Not even a pandemic has been able to slow the growth of a tourism-based business in Steinbach. In spite of all the challenges caused by COVID-19, RocketRez has more than doubled its annual recurring revenue growth year-over-year.

John Pendergrast is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of RocketRez. The company uses cloud-based management software for large tours and attractions. For example, they work with zoos, aquariums and boat tours such as Marineland in Florida, Whirlpool Jet Tours in Ontario, Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas and Xtreme Xperience.

Pendergrast says RocketRez provides its clients with ticketing and business management tools. This can include everything from finances on the accounting side all the way to selling tickets on the web. The company has also created application tools for seamless back-end operations, including managing events, private charters, catering, photos and kiosks, staff scheduling and timekeeping.

"Everything that (a business does) really happens through RocketRez," says Pendergrast. "We kind of become that beating heart of their business."

According to Pendergrast, RocketRez officially launched in 2011.

"(We) made what I consider to be the typical entrepreneurial mistake, which is to build something that you really think is awesome but never really talked to anybody about," he recalls. "And as a result, you go to sell it and you find that no one is really overly interested."

He notes in 2015 they rebuilt their platform from the ground up, based on conversations with industry leaders. Pendergrast says they launched with four or five clients, but it was exactly what the market was looking for. The business has been growing steadily ever since.

RocketRez serves attractions in Canada, the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. Yet, their home base is Steinbach, Manitoba.

"It is a fantastic place to build a company," shares Pendergrast. "We have some of the best staff you could imagine right here locally and it is incredible the levels of talent that you can find in our community."

Pendergrast says all great technology companies start off either in a basement or a garage, and RocketRez was no different. Today, their head office is on Main Street in Steinbach. But, with a staff of nearly 40 individuals, Pendergrast says they have outgrown their space and will be looking to relocate within Steinbach later this year.

Photo credit: RocketRez

Pendergrast offers a couple of reasons why his business has been so successful, so quickly. He admits some of it was timing and being in the right place at the right time. But, he says they also truly believe that they are partnering with their clients.

"We don't consider our clients as just another company through the door, we actually spend significant time with them," explains Pendergrast. "We think it's very important for us and the value of our company to take care of our clients and to treat them like family. And as such, we really take the opportunity to understand their needs and listen to them and build what they say that they need in an effort to give them the best experience they could possibly have. And if they are struggling then we are struggling."

And how does a business that works with tourism operators thrive during a pandemic? Pendergrast says it makes a difference that they work with a lot of the larger tours and attractions. Many of the organizations they work with have been around for 50 or 100 years. When the pandemic hit, these clients had the ability to take time to figure out how to run their operations more efficiently. For some businesses, that meant replacing their old-fashioned ticketing systems that had been costing them enormous amounts of money.

"(They had) been meaning to change this for a long time and along we came during the pandemic and said, listen, we can help you with this," recalls Pendergrast. "Not only can we help you with goodwill with your clients and having a better experience, we can also help you by downsizing the amount of staff you are going to need to hire back."

Speaking of the pandemic, Pendergrast says the travel industry is filled with people who are incredibly tenacious. And he believes the industry will get through this. Pendergrast says when travel does come roaring back. RocketRez will be there to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to do fun things again.

In February, RocketRez announced it had received $8.4 million in series A financing, to be used for accelerating sales, marketing and engineering efforts worldwide.