15 Washington State Small Businesses to Explore New Opportunitiesat World’s Largest Mobile Technology Show
State pavilion hosts its largest space ever at Mobile World Congress 2016
Fifteen of Washington’s mobile technology companies will be showcased in the Washington State Pavilion at GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. The largest exhibit space yet for the state, the pavilion sponsored by the Department of Commerce will allow some of Washington State’s most innovative businesses to demonstrate their products and services to a worldwide audience.
MWC, which is held Feb. 22-25 in Barcelona Spain, has generated more than $9.2 million in new export sales for participating companies in Washington to date. More than half of the small businesses co-exhibiting in the state’s pavilion are making their second, third, and even fifth visit to Mobile World Congress.
“Organizing our state participation at Mobile World Congress is an opportunity to help small businesses in the information and communications technology sector,” said Brian Bonlender, Commerce director. “Maintaining a robust presence at this important event also reinforces the perception of Washington State as a preeminent mobile computing technology hub.”
One of the businesses joining Washington’s “Choose Washington” branded pavilion for the first time is Catchy, a marketing agency that helps large businesses strengthen relationships with the software developer community.
“Ours is the first agency to help large companies create, build and manage their developer community, but in this fast-moving industry, you have to be nimble to stay ahead,” said Richard Hurring, CEO and founder of the company. Catchy is headquartered in Bath, United Kingdom and last year opened a rapidly growing Seattle office.
“Attending Mobile World Congress over the years has put us right in front of the big global players where we hear first-hand how to keep our service relevant and deliver exceptional results. In fact, seeing Washington State as a regular presence and learning more about the region prompted us to open an office in Seattle,” Hurring said. “We are delighted to return to the show as part of the state delegation with local staff members and lots of new friends.”
Other members of this year’s lineup at the Washington State Pavilion include Glympse, APIMetrics, Apptentive, Guppy Games/Media, Qikspace, Tupl, Sirqul, Dogfish Software, NetMotion Wireless, Nytec, General UI, UI Evolution, Buddy Platform and Syntonic Wireless. The City of Bellevue Economic Development Office also joins the delegation this year to promote the city’s position as a technology innovation center for existing businesses and businesses looking to expand to Washington State.
“As a small, young company, we are very selective about tradeshow participation,” said Gary Greenbaum, CEO of Syntonic Wireless, a Mobile World Congress veteran and former director at Microsoft and RealNetworks. “This show is an easy choice for us since we get so much value from being part of the Washington State Pavilion. They provide knowledgeable staff who run the program and represent us when we are in meetings, provide advance marketing about our presence at the show and host excellent networking events in the pavilion that help us cross reference our contacts with the other participants for well-qualified introductions.”
Syntonic and the rest of the state delegation will join more than 93,000 attendees and 2,100 businesses from more than 30 countries. This year’s theme, “Mobile is Everything,” fits the diversity of companies attending from Washington. Products and services range from data and network management and platform productivity to cloud solutions for enterprise companies, user experience, engagement and acquisitions, and location sharing technology.
Eight small businesses in the delegation received support from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) export voucher program. Trade shows represent a key resource for new-to-market and new-to-export companies looking to make new contacts in the global marketplace. STEP grant support provided through the Washington State Department of Commerce contributed to $285 million in new export sales from October 2011 to January 2016 for state businesses. Other programs funded through the grant include export finance counseling, export advising clinics and inbound sales missions for Washington state agriculture and food processing companies.
For more information on Washington’s appearance at Mobile World Congress and co-exhibitors, visit www.choosewashingtonstate.com/mwc-2016. Use #WA Commerce and #MWC16 to follow us at Mobile World Congress.