Fast Growth and Reinvention: 158 Dallas-Fort Worth Companies Make This Year's Inc. 5000

On Inc.’s 2020 ranking of the fastest-growing privately-held U.S. companies, 158 North Texas companies made the cut.

Though each list represents some of the most successful founders in the country—in company culture, employee engagement, growth, and results—this year looked a little different. The Inc. 5000 companies achieved a median revenue of $10.2 million from 2016 to 2019, and a median compound growth rate of 165.3 percent.

But, as Inc. points out, “that era is worlds away from the economic decline that hit the U.S. alongside the pandemic in March.”

The companies on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list represent job creators that “just keep going.” At press time, Inc. reported that only 11 percent had cut staff since March, while 47 percent were hiring laid off talent. Many are “remaking themselves” and the majority is anticipating profitability.

“This is the beauty of the Inc. 5000. Even as their stomachs got smaller, their eyes got bigger,” Leigh Buchanan, Inc.’s editor-at-large, writes. “More than 40 percent of honorees say current conditions make it more important than ever to scale quickly. Just 10 percent feel it would be best to slow down.”

North Texas is no different. As Dallas Innovates has locally covered the COVID-19 pandemic these past few months, we’ve seen the resilience and strength of our region’s startup community.

That goes for the whole state, too—431 Texas companies made this year’s Inc. 5000. Austin had 113 companies (Top: Quality Innovation at No. 60), Houston had 110 (Top: Zulie Venture Inc. at No. 5), and San Antonio had 25 (Top: FactoryPure at No. 208).

Texas as a whole had a median growth of 155 percent, total revenue of $20.9 billion, and 42,458 jobs added. There are 278 repeat honorees on the list. Those stats are up a bit from last year, with Texas garnering $20 billion in revenue and 40,705 jobs added in 2019.

The top company in Texas this year was Zulie, which is based in Stafford just outside of Houston. Three of the top five in the state are from Dallas-Fort Worth: Dallas-based Case Energy Partners, Southlake real estate firm Napali Capital, and Dallas IT systems company Allata.

Inc. defines its 39th annual Inc. 5000 as “an exclusive guide to America’s most inspiring entrepreneurs.”

This year was ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2016 and 2019. Companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 2016 to qualify, be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent as of December 2019. The minimum revenue required for 2016 is $100,000 and 2019 is $2 million.

The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $209 billion in 2019. That accounted for more than a million jobs over the past three years.

North Texas represents on the Inc. 5000

The Dallas metro had the most companies out of any other Texas metro area on the list. It also added the most jobs at 16,509 and had the most repeat honorees with 100.

Companies in Dallas and Houston had the most total revenues at $8 billion and $8.2 billion, respectively. Austin topped the Texas metros for its median growth rate with 174 percent. Dallas had a 151 percent growth rate.

Case Energy Partners, an energy company that buys oil and gas mineral rights and royalty interests, ranked the highest for the DFW area at No. 7. That’s a huge jump from ranking No. 78 in 2018. The Dallas-based company was founded in 2012 and has had a 17,921 percent growth over the past three years.

Along with Case Energy, the top 10 Dallas-Fort Worth companies on the list include:

• Napali Capital (No. 21): The Southlake-based real estate company experienced a 10,957 percent growth.
• Allata (No. 52): The Dallas-based IT systems development company experienced a 5,753 percent growth.
• Circle L Solar (No. 176): The Fort Worth-based energy company experienced a 2,251 percent growth.
• Blueprint to Practice Automation (No. 227): The Celina-based consumer products & services company experienced a 1,948 percent growth.
• Almaguer Logistics (No. 264): The Dallas-based logistics & transportation company experienced a 1,689 percent growth.
• Embark (No. 327): The Dallas-based financial services company experienced a 1,390 percent growth.
• Go Energistics (No. 335): The Southlake-based construction company experienced a 1,359 percent growth.
• BILT (No. 375): The Grapevine-based consumer products & services company experienced a 1,211 percent growth.
• Koddi (No. 411): The Fort Worth-based software company experienced a 1,120 percent growth.

Some other notable North Texas companies that made the list are Alkami, Compass Datacenters, Sagent, o9 Solutions, ParkHub, Poo~Pourri, Sendero, and OutMatch. Check out the full 2020 Inc. 5000 list here.