Today, Forbes released its list of the '100 Most Promising' companies in the United States, doing its best to apply solid metrics to a title that's usually dismissed as totally arbitrary.
To determine the country's most promising businesses, Forbes selected from a pool of private companies that are generating under $300M annually and used revenue growth as the critical indicator of corporate potential. (The publication also used growth rates, growth in employee numbers, operating margins, capital raised, product ideas, and other factors for its methodology).
Out of the top 100, three Chicago companies cracked the list, with two of these Windy City startups founded by the same entrepreneur. (Promising, indeed).
At six overall is AvantCredit, the innovative lending platform that uses advanced algorithms and machine-learning capabilities to "change the way people borrow money." The two-year-old startup had a big 2014, raising over $300M in equity, adding over 375 employees, and surpassing 100,000 customers.
Founded by serial Chicago entrepreneur Al Goldstein - we'll get to the "serial" component in a bit - AvantCredit also welcomed on Peter Thiel as an investor last year, who said that "There are a lot of banks in the United States, but not enough access to credit; AvantCredit continues to prove that technology can solve this fundamental financial problem." High praise for a company with "potential."
Coming at #47 is ContextMedia, a healthcare engagement company that produces and provides medical content for doctors, hospitals, and providers. Amazingly, the company has been primarily bootstrapped since launching in 2006 and co-founders Shradha Agarwal (President) and Rishi Shah (CEO) "have no intention of raising capital." Last year, the startup was selected as one of Chicago's "Pre-IPO Companies to Watch" by the Chicago Ventures Summit.
Finally, at #72 is Pangea Properties, a fast-growing real estate firm that primarily buys, rehabs, and sells distressed apartment buildings in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Baltimore. Pangea was co-founded by Goldstein in 2009, before he moved on to launch AvantCredit in 2013. According to Forbes, Pangea generated $69M in revenue in 2014 and has over 440 employees.
Coming in just ahead of AvantCredit, the top five featured Instacart (Californa, #1), Suja Juice (CA, #2), AdBoom Group (CA, #3), Precision Frac (TX, #4), and Carvana (CA, #5).
(Image via AvantCredit).
