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New York, May 3, 2005—FORTUNE announced today its 13th annual list of 25 Breakout Companies. "What is a breakout company? These upstarts are changing the game; they're truly innovative companies from a frothy sea of poseurs," say Julie Schlosser and Matt Boyle who co-wrote the Intro.

This year a bonus feature was added to the annual playlist giving readers the opportunity to choose the next Google. By visiting fortune.com, readers can choose a new search king and identify someone to out-Google Google. Candidates are: Snap.com, Answers.com, and Clusty.com.

"Today's esprit de cool flows from San Diego to Beijing, encompassing touch recognition, noninvasive biopsies, and—at last!—self-heating coffee," say Schlosser and Boyle. To compile the Breakout Companies, FORTUNE screened more than 100 candidates submitted by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and other sources.

FORTUNE's 2005 25 Breakout Companies:

• Intellifit, retail, Horsham, Pa., intellifit.com
  Using holographic imaging technology, Intellifit's body scanners size you up in about ten seconds and spit out tailor-made clothing recommendations for retailers such as Lane Bryant, Macy's, Land's End, and David's Bridal.


• Sling Media, media gear, San Mateo, Calif., slingmedia.com
  Founded by two diehard baseball fans, Slingbox, allows you to "sling" or transfer, any channel you get on cable TV, or any program stored on your TiVo to a PC anywhere in the world.


• SigmaTel, gadgetry, Austin, sigmatel.com
  Most of the world's MP3 players rely on SigmaTel's single-chip solution to import music into the player, decode the digital audio formats, manage battery power, control the display, and communicate with either a flash memory chip or a tiny hard disk drive. By combining all those functions on a single piece of silicon, SigmaTel enables MP3 players to get really small.


• Crucell, biotech, Leiden, the Netherlands, crucell.com
  The company offers a line of human cells that's emerging as a key ingredient for making vaccines.


• GoTV Networks, mobile technology, Sherman Oaks, Calif., gotvnetworks.com
  GoTV, a creator and distributor of mobile content, will make it possible for you to watch a three-minute recap of television shows.


• AuthenTec, mobile technology, Melbourne, Fla., authentec.com
  AuthenTec's, touch-recognition technology, True-Print, sensor sends radio waves under the fingertip's surface to find a clean print in the "live layer" of skin below.


• Scanbuy, mobile technology, New York City, scanbuy.com
  Scanbuy, offers scancommerce software, which links any bar code to the internet via camera phone allowing users to walk into a store, point your camera phone at the bar code on a product, and within seconds find the same product online for a comparable or better price.


• Techfaith Wireless, mobile technology, Beijing, techfaithwireless.com
  Founded by former Motorola execs, Techfaith designs mobile handsets and counts eight of the top ten Chinese handset makers as clients.


• OnTech, packaging, San Diego, ontech.com
  OnTech, whose self-heating, shelf-stable lattes - sold under the Wolfgang Puck brand at Kroger, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Kmart - have finally made it to retail shelves after nearly a decade of R&D.


• Aspen Aerogels, materials, Northborough, Mass., aerogel.com
  Aspen Systems hit on a way to create a durable textile with twice the insulating capacity of rival fabrics and has clients as diverse as Burton's snowboarding jackets, military attack helicopters, and deep-sea oil pipelines.


• QuesTek, metals, Evanston, Ill., questek.com
  QuesTek has changed the way steel is made by using software that determines both what ingredients should go into the steel and how it should be processed.


• Odeo, content, San Francisco, odeo.com
  Odeo has created simple-to-use tools that allow podcasting, aka Internet audio content, to be hassle-free for users.


• MDA, gadgetry, Brampton, Ontario, mdrobotics.ca
  The Canadian company best known for making giant robot arms for the space shuttle has come up with two robots vision systems that are more down-to-earth: The Ice Camera and the Instant Scene Modeler.


• Khimetrics, retail, Scottsdale, khimetrics.com
  Khimetrics developed algorithms to analyze how to price and position items, taking into account purchasing history, competitors, region, and even weather.


• Cypak, packaging, Stockholm, cypak.com
  Using advanced radio-frequency identification technology and simple mircrochips affixed to paper or plastic, Cypak's "intelligent" containers will be able to detect tampering or remind patients to take their medicine.


• WholeSecurity, security, Austin, wholesecurity.com
  By looking for the slither rather than the snake, WholeSecurity's Web Caller ID software and Confidence Online claim to block more than 98% of malicious Hacker threats.


• Stirling Energy Systems, energy, Phoenix, stirlingenergy.com
  Stirling Energy Systems', Sun Catcher, is a clean, renewable solar-energy system that is cheaper, more effective, and more reliable than the photovoltaic solar panels commonly used today.


• Orchestria, security, New York City, orchestria.com
  Orchestria's software allows companies to monitor all internal communications—from BlackBerry to Bloomberg—and ensures that the content doesn't violate regulatory or companies policies.


• Mobile 365, texting, Chantilly, Va., mobile365.com
  Mobile 365 has found an important and lucrative niche with its software and network systems, SMS Exchange and MMS Exchange. They also help mobile-phone companies and content companies bill for messages, ringtones, and other transactions.


• XenSource, computing, Palo Alto, xensource.com
  XenSource allows businesses to put multiple operating systems on each server which can make it easier and less expensive to run a company's system.


• Attensity, language processing, Palo Alto, attensity.com
  Attensity has created software to turn texts into an easy-to-analyze database. Think of it as lightening-fast computerized sentence diagramming.


• Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, biotech, Waltham, Mass., sirtrispharma.com
  Sirtris, co-founded by Harvard Medical School researcher, David Sinclaire, plans to develop sirtuin-based drugs to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer.


• Bacterin, biotech, Belgrade, Mont., bacterin.com
  Bacterin's anti-infective coatings, when applied to medical devices like catheters or orthopedic implants, kill or inhibit bacteria and prevent the spread of infection.


• XDx, biotech, San Francisco, xdx.com
  XDx has developed a technology dubbed AlloMap that lets doctors determine with a simple blood test whether a patient will reject a transplanted heart.


• IODA, content, San Francisco, iodalliance.com
  Independent Online Distribution Alliance aka IODA, distributes music from 500 independent record labels to digital retailers like iTunes and Napster and expects $3 million in revenue this year.
  

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  For further information please contact:
  Susan Brown
  212-522-0133
  susan_brown@timeinc.com

  Amy Mahfouz
  212-522-2134
  amy_mahfouz@timeinc.com

   

   

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