America’s Most Promising Companies: Where Are They Now?

The last 18 months have been rough on plenty of small companies, but for the most part, the 20 members of Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Companies class of 2009 came through stronger than ever.

Thirteen companies raised a combined $92 million in fresh capital, including equity, debt and grants. (Recall that money wasn’t exactly sloshing around during this period.) No. 8, Auri Inc., (formerly called Auri Footwear), a men’s shoe manufacturer, did a reverse merger to go public and recently sported a $52 million market capitalization. Yet another company was purchased for a modest $3.2 million. The biggest casualty: No. 20–1st Products, maker of microwavable pastries–went bankrupt.

A vast majority of the companies achieved significant milestones–boosting revenues, developing new products, opening distribution channels and adding employees. A few overhauled their business models when the market moved against them. All learned valuable and often painful lessons.

Forbes aims to top that performance this year by assembling a larger list of dynamic privately held businesses with truly scintillating growth prospects—the kind of businesses investors love to bet on, customers love to buy from, and talented employees love to work for. All industries and geographies are welcome.

The search begins with a short, free survey, which takes just a few minutes to complete. Entrepreneurs can nominate themselves or be nominated by those who work closely with them. Click here to make your submission.

While many company lists are based on a few metrics (if that many), professional investors take a much more comprehensive approach to assessing the health and potential of any growing company.

That’s why Forbes teamed up with CB Insights, which tracks investment in high-growth, privately held companies. With financial support from the National Science Foundation, CB Insights has created software–called Beacon–which mines millions of online documents and applies statistical models to form a more detailed, nuanced and real-time view into a company’s health and prospects.