Here Are The Fastest Growing Companies In Chicago And Illinois

ACROSS ILLINOIS — Growth is something everyone can aspire to, and that’s no different for America’s most successful new companies. Inc., a magazine which publishes weekly content about small businesses and startups in the United States, recently released their annual report outlining the 5,000 fastest-growing privately owned companies in the nation.

Companies were ranked according to their percentage revenue growth from 2015 to 2018, according to the report. Illinois has 241 of the most successful new companies in the country.

The 5,000 companies come from over 25 different types of industry, including construction, real estate, and software. To earn a spot on the list, companies must have been generating revenue by March 31, 2015, and then had a minimum revenue of $2 million by 2018. Additionally, all the companies are privately held, for profit, and independent of any other larger company, according to Inc.

The Chicago metro area has exactly 237 companies in the top 5,000. Of those companies, 14 located in Chicago can be found in the list's top 10 percent (not including metro-area cities).

Here are those 14 companies in Chicago, including their ranking:

• Company Name: GForce Life Sciences (90)
• Growth: 3,532 percent
• Industry: Human Resources
• Revenue: $14.4 million

• Company Name: ShipBob (99)
• Growth: 3,326 percent
• Industry: Logistics & Transportation
• Revenue: $34.2 million

• Company Name: China Meta Solutions (130)
• Growth: 2,705 percent
• Industry: Manufacturing
• Revenue: $3.1 million

• Company Name: Arcalea (149)
• Growth: 2,514 percent
• Industry: Advertising and Marketing
• Revenue: $2.8 million

• Company Name: UPshow (174)
• Growth: 2,236 percent
• Industry: Business Products & Services
• Revenue: $40.5 million

• Company Name: Fitness Cubed (180)
• Growth: 2,142 percent
• Industry: Manufacturing
• Revenue: $10.3 million

• Company Name: RedShelf (231)
• Growth: 1,797 percent
• Industry: Education
• Revenue: $46.2 million

• Company Name: Cultivate Advisors (280)
• Growth: 1,558 percent
• Industry: Business Products & Services
• Revenue: $3.4 million

• Company Name: OppLoans (321)
• Growth: 1,435 percent
• Industry: Financial Services
• Revenue: $134.2 million

• Company Name: Wavicle Data Solutions (342)
• Growth: 1,347 percent
• Industry: IT System Development
• Revenue: $12.4 million

• Company Name: First Stop Health (375)
• Growth: 1,226 percent
• Industry: Health
• Revenue: $4 million

• Company Name: Apogee Stores (400)
• Growth: 1,142 percent
• Industry: Retail
• Revenue: $5.4 million

• Company Name: G2 (408)
• Growth: 1,115 percent
• Industry: Software
• Revenue: $21.5 million

• Company Name:Era Transport (438)
• Growth: 1,042 percent
• Industry: Logistics & Transportation
• Revenue: $10.1 million

The top spot on the business magazine’s list goes to the advertising & marketing company Freestar, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Here are the top ten fastest growing companies in the United States:

1. Freestar — Phoenix, Arizona — 36,680 percent growth.
2. FreightWise — Brentwood, Tennessee — 30,548 percent growth.
3. Cece’s Veggie Co. — Austin, Texas — 23,880 percent growth.
4. LadyBoss — Albuquerque, New Mexico — 21,850% growth.
5. Perpay — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — 18,166% growth.
6. Cano Health — Miami, Florida — 14,183% growth.
7. Bear Mattress — Hoboken, New Jersey — 13,481% growth.
8. Connected Solutions Group — Mechanicsville, Virginia — 12,565% growth.
9. Providence Healthcare Management — Cleveland, Ohio — 12,565% growth.
10. NOM — Los Angeles, California — 11,996 percent growth.

“The beautiful thing is, when you start making people more money and helping them run their businesses better, they typically have pretty big mouths,” says David Freedman, the co-founder of the No. 1-ranked Freestar, a company that sells solutions and services that help publishers make more money online by perfecting advertising operations.

Freestar had a revenue of $36.9 million in 2018.

Patch reporter Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report