UVEF Top 25 Under 5 Winners Add 800 Jobs to State’s Nation Leading Economy

OREM, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) today announced winners of its 2011 “Top 25 Under Five” Award, spotlighting outstanding Utah entrepreneurs and start-up companies. Award ceremonies were held at Utah Valley University with Adobe, Silicon Slopes and InnoVentures sponsoring the event. UVEF recognized Orange Soda, an online marketing company with a unique blend of intelligent service and simple technology, as the No. 1 performer among nominees. Today’s winners collectively created 800 jobs and $189 million in 2010 revenue.

“I’m so pleased to associate with these entrepreneurs who take great personal risk in their quest for the American dream.”

“The national Chamber of Commerce recently joined the list of those recognizing Utah as a top five spot to grow an entrepreneurial start-up,” said UVEF 2011 chairman Cary Snowden. “Today’s UVEF winners demonstrate that Utah’s business climate is geared to launch world leaders in diverse industries from Internet marketing to medical technology to cleantech. This bodes well for our state’s great economy.”

Serial entrepreneur and mentor John Pestana emceed today’s event. Pestana is most noted for co-founding Omniture, which sold to Adobe for $1.8 billion. However, his tireless efforts support budding entrepreneurs through Utah schools as well as organizations such at BoomStartup and Utah Student 25.

“Utah is prime real estate for growing scalable new business ventures,” Pestana said. “I’m so pleased to associate with these entrepreneurs who take great personal risk in their quest for the American dream.”

This year’s other award recipients are Simply Mac, Qivana, CampusBookRentals.com, SEO.com, Experience Dental Studio, Fifty Films, mediaFORGE, KT TAPE, BizVision, CFOwise, The Sweet Tooth Fairy, iApplicants, Orabrush, Professional Cable, LLC, DrivingSales, ClearCenter, Avantar, Omnia Alliance, Bluehouse Ski Co., Launch Leads, Zylun, Izatt International, BambooHR, and EcoScraps.

This is UVEF’s twelfth Top 25 Under Five competition. UVEF has highlighted more than 200 companies through this competition, including Utah success stories like Omniture, Skullcandy and Xango, among many others.

About UVEF

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) is a volunteer non-profit support group linking entrepreneurs to Money, Markets, and Mentors. Celebrating 22 years of new business success, UVEF empowers current and future business leaders to thrive in today’s competitive market. We provide real-world, practical education and valuable resources on how to access needed capital, attract new customers and tap into industry experts. For information on upcoming meetings, speakers and exclusive membership benefits visit www.uvef.net.