Braintree Selected as Chicago’s Top Rising Star by Illinois Technology Association
CHICAGO -- (www.twitter.com/techaccesstv) -- Braintree, the web’s fastest growing payments platform, has been honored with a 2012 Illinois Technology Association (ITA) CityLIGHTS Award in the Rising Star category.
The award recognizes Braintree’s dedication to innovation and growth on the road to becoming the best payment gateway available. Braintree has quickly become a leading platform in the online andmobile payments industry by providing the best payment solutions to companies of any size and supporting clients such as Rovio, Uber, OpenTable, Airbnb, and 37signals as they quickly scale.
The 13th annual CityLIGHTS Award winners were announced at the ITA’s Awards Gala on May 10, 2012, at Union Station in Chicago, attended by more than 700 people including business owners from start-ups to industry leaders, investors, civic leaders, and policymakers.
“It’s an honor to accept this year’s CityLIGHTS Rising Star Award and to be recognized as a leader both in Chicago’s rapidly-growing technology scene, as well as nationwide,” said Bill Ready, CEO of Braintree. “This acknowledgement highlights our commitment to our client companies and to the Chicago tech startup community from day one as we’ve grown.”
“The 2012 CityLIGHTS Awards received a record number of nominations and online votes, a reflection of the energy in the local technology community,” said Fred Hoch, President, ITA. “It’s been a landmark year for technology in our state, with a prolific array of startups, partnerships and entrepreneurs, along with a substantial increase in capital investment and growing companies. The accomplishments of this group are reflected in the caliber of this year’s nominees and award winners.”
Winners in each of the nine award categories were determined by a composite score of community voting and the ITA’s panel of judges, with the exception of the CityLIGHTS Award, which was determined solely by the ITA Board of Directors.
About Braintree
Braintree, the web’s fastest growing payments platform, powers payments for innovative and high-growth mobile and online businesses. Braintree provides an easy-to-integrate API for developers while ensuring the merchants’ end users have a frictionless and secure experience at checkout. Braintree’s full-stack payments solution includes a payment gateway, merchant account, recurring billing, and credit card storage.
Braintree’s solution has been proven to scale and support many of the most discerning, high-growth companies on the web, including Rovio/Angry Birds, LivingSocial, 37signals, Airbnb, Fab.com, OpenTable, Uber, HotelTonight, Heroku, Engine Yard and GitHub. Founded in 2007, Braintree is now processing more than $4 billion in annual credit card volume from over 2,000 merchants, and its rapid growth earned it a spot on the 2011 Inc. 500 List as the nation’s 47th fastest-growing private company. Braintree was profitably bootstrapped for four years before accepting a $34 million investment from Accel Partners in 2011. Visit us at www.braintreepayments.com and on Twitter @braintree.
About the Illinois Technology Association
The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) is the driving force behind the growth of Illinois' vibrant technology industry. Providing programs and services focused on business development, visibility and talent attraction, ITA accelerates the growth of member company’s businesses. ITA brings growth-stage industry companies together, leveraging the connections and experiences of the community to increase the overall success rate of the local industry. Championing the development and application of technologies and leveraging their transformative nature, ITA is an invaluable resource for growing companies.
Contact the ITA at [email protected], follow the discussion on Twitter at @itabuzz or #itacitylights, and visitwww.illinoistech.org to find out more about how ITA supports the growth of the local industry.
