Jacksonville, Fla. (August 16, 2022) – Micro-Ant (micro-ant.com) was announced today among the first round of finalists for the “12th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch” Award. The awards event – now in its twelfth year, honors impressive second-stage Florida companies for developing valuable products and services, creating quality jobs, enriching communities, and broadening new industries throughout Florida.

The Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Awards Celebration is brought to you by Nperspective CFO & Strategic Services, in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation. Together, the finalists represent nearly 2,000 jobs and generate over $430 million in revenue. These companies, which are “worth watching,” anticipate growth of 40 percent in revenue and 18 percent in employment by the end of 2022.

For over two decades, Micro-Ant has been designing and manufacturing bespoke antennas and has become a leader in the industry for defense, aviation, maritime, and land applications. Micro-Ant comprises a team of scientists who have mastered the art of antenna design and engineering. They stop at nothing to make their customers’ ideas a reality and have built more than a thousand bespoke products that make a difference in people’s lives worldwide.

This year, Micro-Ant received the Satcom Technology of the Year Award in the Most Innovative category for the Ultra-Wide Band (3.5 GHz) Ka Antenna System. The system enables connectivity over extended frequency bands in Ka for roaming across multiple satellite operators. Micro-Ant is supplying these antennas for the O3B mPower MEO constellations and for aviation applications.

At the end of the month, Micro-Ant will host their first ever Inventor-Manufacturer Entrepreneurship Conference (I-MEC) at their Jacksonville global headquarters (details at micro-ant.com/events.) The conference was created to benefit other entrepreneurs and leaders in the inventor/manufacturing community. It will include practical hands-on workshops and speakers from various industries coming together to help business owners/entrepreneurs drive growth.

“We are honored to be a finalist for the GrowFL Award. Many people within our company have worked with us for 5,10 and even 15+ years and have seen us grow from a small operation to a world-class engineering firm with great processes and relentless pursuit of excellence in design and manufacturing. We firmly believe that the company also has the responsibility to the community – to provide meaningful employment to its residents and together to share in the prosperity of the business, and we strive to continuously do right by our team, our industry, and our state. This accomplishment reflects the tremendous efforts of our team over the years.” – Charlie McCarrick, President of Micro-Ant.

The Finalists were selected from nearly 300 nominations and are now in the running to be named GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Honorees. If selected as an Honoree, these exemplary second-stage companies will join the 550 second-stage companies across the state that have been recognized since 2011.

“This group of business owners represents the remarkable second-stage businesses operating across the state of Florida,” said Jennifer Taylor, President and CEO of GrowFL. “They demonstrate the agility, perseverance, and innovation needed to take their business to the next level. GrowFL is proud to support Florida’s second-stage entrepreneurs and help to play a part in recognizing their success. We look forward to celebrating these innovative companies as they continue to grow and have a significant impact on Florida’s economy.”

Companies to Watch was developed by the Edward Lowe Foundation as a unique way to recognize and honor second-stage companies that demonstrate high performance in the marketplace with innovative strategies and processes. In addition to evaluating past growth and projected success, applicant companies are judged according to their special strengths and impact on their markets, communities, and the state – thus deeming them “worth watching.”

GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Finalists represent a unique group of scalable, high-growth enterprises already located within Florida. To qualify for the award, companies must have between 6 and 150 employees and revenue between $750,00 and $100 million in 2021.

The Honorees for this year’s award will be announced in October. The 12th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch awards celebration will take place on February 23, 2023, at Hard Rock Live, Universal City Walk, Orlando, FL. For more information, visit https://growfl.com/about-growfl-flctw/.