September 4, 2008

Inc. magazine names Purdue Research Park-based company as one of the fastest growing in the country

Passageways' ranking on the "Inc. 5000" list places it ninth among all Indiana-based companies and 27th among all software companies. It is the only West Lafayette business on the 2008 list. The company ranked 453rd out of the 5,000 companies listed. Information about the companies on the list appears in the September issue of Inc.

"This is a true Purdue and West Lafayette story," said Paroon Chadha, Passageways co-founder and vice president of sales and implementation. "From winning an award at a Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurship Competition to becoming the 27th-fastest growing software company has to be good for all entrepreneurs in our vicinity. It is proof that the Purdue Research Park investment is already setting up the ecosystem that startups need to do well."

Passageways had a 697 percent increase in revenue from 2004 to 2006, growing from $274,788 to $2.2 million in annual revenue.

"Passageways customers and prospects should continue to feel reassured about our accomplishments," said Christopher Beltran, vice president of product development and research. "They are true stakeholders in our future, and we are happy to report that we are not only one of the fastest growing companies, but we are doing so profitably for the last four years now. This assures greater investments in more products and services for the Passageways team. Passageways was built on a small angel investment back in January 2003, so this entire growth has been funded by our own profits."

Passageways is an industry-leading provider of enterprise portal solutions to financial institutions. The solutions provide financial institutions with the ability to organize, manage and deliver role-based views and access to enterprise information: content, applications, business processes, collaboration and more.

According to a 2008 Inc. 5000 survey, 82 percent of company executives who responded planned to hire staff within 12 months. Chadha told the magazine that the employee talent pool Passageways hires from Purdue is the company's "X" factor to success. He said the best result from being ranked on the list is that more talent will be attracted to the company.

"We want to open our doors to anyone who has the talent and the right attitude," Chadha said. "As a fast-growing company, we are hiring in software development, testing and quality, and sales and consulting."

Companies on the 2008 Inc. 5000 are ranked by percentage revenue growth between 2004 and 2007. The minimum qualifications were at least $200,000 in revenue in 2004 and at least $2 million in 2007. Qualifying companies generated revenue by the first week of 2004 and showed sales for four full calendar years. All the companies are based in the United States, for profit, privately held and independent – neither a subsidiary nor a division of another company – as of Dec. 31, 2007.

About Passageways

Passageways LLC is the leading portal provider to the credit union industry. Passageways' mission is to provide an affordable portal strategy for credit unions of all sizes, helping credit union employees and partners become more efficient in collaboration and interaction with different systems. The company is headquartered in West Lafayette, Ind., and operates as part of a CUSO, owned by Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union.

About Purdue Research Park

The 725-acre Purdue Research Park (https://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is home to more than 140 companies. About 90 of these firms are technology-related and another 39 are incubator businesses. The park was ranked No. 1 in 2004 for university-affiliated research parks and received the 2005 Outstanding Commercialization Award, both from the Association of University Research Parks. The park's companies also have received numerous recognitions, including a 2006 MIRA Award: Innovation of the Year for Purdue Research Park/Quadraspec Inc. and a 2005 CoreNet Global Innovators Award finalist. The Purdue Research Park is part of the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to assist Purdue University in the area of economic development. In addition to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, the foundation has established or is currently constructing technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis.

To the Purdue Research Park, https://www.purdueresearchpark.com

Purdue Research Park contact: Steve Martin, (765) 494-6872, sgmartin@prf.org

Source: Paroon Chadha, (765) 497-8832, paroon@passageways.com