Avigilon wants to grow to $500m in revenue by 2016

VANCOUVER—One year after its November 2011 IPO, high-definition surveillance solution provider Avigilon is enjoying a high profile, which CEO Alexander Fernandes said is aiding the company's growth initiatives going into 2013.

Avigilon has had a good year. It raised $25 million in its 2011 IPO (all figures in this report are in Canadian dollars). The stock debuted at $4.50 and rose more than 90 percent in a year, making it, according to Bloomberg, the “best performing Canadian initial public offering in the past 12 months.”

In September, it raised an additional $23 million in bought-deal equity financing involving the issuance of 3.6 million shares at $6.40.

“We have a lot of working capital. We are bigger, stronger than ever,” Fernandes said. The company reported revenues of $60 million in 2011 and it's on track to do about $100 million this year, said Keith Marett, VP of marketing and communications.

By the end of 2016, Fernandes expects to grow revenues to $500 million.

How is he going to do that? Fernandes outlined three growth initiatives that on a basic level “have not changed since the initial IPO,” though he said attracting talented applicants for positions has been easier in the past year because of the company's growth and financial success.

The initiatives are sales expansion, strengthening the brand and accelerating innovation.

In addition to expanding into new areas—Germany, Eastern Europe, India and Asia—Avigilon is adding to its sales head count in North America and other locations in Europe and the Middle East, where it has established offices.

Avigilon has a launched a business development group that will go after large enterprise opportunities under the leadership of Jeremy Howard, the new VP of global business development.

Howard is putting together a sales group that will have “key resources dedicated by vertical market,” Fernandes said.

To strengthen the Avigilon brand, the company will increase resources and spend on traditional and non-traditional marketing efforts, he said.

To accelerate innovation and help drive down the cost of its products, the company has doubled the size of its product development team, Fernandes said. The company has nearly 300 employees, split about evenly between sales, product development and manufacturing.

With money in the bank, Avigilon will continue to add employees. The healthy balance sheet provides “stability and a better cushion,” Fernandes said. And while Fernandes emphasized that the company is “focused on internal growth,” it is in a position to make an acquisition if it sees fit.

What might fit? “Something outside of video but complementary and related … like analytics,” Fernandes said. Or access control? “That's possible,” he responded.