A look at the metropolitan areas with the most companies on this year’s list.
The term “fast growing” may conjure images of Silicon Valley tech start-ups. But the companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 list prove that you don’t have to be down the street from Google’s headquarters to thrive. Check out the top 10 metro areas on this year’s list. –Will Yakowicz
The Miami metro area, which includes Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, boasted 117 companies on this year’s list. Known primarily for tourism, it is also home to a growing number of technology and advertising companies. The fastest-growing businesses in the area include SKM Media Group, a $12 million Boca Raton company that provides direct mail, email marketing, and data analysis services, and Touchsuite, a $13.4 million business that develops software used to manage hair salons, restaurants, and other retailers.
As more incubators and VC funds set up shop in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love is becoming a tech hotspot. Almost 25 percent of the Philadelphia-based companies on this year’s list are in the IT and software industries. Wilson Legal Solutions, a $1.5 million business that deploys practice-management software for law firms, was tops in the Philadelphia area, with three-year revenue growth of 4,839.1 percent.
Thanks, in part, to a diverse economy that includes strong tech, energy, and construction sectors, the Dallas metro area weathered the recession relatively well. The region’s unemployment rate stayed below the national average during the downturn and is now at a solid 6.6 percent. The fourth ranked company on this year’s Inc. 5000 list is Bridger, a $1.9 billion business in Addison that provides marketing, transportation, and logistics services to crude oil producers and distributors.
San Francisco is synonymous with tech start-ups, so it’s no surprise that the fastest growing company in the Bay Area is Emerge Digital Group, which provides marketing services to Web and mobile publishers. The $23.9 million business ranked eighth overall on this year’s Inc. 5000 list, with three-year revenue growth of 17,064.1 percent. The metro area, which includes Oakland and Fremont, is also home to non-tech concerns such as Build Group, a $101.5 million company that manages the construction of residential, commercial, retail, and hotel developments.
Boston, another burgeoning tech hub, edged out San Francisco on our list of top metro areas. DataXu, Boston’s fastest-growing company, ranked fifth overall on this year’s Inc. 5000, with three-year revenue growth of 21,337.4 percent. The $87 million company, which was founded by a team of MIT aeronautics and astronautics scientists, has developed a software platform that allows marketers to harness big data and use real-time multivariate decision technology for digital campaigns.
Atlanta’s fastest growing company, Innovolt, developed its technology inside the laboratories of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The $8 million business, which has grown 7,247.7 percent since 2009, provides software and services that protect technology systems from power disturbances. Other Atlanta businesses on this year’s Inc. 5000 include Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a $149.6 million restaurant franchise, and Cloud Sherpas, a $75.3 million cloud services brokerage.
Chicago is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters. The city is also known for its distressed neighborhoods. That’s where Pangea Properties, the city’s fastest-growing Inc. 5000 company, comes in. The $28.3 million business, which has experienced three-year revenue growth of 6,218.5 percent, buys, restores, rents, and manages distressed buildings in troubled communities. Red Frog Events, a $49.5 million company that produces large-scale events, was a close second, with three-year growth of 4,956.7%.
The world’s movie capital is also home to a diverse array of Inc. 5000 companies, including Spohn Ranch, a skate park designer, and Sencha Naturals, a manufacturer of flavored green-tea mints. This year, the City of Angels is home to the top overall company on the Inc. 5000 list: Fuhu, a $117.9 million business that makes an Android tablet and software for kids and has three-year revenue growth of 42,148 percent.
It’s no surprise that five out of the top 10 fastest-growing companies in the D.C. metro area specialize in government services. Topping the category on this year’s list is FederalConference.com, a $49.6 million company based in Dumfries, Virginia that organizes and stages conferences and events for the federal government. The business ranked third overall on the Inc. 5000 list, with three-year revenue growth of 24,830.6 percent.
The New York City metro area grabbed the top spot on the Inc. 5000 list once again this year. Intelligent Audit of Rochelle Park, New Jersey, which performs audits and analysis an negotiates on behalf of high-volume shippers worldwide, ranked number one in the area, with $145 million in revenue and three-year growth of 10,573 percent. BeenVerified, a $13.7 million company in New York City that lets people perform background checks online, came in second, with three-year revenue growth of 8,442.7 percent.
This article was syndicated and originally appeared on the Inc.com website
