British Columbia Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc. and Discovery Capital Management Corp. are delighted to announce that two of their portfolio companies were honoured by the British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) at its annual Technology Impact Awards held on June 8, 2010. BC Discovery Fund portfolio companies were honoured as follows:
Avigilon Corporation won the award for ”Emerging Company of the Year”. Avigilon has created the world’s leading high-definition surveillance system, including cameras up to 16 megapixels in definition, IP networks and HD network video recorders. Avigilon has recruited more than 400 partners in 45 countries around the world to sell its solution to many high-profile clients including a number of Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as law enforcement, military and homeland defense agencies. Avigilon continues to deliver on its business plan with solid growth that has exceeded 300% annually since its product line was launched. Founded in 2004, Avigilon and its products have won numerous industry awards and accolades from industry analysts and experts.
Rx Networks Inc. was a finalist in the category of “Team of the Year”. A noted leader in mobile positioning solutions, Rx Networks uses a variety of Assisted-GPS (AGPS) technologies that enable mobile devices to quickly determine their position, even in areas where a traditional GPS fix is unattainable. Rx Networks licenses its solutions to location service providers, semiconductor vendors and mobile device manufacturers to help them deliver a Click’n Go!TM mobile location user experience on any mobile device. Rx Networks was a finalist in this category as a result of its operating team having built, within nine months, their own dual-mode (both GPS and Russian GLONASS) global reference network for a major customer, including the construction of 17 reference stations around the world and two redundant data centres for processing. In 2008, Rx Networks won the BCTIA award for “Most Promising Start-Up”.
Avigilon and Rx Networks are the latest of BC Discovery Fund portfolio companies to have been award winners and nominees at the BCTIA Technology Impact Awards. The others are:
Day4 Energy Inc. – 2008 “Emerging Company of the Year”. Day4 Energy is a leading supplier of high performance, cost-effective solar electric solutions, partnering with international technology leaders to deliver solar products to customers around the world.
Vivonet Inc. – 2008 nominee for “Emerging Company of the Year”. Vivonet is the restaurant industry leader in software as a service (SaaS) solutions that enable, acquire and organize over one hundred million transactions every month for customers in Canada and the United States.
In Motion Technology – 2007 “Best Application of Technology”. In Motion Technology is the leader in mobile networking technologies that connect and manage equipment, information and people in the field, whose solutions are used by more than 250 municipal, healthcare, public safety, transportation and utility organizations worldwide.
Mobidia Technology – 2007 “Most Promising Start-Up”. Mobidia provides operators with a revolutionary software platform that makes mobile data networks more efficient and more profitable by introducing network-edge intelligence and whose optimization technology has consistently demonstrated an ability to recover 15 to 30 percent network capacity at peak times on networks across the globe.
Paradigm Environmental Technologies – 2006 winner of “Excellence in Product Innovation”. Paradigm Environmental has developed MicroSludge®, a patented technology to process wastewater at municipal sewage treatment plants and at industrial facilities.
TIR Systems Inc. – 2004 “Emerging Company of the Year” and 2006 winner of “Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology”. TIR, a developer of a solid state light source incorporating LEDs, was acquired in 2007 by Philips Electronics Ltd. in a $75 million all-cash transaction.
”The 2010 BCTIA Awards mark the fourth time since 1997 that a Discovery Capital portfolio company has won the prestigious “Emerging Company of the Year” Award,” noted Harry Jaako, President and Investment Manager of the Fund. “These are Sierra Wireless (1997), TIR Systems (2004), Day4 Energy (2008) and now Avigilon in 2010. Our mission at Discovery Capital is to select, support, add value to, and profit from, the best technology companies launched in B.C. The continuing success of our award-winning portfolio companies is an affirmation of this goal. We congratulate all our award winners and nominees.”
This press release is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy common shares. This press release may include statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. The issuer cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond its control. Future events and results may vary substantially from what the issuer currently foresees. |
