ScreenScape Networks, the Charlottetown-based digital signage company, has been ranked as one of the fastest-growing software companies in the country by Canadian Business magazine.

With 591 per cent revenue growth in the five years to 2016, the company gained a ranking of No. 34 in the magazine’s list of the fastest-growing software companies in the country. ScreenScape placed No. 118 overall among the fastest-growing companies in Canada, and was named the second-fastest growing company in Atlantic Canada, exceeded only by Dartmouth-based Supplement King Canada, whose revenues rose 856 percent over the five-year period.

A pioneer in digital signage in public spaces, ScreenScape helps businesses and organizations that want to advertise on location-based TV monitors. It aims to offer an easy-to-use, cost-effective product that is well suited for business franchises such as chain stores.

“You can trace the last three years of progress to one moment in time,” said CEO Mark Hemphill in an interview. “In October 2014 we made a course correction and that’s the main reason we’ve grown so much in the last three years.”

That course correction involved introducing a smart device that simplified the process of setting up a TV monitor in a public space and putting content on it. When Hemphill started ScreenScape eight years ago, these monitors were expensive and cumbersome to set up and use.

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In autumn 2014, ScreenScape partnered with computer manufacturer Dell Inc. to produce a smart device that users could install to simplify the setup and management of the monitors. The device looks like a standard flash drive and plugs into a high-definition TV, allowing operators to control their advertising and other content from just about anywhere. It improved efficiency and flexibility for clients, who were able to test the product more easily and make faster purchase decisions.

“We changed our business model, so it was an easier buy for clients,” said Hemphill. “It meant we weren’t getting on planes and we had an easier sales process. . . . People started to trend toward ScreenScape more because it was more cost-effective.”

Another change in the company that took place in 2014 was the hiring of chief revenue officer Mark Binns, who had held several senior positions including CEO at Mobio in Vancouver. Hemphill said Binns is an expert in internet growth models, and added that the hiring helped with the growth.

Hemphill would not discuss how many customers the company now has. And when asked about the range of the company’s revenues, he said the Canadian Business survey required companies to be in the $2 million-$5 million range. ScreenScape, which received $6 million in funding from Montreal-based Hartco in 2011, has 19 employees, all but three of them based in P.E.I.

The Canadian Business survey only accounted for growth up to the end of 2016, but Hemphill said the growth rate has not slowed down at all in 2017.

“It’s very much a straight path, which is a tribute to our sales model,” he said. “We’re on a steady 30-40 per cent per year growth trajectory, including 2017.”