The Tech Trailblazers Awards, the first annual awards program for enterprise information technology startups, today unveils the third edition category winners – identifying them as the ones to watch for the year ahead.

The startups have been put through their paces, with the initial judging round determined by the diverse panel of technology industry experts, then with the winners decided by the voting tech public and revisited by the judges armed with virtual dollars to invest. Winners in the Tech Trailblazers categories of Big Data, Cloud, Emerging Markets, FinTech, IoT, Mobile, Networking, Security, Storage, Sustainable IT and Virtualization, as well as the Firestarter category, can look forward to prizes designed to promote and expand their businesses in varying ways.

This year’s frontrunners are a truly global mix – with Trailblazers from Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States…

Tech Trailblazers Awards Third Edition Winners

Winning Big Data Trailblazer
- ParStream (@ParStream), www.parstream.com – CA, USA [Retaining the title from 2013]

Big Data Runners up
- EnergyDeck (@EnergyDeck), http://www.energydeck.com/ – London, UK
- NGDATA (@NGDATA_com), http://www.ngdata.com/ – New York, USA
- SQream Technologies (@SQreamTech), http://www.sqreamtech.com/ - Ramat Gan, Israel

Winning Cloud Trailblazer
- SimpliVity (@SimpliVityCorp), http://www.simplivity.com/ – Boston, USA

Cloud Runners up
- Perspecsys (@Perspecsys), http://www.perspecsys.com/ – London, UK
- RackWare (@RackWare), http://www.rackwareinc.com/ – CA, USA
- SaltStack (@SaltStackInc), http://www.saltstack.com/ – Utah, USA

Winning Emerging Markets Trailblazer
- Temasys Communications (@Temasysrtc), http://www.temasys.com.sg/ – Singapore

Emerging Markets Runners up
- Fortis Innovations (@FortisKenya), http://www.fortisinnovations.com/ – Nairobi, Kenya
- Nerve (@NerveMobile) http://www.nervemobile.com/ - Lagos, Nigeria
- Sr. Pago (@SrPagoOficial), http://www.srpago.com/ - Álvaro Obregón, Mexico

Winning FinTech Trailblazer
- Percentile (@pcentile), http://www.percentile.co.uk/ – London, UK

FinTech Runners up
- Copsonic (@CopSonic), http://www.copsonic.com/ – Montauban, France
- 6Fusion (@6fusion), http://www.6fusion.com/ - North Carolina, USA
- Sr. Pago (@SrPagoOficial), http://www.srpago.com/ - Álvaro Obregón, Mexico

Winning IOT Trailblazer
- Oort (@Oort_in), http://www.oort.in/ - CA, USA

IOT Runners up
- Cyberlightning (@Cyber_lightning), http://www.cyberlightning.com/ – Oulu, Finland
- EnergyDeck (@EnergyDeck), http://www.energydeck.com/ – London, UK
- Flying Binary (@FlyingBinary), http://www.flyingbinary.com/ – London, UK

Winning Mobile Trailblazer
- Jmango (@Jmango360), http://www.jmango.net/ – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Mobile Runners up
- Bluebox Security (@BlueboxSec), http://www.bluebox.com/ - CA, USA
- FieldAware (@FieldAware), http://www.fieldaware.com/ – Texas, USA
- Purple WiFi Ltd (@PurpleWiFi), http://www.purplewifi.com/ - Ashton Under Lyne, UK

Winning Networking Trailblazer
- Sideband Networks (@SidebandNet), http://www.sidebandnetworks.com/ – CA, USA

Networking Runners up
- CENTRI Technology (@CentriTech), http://www.centritechnology.com/ – Washington, USA
- Fedr8 (@Fedr8), http://www.fedr8.com/ – Surrey, UK

Winning Security Trailblazer
- ZeroFOX (@ZeroFOX), http://www.zerofox.com/ - Baltimore, USA

Security Runners up
- Bluebox Security (@BlueboxSec), www.bluebox.com - CA, USA
- Crypho (@getCrypho), http://www.crypho.com/ - Harpunveien, Norway
- Cyberlytic Limited (@CyberlyticUK), http://www.cyberlytic.com/ – London, UK

Winning Storage Trailblazer
- SolidFire (@SolidFire) - http://www.solidfire.com/ – Colorado, USA

Storage Runners up
- DataGravity (@DataGravityInc) – http://www.datagravity.com/ - New Hampshire, USA
- PernixData (@PernixData) - http://www.pernixdata.com/ – CA, USA
- Silicon Safe (@SiliconSafe) - http://www.siliconsafe.com/ - Cambridge, UK

Winning Sustainable IT Trailblazer
- Eco4Cloud (@Eco4Cloud), http://www.eco4cloud.com/ - Rende CS, Italy

Sustainable IT Runners up
- EnergyDeck (@EnergyDeck), http://www.energydeck.com/ – London, UK
- Upside Energy (@UpsideEnergy), http://www.upside.com/ – Cheshire, UK

Winning Virtualization Trailblazer
- Pluribus Networks (@PluribusNet), http://www.pluribusnetworks.com/ – CA, USA

Virtualization Runners up
- DataGravity (@DataGravityInc), http://www.datagravity.com/ – Nashua, USA
- PernixData (@PernixData) - http://www.pernixdata.com/ m– CA, USA
- VMTurbo (@VMTurbo), http://www.vmturbo.com/ – Boston, USA

Rose Ross, Chief Trailblazer and founder of the Tech Trailblazers Awards, said “Congratulations to this year’s winners – the standard of startups and their products continues to impress our judges and the tech voting public, and we are delighted to award this year’s tech champions the Tech Trailblazer title. The spirit of the Tech Trailblazers Awards is to reward innovation, and encourage ongoing success. Our winners and runners up join the exclusive billion dollar Tech Trailblazers club of other winning alumni who have raised a total $630+ million in funding since becoming Tech Trailblazers. The average VC funding round has been a cool 28.6 million dollars! A number of others from our winning circle have successfully secured $500+ million exit via acquisition to the likes of Dropbox, Oracle, SANdisk and Zimbra. Best of luck to all those recognized today, and we look forward to welcoming them back later this year!”

Next week, the competition will unveil the winners of Firestarter Trailblazers and the Regional Cups - stay tuned!

The Tech Trailblazers Awards Fourth Edition will open to entries later in 2015. Please email [email protected] to be notified as soon as the awards are open to entries or follow the Tech Trailblazing buzz on twitter by following @techtrailblaze and #TTAwards.