zeroG Technology Innovator Equipois Inc. Celebrates Grand Opening of New Los Angeles Headquarters With Mayor Villaraigosa
Los Angeles, CA (June 8, 2011) – Equipois Inc., designer and manufacturer of the award-winning zeroG® exoskeletal arm technology, opened its new 12,000-square-foot Los Angeles headquarters and manufacturing facility today. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, addressed hundreds in attendance at the grand opening event and heralded the company as one of the region’s most exciting and innovative young ventures. Utilizing Equipois’s zeroG® arm to maneuver a huge aerospace cutting tool, Mayor Villaraigosa officially cut an oversized green ribbon to officially welcome Equipois to Los Angeles.
"Equipois’s expansion is a testament to the City’s commitment to supporting the specialized needs of small businesses and retaining and creating the high-tech, innovative jobs that come with them," Mayor Villaraigosa said. "The creation of the City's first ever small business team has strengthened our commitment to helping small businesses like Equipois reach their fullest potential and to addressing their needs at City Hall."
On pace to triple its revenue from 2010 to 2011 and to increase its staff by 50% this year, Equipois had outgrown its Hollywood, CA facility and was approached by numerous cities in the Western U.S. to relocate. “We chose to stay in Los Angeles because the culture of innovation, the immensely talented labor pool, the manufacturing base and the support network all make the city an ideal place for high-growth companies,” said Eric Golden, Equipois’s president and CEO.
Presenters at today’s ceremony also included entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the sponsor of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s innovation award bearing his name and Missy Brost, senior manager of ergonomics technology for The Boeing Company, a long-time Equipois customer.
“Equipois presents an incredible opportunity to take innovation and technology from one discipline and morph it into another," said Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, chief executive officer of NantWorks. "Equipois, along with other companies, are starting to form ‘Silicon Beach’ and we fully support their efforts to keep innovation in LA."
In the last year, Equipois has emerged as one of the U.S.’s most innovative young companies. The company was profiled as one of America’s Most Promising Startups by Bloomberg Businessweek; was named Most Innovative Company, North America by the 2010 International “Stevie” Business Awards; received the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2010 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award and BritWeek’s 2011 Business Innovation Award; and was featured on CNN Money’s Innovation Nation, among other honors. Its new X-Ar™ exoskeletal arm support technology was also covered on CNN in its “Big I” segment, which highlights “big new ideas and innovations to help with big problems.”
ABOUT EQUIPOIS INC.
Founded in 2006, Equipois designs and manufactures revolutionary dynamic exoskeletal technologies that support the musculoskeletal system while allowing full spatial and rotational freedom of motion. The company’s patented zeroG® and x-Ar™ systems are designed to support a range of manufacturing, heavy industrial, bioresearch, medical, defense and other applications in order to increase productivity and safety. For more information, visit www.equipoisinc.com.