April 06, 2007 | Imaginestics LLC named top incubator graduate by national association
ATHENS, Ohio, and WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (April 6, 2007) — The National Business Incubation Association honored software developer Imaginestics LLC as this year’s Outstanding Incubator Graduate in the technology category during the NBIA's 21st International Conference on Business Incubation held April 1 - 4 in Seattle, Wash.
The National Business Incubation Association is the world's leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. Each year, the NBIA Incubation Awards honor the business incubation programs, graduates and client companies that exemplify the best of the industry. The organization’s Outstanding Incubator Graduate award recognizes companies that have met an incubation program's specified exit criteria.
Imaginestics (http://www.imaginestics.com) is a former client of the Purdue Technology Centers, which is the Purdue Research Park's incubation complex near the main campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Imaginestics’ software enables buyers to find manufacturing parts and products on the Web using shapes, including freehand sketch doodles, images, 3-D models and 2-D drawings as search inputs. Development of the shape search technology originated in research labs at Purdue University, so founders Nainesh Rathod and Jamie Tan said it made good sense to launch the company at Purdue Research Park.
“They [incubator staff] have been the conduit between Purdue researchers and Imaginestics, and this has helped Imaginestics’ overall value,” said Rathod, Imaginestics’ president and CEO. “In particular, Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization has been extremely helpful with technology licensing, which has allowed us to develop our solution aggressively with the peace of mind of being adequately protected but without incurring upfront technology patent cost.”
The company employs 19 and reports annual revenue of $1.15 million.
Two other Purdue Research Park-based companies — ICx Griffin Analytical and Quadraspec Inc. — also were named last month as finalists in the NBIA's 2007 awards program. ICx Griffin Analytical (formerly Griffin Analytical Technologies Inc.) was named as a finalist for the NBIA's 2007 Outstanding Incubator Graduate award in the technology category. Quadraspec was named a finalist for the 2007 Outstanding Incubator Client award in the technology category.
Business incubators like the Purdue Technology Centers catalyze the process of starting and growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. In 2001 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 35,000 startup companies that provided full-time employment for nearly 82,000 workers and generated earnings of more than $7 billion. Approximately 5,000 business incubators operate worldwide.
About Purdue Research Park
Purdue Research Park (http://www.purdueresearchpark.com) encompasses 591 acres in West Lafayette and is home to the largest university-affiliated, state-of-the-art business incubator complex in the nation. Within the park, 140 businesses, of which more than 90 are high-tech, employ more than 2,900 people. The Association of University Research Parks recognized Purdue Research Park for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 2005, and the park received the organization's Research/Science Park Company of the Year Award of Excellence in 2004.