On Sept. 28, the Denver Office of Economic Development (OED) named its Denver Gazelles, successful, high-growth companies with the potential for more growth. All of the honorees, Altitude Digital, Four Winds Interactive, ProtectWise and Wayin, are tech companies. It's both the fourth year for
Denver Startup Week and
Denver Gazelles.
"We want the venture capital community to recognize that something special is happening in Denver," explains Paul Washington, OED executive director. "We're proud to celebrate entrepreneurism through the Denver Gazelles. These firms are widely recognized as companies on a path of growth and each will have a remarkable exit strategy."
The oldest of the awardees, Four Winds Interactive, is 10 years old. That company, which offers digital interactive communications services and software, has 325 employees in Denver and more than 5,000 clients across the world ranging from hospitals to stadiums.
The youngest of the companies honored this year, ProtectWise, was founded in April 2013. That company is a network security firm offering the Cloud Network DVR, a tool that records network information with what it calls a virtual camera. it allows its users see threats in real time and go review the traffic to discover any previously unknown threats. The company has raised more than $17 million is led by former employees of McAfee, IBM, Mandiant and Proofpoint. It's been named to Network World's list of "10 Security Start-Ups to Watch" and a 2015 Gartner Cool Vendor in Cloud Security Services.
Altitude Digital, a digital media company, is a bootstrapping success story. Founder Jeremy Ostermiller started the company in 2009 with just $500. Now it has 90 employees and is recognized as one of the fastest growing video advertising technology companies in the world. For the past four years it's been one of Inc.'s 500|5000 Top Private Companies in America and received other awards.
The fourth company recognized as a Denver Gazelle this year is Wayin, another digital marketing company that's focused on integrating social media with marketing. The Denver-based company was founded in 2010 and has 61 employees.
The office will celebrate the 2015 awardees and host a panel discussion with them and former awardees at Denver Startup Week's Basecamp on Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. It also produced a video featuring interviews with the current and past honorees.
Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com.
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