The British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) is proud to announce the first graduates of its HyperGrowth program and the opening of applications for a second cohort. After completing the intensive six-month program, RentMoola, EDP Software, and Thinkific were recognized during the BCTIA Innovation Hub Anniversary Celebration held on January 21, 2016.

Built around a simple yet powerful formula, HyperGrowth combines the key principles of Connections, Expertise, and Accountability, to deliver exceptional results. Cumulatively, the three cohort companies doubled their revenue, increased staffing by 50%, and attracted more than $2.3MM in new investment over the course of the program.

“The speed at which HyperGrowth companies began to see results was encouraging, and further proved our hypothesis that second-stage support was sorely needed in our province,” said Bill Tam, BCTIA President and CEO. “British Columbia, and Vancouver in particular, has developed a strong startup ecosystem, but fewer than 4% of tech companies ever make it beyond $10MM. In order to grow a tech middle class, these companies need support, and HyperGrowth has found the recipe to do just that.”

After what can only be described as a successful launch, the BCTIA has announced a second HyperGrowth cohort will begin programming in May 2016. With the support of local anchor tech companies such as Build Direct, ACL, and Microsoft, “HyperGrowth 2.0” will again operate at zero cost to the cohort companies, including sponsored office space during the six-month residency program.

“It has been a pleasure to work alongside the other HyperGrowth mentors to support these companies as they build a solid foundation for future success,” said Mike Hilton, Director, Partner Business Evangelism for Microsoft Canada. “I look forward to seeing these businesses become leaders in their markets.”

In addition to office space and mentorship, the HyperGrowth cohort will also participate in masterclass sales and marketing workshops led by industry-leading functional experts from Vancouver’s top tech companies. Included in HyperGrowth’s roster is Matt Switzer, Hootsuite’s Vice President of Corporate Development.

“I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to help build a startup like Hootsuite,” said Switzer. “To have been able to share those lessons with the HyperGrowth cohort, a group of companies who were hungry to succeed and ready, willing, and able to put those lessons into action, was awesome. I’m looking forward to working with the second cohort of HyperGrowth companies and keeping the momentum going.”

Following graduation, HyperGrowth’s inaugural cohort will also be returning to offer support to companies participating in the intensive program. “As the first cohort, we didn’t know what to expect from HyperGrowth. It was more challenging than we anticipated but now, six-months later, EDP has built a stronger pipeline, closed some of our largest deals to date, and we know exactly how to move forward in 2016 and beyond,” said Sachin Agrawal, CEO of EDP Software.

“HyperGrowth helped us improve several key business processes including sales,” added Philipp Postrehovsky, COO & Co-Founder, RentMoola. “It also provided valuable media and speaking opportunities to help position us as one of North America’s emerging fintech leaders.”

Greg Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Thinkific, concurred. “We made key connections during HyperGrowth that have led to amazing opportunities with investors and customers. The actionable advice we received has already proven invaluable in accelerating our growth. Even after completion of the program we continue to receive excellent guidance to help with our ongoing growth plans. I’m looking forward to helping future cohorts see similar results.”

Applications are now open for the HyperGrowth program, which will expand to four companies for its second cohort. The BCTIA is hosting a HyperGrowth information session on Wednesday, February 17 at 5:30pm. To register, visit hypergrowthinfo.eventbrite.ca.

For more information on the HyperGrowth program, and to apply, visit hypergrowth.bctia.org.