of more than 200 nominees from across the state. They are privately-held companies with six to 99 employees and generate between $750,000 and $50 million in annual revenue from sales receipts, grants or investors.

CED’s partners for North Carolina Companies to Watch are: Business Innovation & Growth, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, NC Biotechnology Center, NC Institute of Minority Economic Development, NC Technology Association, NC Rural Center, Packard Place, Research Triangle Regional Partnership, SBTDC, Women Presidents’ Organization and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP.

For more information on the award recipients or to register for the North Carolina Companies to Watch awards dinner, please visit http://www.cednc.org/ncctw.

About CED

CED’s mission is to identify, enable and promote emerging growth companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. Learn more at http://www.cednc.org.

  

About The Edward Lowe Foundation

The foundation is a Michigan-based nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurship through recognition, education and research with a focus on second-stage companies—those that have moved beyond the startup phase and seek significant, steady growth.

About Companies to Watch

Companies to Watch is a unique awards program developed by the Edward Lowe Foundation to honor second-stage companies that demonstrate high performance in the marketplace, exhibit innovative products or processes, or otherwise make those companies worth watching.

Press Contact:

Jason H. Parker

Associate Director, Marketing & Communications

919.226.0466

jparker@cednc.org