iSeatz

Announcements & Events

Boston, MA, - Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Bloomberg BusinessWeek released the 2010 Inner City 100 list of the fastest-growing inner city companies in the U.S. iSeatz from New Orleans ranked No. 2 on this year's list. The Inner City 100 program recognizes successful inner city companies and their CEO's as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices and job creation in America's urban communities.

The rankings for each company were announced at the Inner City 100 Awards Dinner on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 in Boston, MA. Winners attended a two-day event featuring seminars for Inner City 100 owners and managers at Harvard Business School, a reception at the Boston Public Library and an Awards Gala that drew more than 800 guests.

The Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest growing inner-city businesses in the U.S. In the last 12 years, 607 different companies have earned positions on the Inner City 100, collectively generating more than $27.2 billion in revenues and creating nearly 72,000 new jobs.

For the 2010 list, a record number of nominations were received. Winners represent a wide span of geography, operating in 58 cities and 34 states. The 2010 Inner City 100 winners grew at a compound annual growth rate of 37 percent and an average standard growth rate of 340 percent between 2003 and 2008. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses employ 10,700 employees and have created more than 6,300 new jobs between 2004 and 2008.

"We are delighted to celebrate businesses like iSeatz that are playing a critical role in revitalizing America's urban communities. Through their achievements, the Inner City 100 winning companies exemplify America's remarkable potential and the road to future economic recovery," Mary Kay Leonard, ICIC president and CEO. "These extraordinary companies demonstrate the market possibilities that exist within our inner cities. If we can leverage these possibilities, we can create jobs, income and wealth for local residents and produce the next chapter of American innovation and opportunity."

Eighty-five percent of companies expect steady growth and 27 percent expect their revenues to grow more than 30 percent. Individually, the median Inner City 100 Company's revenues were $6.6 million. This year's winners have a median employee turnover rate of less than 8 percent and 96 percent of them provide health insurance to their workers.

"As a New Orleans firm, iSeatz has had the remarkable opportunity to overcome hardship in order to transform our business and drive economic growth in our community," said Kenneth Purcell, CEO, iSeatz. "We are thrilled to be named alongside the brightest lights in our nation's inner cities--and this recognition further solidifies our commitment to creating jobs, building our city's knowledge-base, and attracting workers to New Orleans who will make an impact."

Led by a founding team of technology and travel industry veterans, iSeatz is the industry leader in creating highly customized travel booking solutions for some of the most renowned travel brands in the world. iSeatz clients and partners include Amtrak, CitiBank, Delta Air Lines, KLM/Air France, MasterCard and Orbitz. iSeatz earned it's position of No. 2 based on its compound five-year annual growth rate of 123 percent from 2004 to 2008.

The list is proof of concept that doing business in an inner city area holds a distinct competitive advantage. ICIC has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities for more than a decade and is working to revitalize inner cities across the country.
Highlights of the 2010 Inner City 100 list include:

• Inner City 100 companies are 34 percent minority-owned. Nationally, just 8 percent of companies with annual revenues over $1 million are minority-owned.
• 18 percent of the 2010 Inner City 100 are women-owned. Nationally, only 10 percent of companies with over $1 million in annual revenues are women-owned.
• The 2010 Inner City 100 boasts an average workforce that is comprised of 45 percent minority employees and 40 percent inner city residents.

About iSeatz
iSeatz is the global provider of customized online travel and entertainment solutions that offer immediate access to nearly 200,000 services and products. iSeatz powers differentiated loyalty programs, ancillary revenue and brand devotion by seamlessly integrating its flexible booking engine into its clients' relevant customer touch points. The proprietary supplier and transaction aggregation application, iSeatz OneView, enables clients to consolidate the components of multiple transactions into a single real-time record that can be easily managed online. iSeatz is the choice of industry leaders including Amtrak, CitiBank, Delta Air Lines, KLM/Air France and MasterCard, and was ranked in the 2009 and 2008 Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. For more information about iSeatz, visit www.iseatz.com.

Notes:
To qualify for the Inner City 100 list, companies were required to have at least 51 percent of their operations located in an economically distressed urban area; have at least 10 full-time employees; and a five-year operating sales history that includes at least $200,000 in revenues in the first year of consideration, an increase in year five sales over year four sales, and fifth-year sales of at least $1 million. For the 2010 list, ICIC looked at total revenue growth from 2004 to 2008, and the specific rankings were based on these growth rates. An economically distressed urban area is defined by ICIC as having a 50 percent higher unemployment level, 50 percent higher poverty level, and 50 percent lower median income than the metropolitan statistical area.

Inner City 100 Sponsors: Bank of America, Chevron Corporation, Goldman Sachs and Staples Foundation for Learning.