Biz Talk: Arlington Companies Make Strong, Showing on 2021 Inc. 5000 List

This article was written by Arlington Economic Development.

Thirty Arlington companies were recently named to the annual Inc. 5000 list. This list features the nation’s fastest-growing privately owned companies, historically identifying today’s most prosperous companies early in their growth trajectories.

As a leading hub for entrepreneurship, Arlington is consistently well represented on the annual list. Some companies, like 540.co and Sehlke Consulting are annual mainstays, exhibiting consistent year-over-year revenue growth. Others, like DonorBureau, HUNGRY and Vemo Education, are among the Arlington-based companies notching their first appearance.

Advertising and marketing firm Olympic Media was the highest-ranked Arlington company on the list, making its debut at No. 13. The firm’s impressive three-year growth rate of 20,330% earned it the distinction of being the top-ranked company from Virginia and the top company nationwide in its category, advertising and marketing.

Arlington and the D.C. metro region’s reputation as a hub of both tech talent and innovation are fundamental to success and offer a strong foundation for the area’s large collection of fast-growing companies. While each company is driven by different goals, principles, and ideals, two constants in their success are quality leadership and strong employee talent.

“Making the Inc. 5000 list as Arlington’s fastest growing IT Management firm gives our great team national recognition and validates the hard work and dedication we put in every day,” stated C3 Integrated Solutions Co-Founder and President, Bill Wootton. “Our core market is the defense community, so being based in the heart of Arlington gives us local access to our target market as well as a great location for us to sell nationally.”

Zach Wahl, CEO of Enterprise Knowledge, said: “Our fourth consecutive year on this list is a great achievement for Enterprise Knowledge, and one that belongs to each member of our growing team. What is important to me is that we’ve successfully sustained our culture and kindness and collaboration as we’ve grown.”

Arlington’s 30 Inc. 5000 companies join an additional 183 companies in Northern Virginia on the list. Despite the inconsistent and turbulent economic conditions over the past 18 months, the representation of companies in the region on the 2021 list is clear evidence of the region’s strong and diversified economy.

About the Inc. 5000 List

To qualify for the Inc. 5000, companies must show the past three calendar years of sales to prove their revenue. Additionally, they must be U.S. based, privately held and independent — not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies. Revenue in the initial year must have been at least $100,000, and revenue in the most recent year must have been at least $2 million to qualify.

Here is the full list of Arlington companies that made the cut, and their respective rankings:

14. Olympic Media
197. Objective Area Solutions
306. Secure Planet, Inc.
408. DonorBureau
434. HUNGRY
586. Vemo Education
852. Royce Geo
911. PhoenixTeam
1067. Ostendio
1225. C3 Integrated Solutions
1332. Blake Willson Group, LLC
1631. SweatWorks
1636. Quantitative Scientific Solutions
1822. DWBH, LLC
2226. Sehlke Consulting LLC
2342. Enterprise Knowledge
2380. iTech AG
2419. OpenWater, Inc.
2829. The Spiggle Law Firm
2845. Michael Shannon Consulting LLC
2886. VerticalApps
3040. 540.co
3130. Quantum Search Partners
3402. Fonteva
3500. Nuvitek
3544. Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, LLC
3579. ThreatConnect
3803. Summit2Sea Consulting
4049. M9 Solutions
4927. IDS International