Quietly, one of the fastest-growing companies in the Triangle is headed for another $80 million year.
Synchrogistics, the second fastest-growing private company in the Triangle Business Journal's 2023 Fast 50 Awards, is a 40-employee analytics and technology-enabled logistics firm that aims to optimize a company’s transportation processes.
It was cofounded by married entrepreneurs Erica and Bill Jackson.
Synchrogistics got its start in the Jacksons’ basement in 2010. The couple had been talking about starting a company for years. “I’m a little more conservative by nature … so it was just finding a space where we felt like one of us had enough experience to know the space … and where we thought we could add value,” Erica Jackson said.
Bill Jackson, who'd been doing consulting in the transportation space, saw an opportunity to bring an analytics-focused approach to the sector. Erica had also done consulting in the space.
“We felt like there was an opportunity there, so it made sense,” she said. “It’s a risk, right, when you do something like this? But it felt like the best risk we had come up with.”
Bill quit his job to go all in. Erica, then an attorney, kept working to keep a steady paycheck. Together they bootstrapped the company – which took on its first employees within three years.
From the Jacksons' basement, the company moved into a small office in Greensboro. But it was clear the growing company needed more. So in 2017, Synchrogistics moved its headquarters to Raleigh.
“We were needing a better talent pool … we felt like we could get that in Raleigh,” she said.
It paid off.
Last year, the company ended with about $81 million in top-line revenue. The year before, it was just under $50 million.
Erica Jackson credits the sector’s fast trajectory – but said there are major challenges ahead. The industry is soft right now and seeing deflation – meaning the cost of a shipment a year and a half ago was significantly more than the cost right now. The firm will likely hold even with last year.
“But we feel like it’s growth because we’re seeing customers adding, so when the market turns, we feel like this is going to be a really good place for us,” she said.
According to the firm’s Fast 50 profile, it plans to hire 10 more people in the next year – but that’s a conservative estimate. If opportunities materialize in the next year as Erica Jackson hopes, “We’ll be hiring a lot more than 10 people and then I think we’ll be looking at more office space.”
So far, Synchrogistics’ growth has been organic – but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t consider M&A for the right opportunity. Erica said the firm is in a good spot – no debt and good cash positioning. But an acquisition might mean doing something it hasn’t had to do yet – and that’s raise outside capital.
