Inc. 5000 List: 17 Pittsburgh Companies Among Nation's Fastest Growing

PITTSBURGH, PA - Seventeen Pittsburgh-based companies have earned a prestigious distinction: They made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest growing private companies.

Inc. magazine ranked privately-held companies based on the percentage growth of revenue from 2013 to 2016. To make the list, companies had to earn more than $2 million in revenue in 2016.

The 17 Pittsburgh companies were among 185 Pennsylvania businesses that made the list. The Keystone State had the eighth-highest number of companies on the list behind California, Texas, Florida, New York, Virginia, Illinois and Georgia.

The fastest growing Pittsburgh-based company was PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy of North Fayette. The company was ranked 65th nationally based on a three-year growth of 5,319 percent.

Founded in 2011, PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy provides medicine and care for patients afflicted with rare diseases in all 50 states. Patients with HIV-AIDS, multiple sclerosis, or hypophosphatasia cannot go to a regular pharmacy because they don't carry orphan drugs, or medicines made for small populations. Inc lauded company CEO and co-founder for growing PANTHERx's revenue to $42.4 million last year while battling big-box pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS.

The other companies that made the list:

2. TFM Truckload, South Park (ranked 71st nationally): Offers truckload, rail, and less-than-truckload cross country shipping.

3. Edward Marc Brands, Lawrenceville: (673): Manufactures chocolate and caramel products for wholesale and retail distribution.

4. Elite Transit Solutions, Green Tree (697): Provides third-party shipping and logistics
management services for clients across North America.

5. InspiraFS, East Liberty (797): Provides IRA products to large banks, insurance companies, payroll providers and retirement plan advisors.

6. LunaMetrics, South Side (1,543): Provides digital marketing and Google Analytics consulting and training services as well as software reselling.

7. Net Health , Strip District (2,078): Provides software services for outpatient healthcare. Services incorporate management tools, clinical workflow documentation, revenue cycle management and analytics. Serves five specialty medical markets.

8. DLA+ Architecture & Interior Design. Green Tree (2,456): Provides architecture and interior design services.

9. RE 360, Arlington Heights (2,630): Owns and manages over 350 rental units, 13 commercial storefronts, and three warehouses.

10. JazzHR, North Side (3,390): Develops a platform that helps recruiters and hiring managers recruit talent and coach employees to peak performance.

11. ARMADA, O’Hara (3,649): Provides complete supply chain, warehousing, transportation, and logistics services.

12. HDS Marketing, West End (4,294): Provides corporate clients with comprehensive vertically-integrated in-house services to develop, manage and market corporate branded merchandise programs and projects, including in-house marketing/ creative services for design and creative support in merchandising, custom product, packaging and promotion development, and more.

13. ABG Capital, Crafton (4,411): Private equity holding company that provides software and technology services.

14. Beyond Spots & Dots, Uptown (4,645): A full service advertising agency with global reach dedicated to creating, planning, managing and maintaining advertising for its clients.

15. VoIP Innovations, Crafton (4,723): Aggregates, bundles and resells VoIP services to Internet telephone service providers, call centers and carriers.

16. Summa Technologies , Downtown (4,891): Provides IT consulting and software development to businesses of all sizes in the banking, telecommunication and higher education industries.

17. Accion Labs US, Upper St. Clair (4,937): A global technology firm specializing in working with technology firms and IT organizations in emerging technologies.

Photo via Yelp.