Companies to watch: these businesses are making waves.

• Author: Felix, Devin
• Position: Special Report - Crio Bru - VPI Engineering - Remedy Informatics

Each year, we scour the state looking for promising companies with unique and game-changing products. Here's a look at some under-the-radar businesses that we think you should keep an eye on. They might just be the next big thing.

Vexxel Composites

Unique factor: Vexxel Composites was founded in 2010 as a sister company to HyperComp Engineering. Vexxel manufactures high-pressure vessels using patent-pending composite technology that gives the vessels the ability to hold 700 liters of liquid instead of the typical 9 liters. "The wealth of knowledge of composite business in Utah is good. We've been able to find some broadly skilled people who made our startup easier and more successful," says Wayne Clark, founder and president.

Future plans: This year, Vexxel is working on producing pressure vessels to support the compressed natural gas market. The company is also working on developing new products for various entities, including the U.S. Navy. The company expects to double its sales in 2014 and continue to increase those sales by at least 30 percent per year for the next seven years.

Invent-a-Part

Origins: When Michael Lundwall decided to evolve his rapid prototyping business and develop an affordable, consumer-model 3D printer, he turned to Kickstarter--and racked up $1.2 million in pre-sales of Rigidbot through a Kickstarter campaign that ended earlier this year.

Unique factor: Invent-a-Part offers its Rigidbot printer for only a few hundred dollars, rather than the tens of thousands it costs to buy a professional model. Similar consumer-level devices cost at least four times as much as Rigidbot. "Our goal is to get this technology out to anyone who wants it. I believe in the next few years there will be one in every home," says Lundwall.

Remedy Informatics

Unique factor: "We want to be the organization that solves healthcare's big data problem," says Angela Bailey, senior vice president of marketing for Remedy Informatics. The company's data management platform, Mosaic, lets healthcare providers easily track, analyze and share data. This allows physicians to more easily share crucial data on individual patients among the different doctors treating that patient. It also makes it easier for researchers to collaborate and for epidemiologists to spot meaningful patterns in public health.

Growth trajectory: Remedy became profitable about three years ago, and last year its revenues increased by about 300 percent. Some of Remedy's clients...