Five of 2013’s Florida Companies to Watch got their start at the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program

ORLANDO, Fla. --- The University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program, which ranks as one of the best in the nation according to Entrepreneur Magazine, will earn yet another accolade at the third annual “Florida Companies to Watch” awards on Oct. 24 at Hard Rock Live in Orlando. Five of the 50 winners of the 2013 Florida Companies to Watch awards got their start in the UCF Business Incubation Program. The UCF Incubator graduate companies named “Florida Companies to Watch” this year are 21st Century Learning Solutions Inc.; AVT Simulation; Snapt Inc.; Solodev; and Therigy LLC. Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the UCF Business Incubator Program, said the university-based effort to support and encourage startup businesses is paying off in Central Florida. “UCF Business Incubation Program graduate companies have claimed five awards in the first two years of the Florida Companies to Watch program and this year we have five more,” O’Neal said. “Our graduate companies are making a big mark on the Central Florida economic growth and employment picture,” he said. Entrepreneur Magazine called the 11-year old UCF Business Incubation Program one of “America’s Best Under the Radar Business Incubators” for helping to create 1,500 new jobs and generate revenues in excess of $60 million. And that was for just over a two-year period. The Florida Companies to Watch Awards gala---individual tickets are priced at $150---will fete “second stage” companies that show the strongest potential to break out as major employers in the region. Sponsored by GrowFL, the Florida Economic Gardening Institute at the University of Central Florida and the Edward Lowe Foundation, the gala awards event will showcase companies that range from First Green Bank, the Lake County-based bank that opened its first Orlando location earlier this year, to Snapt Inc., which sells software that helps companies track their online advertising efforts.