think-cell is the fastest growing technology startup in Germany

think-cell is the fastest growing German technology startup in 2007 – news that accounting firm Deloitte published today in their annual Technology Fast 50 Rising Stars ranking. In only three years – from 2004 to 2006 – the Berlin-based software company increased its revenue by a factor of nearly ten and advanced into the multi-million dollar region. Interestingly, think-cell achieved this extreme growth by offering a very special product to a select group of customers: Using think-cell chart business data from Microsoft Excel can be turned into PowerPoint charts and enriched by graphical features in only a few minutes.

think-cell has established itself as the standard vendor for professional PowerPoint users, catering to four of the five leading strategy consulting firms and to controlling and corporate strategy units in many of the world's largest companies. Most of the 35,000+ users at more than 600 companies got to know about the software through word of mouth and personal reference. With users located virtually everywhere on the globe, their appreciation of the software makes think-cell a highly profitable business.

"Software for professionals is the perfect product for a startup." explains Markus Hannebauer, think-cell's CEO. "Even with a small team of specialists we were able to solve a relevant business problem. Our dedicated and influential customer base made rapid growth a more or less natural effect." Just as the revenue, think-cell's team has grown over the past years, but the per-head revenue is still three to four times higher than the average of comparable software companies.

By receiving the German Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award as a Rising Star, think-cell now gets the recognition from fellow entrepreneurs, the professional services industry and the media for its outstanding achievements in the market. In the Rising Star category companies are ranked according to their performance over the past three years. In these three years think-cell has experienced a growth that the average of the other ranked companies only showed during the last five years.

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards

The German Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards have been established by renowned accounting and advisory firm Deloitte five years ago to honor promising startups from the technology industry, e.g., communication, Internet, hardware, software, and life sciences. The decisive criterion in the Rising Star category is the cumulated revenue growth over the past three years. Additional criteria are a high degree of in-house technology innovation and a considerable budget for research and development.