20 local companies were included in this year's Inc. 5000 list, with one cracking the top 500.
The Inc. 5000 ranks privately held, for-profit U.S.-based independent companies on revenue growth from 2020 through 2023. Applicants' revenue numbers are then verified and vetted by Inc.'s editorial board.
Green Tree-based gift card and e-commerce solution company Wolfe, LLC was ranked No. 486, with a 3-year-growth percentage of 905%. Wolfe provides a variety of services, including text-able and personalized gift cards, as well as business-facing solutions for managing and boosting customer engagement. The company's website proudly calls itself "Pittsburgh's fastest-growing private company," citing its placement on Inc.'s regional northeast list earlier this year.
Wolfe also topped the Business Times' Fast 50 in 2022 and made this year's Fast 50 — a ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the Pittsburgh region using a different criteria than the Inc. list. The companies making the 2024 Business Times Fast 50 has been announced, but the order has not. That will be revealed at an event on Aug. 29 at Rivers Casino.
The rest of the Pittsburgh companies included on the Inc. 5000 come from a variety of industries.
Wolfe is one of many on the list that can be classified as coming from the region's tech sector, but even within that sublist is a diverse range of backgrounds. For example, the second-highest company on the list was North Side-based financial technology firm IRALOGIX. It ranked No. 872 with a 574% 3-year-growth percentage. The next highest tech company was Magna5, a Canonsburg-based I.T. and cybersecurity firm, ranked at No. 1,592, followed by podcast and streaming audio solutions company Soundstack, ranked at No. 1,805. North Side-based software company Mayvue ranked next for the area at No. 2,411. Lower on the list at No. 4,510 is cybersecurity firm GreyMatter, who's growth in recent years attracted the attention of the White House. Just making the cut was remote management software company Virtual Mgr at No. 4,975.
The list also included several marketing and advertising agencies. Green Tree-based Ethic Advertising was ranked at No. 2,484, Lawrenceville-based Corkboard Concepts was ranked at No. 3,748 and Uptown-based Beyond Spots and Dots was ranked at No. 4,651.
Also on the list is Uptown-based law firm Tibbott & Richardson at No. 1,494, dog day care chain The Dog Stop at No. 2,602, logistics service Beemac at No. 2,925, business consultant Solutions 21 at No. 3,174 and Gibsonia-based Resnick Roofing and Contracting at No. 3,548. Others included health care recruiting firm EGA Associates at No. 3,834, office equipment supplier Ford Business Machines at No. 3,904, local bakery chain Jenny Lee Swirl Bakery at No. 4,910, training company Agile Rising at No. 4,784 and management consulting firm ProspHire at No. 4,792.
Among those, Resnick Roofing and Ford Business Machines also qualified for this year's Business Times Fast 50.
The Inc. 5000 covers four years of revenue, from 2020 to 2023. First-year revenue must top $100,000 and fourth-year revenue for 2023 must top $2 million.
The Business Times Fast 50 for 2024 covers three years of revenue — 2021, 2022 and 2023 — and requires that first-year revenue be at least $2 million. Companies also must be willing to disclose revenue for publication. To be considered for next year's Fast 50, based on growth in revenue from 2022 to 2024, contact Data Editor Ethan Lott at elott@bizjournals.com.
