Forbes list of most promising American Companies for 2012!

Subjective of course, but Forbes has produced an interesting list which will surprise some readers. Forbes teamed up with CBI Insights, a New York City-based data firm to create a list of America’s Most Promising Companies for 2012. CBI Insights developed complex software called Mosaic which was used for the initial round of analysis. (It mines data from 30,000 sources to come up with a score that measures a company’s potential). Forbes used this information to combine a list of companies to do a second more detailed interview to get a better sense of each company’s growth potential.

A nice mix of industries, although obviously waited in the tech sector. I always mean to revisit these lists in the future to see how accurate they are. Never do of course!

The top 10 of the top 100 on the list include:

1. Smashburger

Since 2007, the burger chain has grown to 143 locations (half franchised owned) and at the end of 2011 had annual revenue of $54 million. A further 450 franchise agreements are already on the books for 2012.

2. BOKU

Founded in 2008, the company creates software that helps merchant’s process payments using a customer’s mobile phone number in place of a credit card. Clients include Facebook! BOKU has raised 42 million in venture capital.

3. Digital Broadcasting Group

Launched in 2006, it produces online-marketing disguised as entertainment for corporations and places them among a network of websites. Customers include Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.

4. Popchips

It makes a unique potato chip snack that contains less than half the fat of fried potato chip. It raised $6 million in August 2011 and has celebrity investors which include Ashton Kutcher, David Ortiz and Sean Combs.

5. Implantable Provider Group

Founded in 2004, the company buys medical implants (like pacemakers), gives them to hospitals and collects reimbursement from insurance carriers directly. The company raised $35 million from Sequoia Capital in March 2010.

6. Virtual Instruments

Launched in 2008, the company sells software and hardware that help large corporations monitor their IT systems—everything from aborted transactions to hardware malfunctions, all tracked in real time. Clients include Unilever and eBay.

7. Allonhill

Founded in 2008, the company audits individual residential mortgage loan files for institutions that buy or sell mortgage-backed securities. The company has 530 employees.

8. SecondMarket

Founded in 2004, the company provides an electronic exchange for $30 billion worth of hard-to-trade assets, including shares of privately held companies, restricted shares in public companies, collateralized debt obligations, auction-rate securities and bankruptcy claims. The company has raised over $30 million in venture capital in the last three years.

9. ServiceNow

Founded in 2004, the company provides a Web-based, virtual IT service desk for corporations. Customers include Johnson & Johnson, Barclay’s and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

10. Opower

Founded in 2007, the company creates software to help homeowners track and limit their energy use. Sells to energy utilities that use it to lure customers and comply with various state energy regulations. Opower has received $65 million in backing since it began operating.

In conclusion, the full list covers 22 industries with software and services being the most predominant. 90 of the companies have raised outside capital, 70 have a CEO who is also a founder, 12 of these CEO’s are under 35 years old and 7 have yet to generate revenue. While it is still unclear whether any of these will become the next ‘Google’ or ‘Facebook’, they do appear to have promising futures.

Read more:

Forbes, America’s Most Promising Companies, December 2011

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