ROSS VIDEO

As Ross Video continues its steady march toward a billion dollars in annual revenue, even its CEO sometimes marvels at what the Ottawa-based video technology giant has accomplished.

Buoyed by timely acquisitions and a knack for innovation that’s helped make its production hardware and software a staple at television studios, arenas and live venues around the world, the firm has become an industry powerhouse.

Ross reached into that playbook once again in September, finalizing a deal to acquire Spidercam, an Austria-based manufacturer of computer-controlled cameras that hover over stadiums and other outdoor venues to provide overhead views of sporting events, concerts and the like.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but suffice to say it’s one of Ross’s biggest M&A transactions yet.

Chief executive David Ross said Spidercam – which employs about 40 people plus hundreds of freelance technicians around the world – will fill a significant niche in his firm’s product lineup.

The Austrian company’s cameras are a fixture at big-time European sporting events like English Premier League soccer games, and were also on site at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

“The idea of being able to buy the largest and most iconic player in this industry is a dream come true for me,” Ross said. “It’s a big deal for us.”

It’s the 19th acquisition for Ross Video, and the first since it purchased California-based LED display screen manufacturer D3 a year ago.

Since then, Ross has stepped up its game.

After posting average annual revenue increases of 17 per cent for two decades, the Ottawa firm is poised to more than double that rate in fiscal 2022, with projected growth of about 35 per cent.

It’s enough to leave the firm’s longtime CEO grasping for words.

“It’s mind-boggling, really,” said Ross, who took over leadership of the familyowned company from his father John in 2006. “(Revenue growth) is accelerating, which is just counter to what everybody’s telling us is supposed to happen when you get bigger.”

Yet that’s exactly what is happening.

Barely 16 months after cracking the 1,000-employee mark, Ross Video now has a global workforce of more than 1,300 and growing. The company is expanding at such a rapid clip that it’s already outgrown its main production facility in Iroquois, south of Ottawa, more than a month before it even opens an additional 55,000 square feet of new capacity.

“We are now starting to plan the next expansion before we’re finished the current expansion,” he said with a chuckle.

Ross predicts the firm will top $350 million in sales in fiscal 2022 and is probably two years away from reaching the half-billion mark. From there, he figures Ross Video is about four years from hitting the magical 10-digit milestone every CEO dreams of.

And it’s done it all without taking a cent of outside funding.

“We can definitely see the path to a billion dollars now,” Ross said. “Nineteen acquisitions and creating a true unicorn internally financed, there’s probably not too many companies like that.”

DAVID ROSS, CEO, ROSS VIDEO. PHOTO