FibreMax winner of Rising Star 2009; Visys runner up

Rotterdam, 2 October 2009 – FibreMax is the proud winner of the Rising Star Award 2009. The Rising Star Event is part of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program and was organized particularly for Dutch and Belgian businesses under five years. Eleven nominees took up the challenge to hold an elevator pitch at the Rising Star Event. FibreMax from Joure won the event, Visys from Hasselt took an honorable second place. Sendsteps from Amsterdam was voted public winner en Zoover Media from Nijmegen received an honorable mention. 
 
On Thursday 1 October, directors of all nominee businesses held three-minute presentations to explain why they best qualify for the Rising Star. After that, the candidates received critical questions about their visions, growth strategies and future perspectives. The professional jury, composed of Henk Jan Knol (CEO Topicus), Joris Keijzer (former CEO Albumprinter), Paul van Dun (Managing Director Leuven Research & Development) and Elderd Land (partner GIMV), then appointed a winner.
 
Daan Witteveen, partner of Deloitte: “Despite the crisis, it was a head-to-head race once again. All nominees were very well matched; what counted was the best performance in terms of scalability, sales potential and distinctive ability based on in-house technology. We are convinced that several of these businesses will make it to the Fast50. After all, most current Fast50 companies were set up during the previous crisis in 2000.”  Rinze van der Schuit, director of FibreMax, was very happy with the award. “We are proud to win the Rising Star Award, a true recognition of our work. It shows that we are doing the right thing. The next step is to become an international flagbearer for the Netherlands.” “It was a very interesting experience for Visys and hopefully more Belgian businesses will participate next year,” says Frank Zwets, CEO of Visys.
 
Rising Star winners
• FibreMax manufactures lightweight precision cables using a unique production process.
• Visys is an international supplier of digitally automated sorting solutions for food and non-food producers.
• Sendsteps develops products to liven up audience participation during events, for instance by voting on questions through text messaging.
• Zoover Media operates websites with national and international holiday reviews.

About the Deloitte Technology Fast50
The Deloitte Technology Fast50 is an annual election of the fifty fastest growing technology companies. This year, the Technology Fast50 celebrates its tenth anniversary and is open to a larger number of businesses, including Belgian companies. Candidates are selected based on sales growth in percentages over the past five years (2004 - 2008). Participants may either be public or private sector companies and involve all technology segments, such as software, internet, biotech/medical appliances, computers/peripheral equipment, semi-conductors, means of communication/networks, media/entertainment and greentech. The Rising Star election is part of the Technology Fast50 and was organized particularly for businesses under five years. These businesses are not assessed on sales growth. A professional jury assesses the candidates on sales potential and other criteria.