SwanLeap has again nabbed the top spot among Wisconsin businesses in the latest Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the country.
The Madison-based transportation and logistics company had $162.6 million in revenue for 2018, and grew by 6,383 percent last year. It was ranked 35th out of U.S. companies.
Meanwhile, rounding out the top five for Wisconsin were two software companies and two manufacturers.
Fetch Rewards, another Madison company, was ranked 68th — the second highest of Wisconsin companies. This startup has a shopping rewards program for members, and reported $9 million in revenue last year for year-over-year growth of 4,323 percent.
The next two highest-ranked are involved in producing beer: Octopi Brewing, based in Waunakee, and Milwaukee’s Spike Brewing Equipment.
Octopi Brewing was ranked 160th, with $4.9 million in 2018 revenue and 2,384 percent growth; while Spike Brewing Equipment was ranked 426th, with $5.4 million in revenue and 1,074 percent growth.
No other companies from the state were ranked in the top 500 or had growth above 1,000 percent. In all, 49 Wisconsin businesses were included in the list of the top 5,000.
SwanLeap made national headlines last year after being named the fastest-growing U.S. company in 2018, with a 75,000 percent three-year growth rate. Before that, the company was ranked 55th in 2017.
“To be named for a third time among America’s greatest entrepreneurs is an unspeakable honor,” said SwanLeap CEO and co-founder Brad Hollister. (pictured here) “Finding ourselves at the number one spot for 2018 brought a lot of validation to our team’s hard work; continuing on the list for a third year speaks to the maturity and long term offering that SwanLeap brings to the world of supply chain.”
The company says its customers save 26.7 percent each year on average in shipping costs.
Peter Dermody, marketing director for Fetch Rewards, says the Inc. list was published “just days” after the company’s app hit one million active users.
“We’re pretty excited about the recognition from Inc., especially cracking the Top 100 in our first year on the list and being one of the top-ranked mobile app companies,” Dermody said in an email.
On the national level, the fastest-growing company was an advertising and marketing firm called Freestar, based in Arizona. The second-fastest growing company, a Tennessee business called Freightwise, works with transportation and logistics, while the third-fastest is Texas-based Cece’s Veggie Co. All three had annual growth between 20,000 and 40,000 percent.
See the full list: http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2019/top-private-companies-2019-inc5000.html
See a previous story on SwanLeap: http://www.wisbusiness.com/2019/swanleap-looking-to-reach-new-international-customers/
Listen to a podcast with Hollister: http://www.wisbusiness.com/2019/wisbusiness-the-podcast-with-brad-hollister-founder-of-swanleap/
Check out an earlier podcast with Wes Schroll, founder and CEO of Fetch Rewards: http://www.wisbusiness.com/2018/wisbusiness-the-podcast-with-wes-schroll-founder-and-ceo-of-fetch-rewards/
–By Alex Moe
WisBusiness.com
