Deloitte Releases 2015 North America Technology Fast 500 Rankings

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 13, 2015 – Deloitte today released the 2015 Technology Fast 500, an annual ranking of the fastest growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech sectors. StartApp claimed the top spot with a growth rate of 21,984 percent from 2011 to 2014. Based in New York, StartApp provides a free monetization and distribution platform that integrates with applications on mobile devices. Founded in 2010, StartApp now partners with more than 200,000 applications, and has generated over seven billion software development kit (SDK) downloads to date.
2015_GrandStream_Asia_Roadshow
Boston’s VoIP phone maker Grandstream made the Fast 500 list with growth rate of 122%. Picture from Grandstream’s video conferencing & reseller roadshows in Asia (from Facebook).





Awardees are selected for this honor based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2011 to 2014. Overall, 2015 Technology Fast 500 companies achieved revenue growth ranging from 109 percent to 21,984 percent from 2011 to 2014, with an average growth of 850 percent.

“The technology space is constantly, and rapidly, evolving as new startups and overnight sensations enter the market delivering goods and services on a quicker and cost-effective scale,” said Sandra Shirai, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “The 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winners have demonstrated remarkable innovation and at the same time have had a profound impact on businesses large and small. StartApp is just one example of a company disrupting the technology industry and we congratulate them for claiming the top spot and all of the winning companies on this impressive achievement.”

“StartApp is truly honored to be recognized by Deloitte as the fastest growing company on the Fast 500 list of technology companies in North America,” said Gil Dudkiewicz, CEO and co-founder of StartApp. “This award reflects our effort to build a platform based on machine learning and data insights in order to provide not only the most targeted advertising, but by far the most creative and innovative advertising. We are thrilled to receive this industry recognition and we’ll continue our efforts in supporting our partners’ growth and enhancing customer engagement through mobile technology. Finally, we emphasize that it is a collaborative effort and we thank our employees and partners around the world for helping us achieve this milestone.”

The top 10 ranked companies are as follows:

2015 Rank Company Sector Revenue Growth (2011 to 2014) City, State
1 StartApp Software 21,984 percent New York, New York
2 Scopely Digital content/media/entertainment 19,569 percent Culver City, California
3 Corvus Energy Energy tech 16,943 percent Richmond, British Columbia
4 Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Biotechnology/pharmaceutical 15,099 percent Rockville, Maryland
5 Aquantia Semiconductor 7,498 percent San Jose, California
6 Nimble Storage, Inc. Electronic devices/hardware 7,380 percent San Jose, California
7 The Trade Desk Software 6,949 percent Ventura, California
8 Intersect ENT Medical devices 6,793 percent Menlo Park, California
9 Eyeview Digital content/media/entertainment 5,593 percent New York, New York
10 App Annie Software 5,383 percent San Francisco, California
Regional innovation remains strong

This year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winners hail from cities far and wide across North America – from San Francisco; to Rockville, Maryland; to Richmond, British Columbia. Of the dozens of locations represented on the list, some have a particularly strong track record of turning out successful, fast growing companies that are releasing new, emerging technologies.

Well known as an innovation hotspot, Silicon Valley-based businesses are the most prominently ranked representing 20 percent of the companies on the list, with 62 percent in software. The New York Metro area came in second, with 14 percent of companies on the list coming from the area in software and digital content, and the media and entertainment sectors. Finally New England, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia also dominated as innovation centers in software, digital content, media and entertainment, and biotech.

Following is a list of innovative cities with a significant concentration of winners:

Location Percenage of List Fastest-Growing Company in the Region Overall Company Ranking Dominate Sectors in Location
San Francisco Bay Area 20 percent Aquantia 5 Software 62 percent
New York Metro Area 14 percent StartApp 1 Software 43 percent; digital content/mdia/entertainment 31 percent
New England 7 percent Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals 15 Software 55 percent; biotech 24 percent
Los Angeles  6 percent Scopely 2 Software 50 percent; digital content/media/entertainment 27 percent
Washington, D.C. 6 percent Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 4 Software 56 percent; biotech 17 percent
Software companies maintain 20-year stronghold

Software continues to have the greatest impact across technology sectors, representing 57 percent of the entire list and three of the top 10 winners overall. Of the private companies, 55 percent identified themselves in software as a service (SaaS), 37 percent in cloud computing, 37 percent in data analytics and 35 percent in mobile. Each year, since the creation of the ranking, software companies have made up the majority of winners, with an average growth rate of 667 percent this year.

Digital content, media and entertainment companies make up the second most prevalent sector in this year’s rankings, comprising of 15 percent of the Technology Fast 500.

Biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies follow next with 11 percent of companies representing this year’s list and an average growth rate of 938 percent.

The percentage of companies from industry sectors represented on the Technology Fast 500 are as follows:

Sector Percentage Sector Leader Revenue Growth (2011 to 2014)
Software 57 percent StartApp 21,984 percent
Digital content/media/entertainment 15 percent Scopely 19,569 percent
Biotechnology/pharmaceutical 11 percent Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 15,099 percent
Communications/networking 5 percent ZipRecruiter, Inc. 3,704 percent
Energy tech 4 percent Corvus Energy 16,943 percent
Electronic devices / hardware 4 percent Nimble Storage, Inc. 7,380 percent
Medical devices 3 percent Intersect ENT 6,793 percent
Semiconductor 1 percent Aquantia 7,498 percent
Majority of companies received venture backing

In the 2015 rankings, 64 percent of the companies were backed by venture capitalists at some point in their company history.

“North American technology hubs, including Silicon Valley and the New York Metro area continue to retain and reinforce investor confidence in both the ability to fundraise, as well as to achieve favorable returns on investment,” said Jim Atwell, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and national managing partner of the emerging growth company practice. “These regions will remain hotbeds for new technology companies and we expect that we will continue to see investors remain confident in investments in these regions as more startups emerge.”

For additional details on the Technology Fast 500, including the complete list and qualifying criteria, visit www.fast500.com. Connect with us on Twitter: @DeloitteTMT; #Fast500.

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