A company opens an account with an initial balance of $\$50,000.00$. The account earns interest, and no additional deposits or withdrawals are made. The account balance is given by an exponential function $A$, where $A(t)$ is the account balance, in dollars, $t$ years after the account is opened. The account balance after $15$ years is $\$77,898.37$. What is the approximate annual growth factor, $r$, of the account, rounded to the nearest hundredth?