Deloitte Celebrates 25th Year of Technology Fast 500™; Unveils 2019 North America Rankings

Deloitte today celebrated the 25^th anniversary and release of its “North America Technology Fast 500,” an annual ranking of the fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech sectors.

UiPath claimed the top spot with a growth rate of 37,458% from 2015 to 2018. Founded in 2005, UiPath’s vision is a robot for every person — freeing people of burdensome, repetitive labor so they can focus on more valuable, satisfying work. UiPath has automated millions of repetitive, rule-based tasks for organizations worldwide. UiPath is one of three New York-based companies ranked in the top 10 this year.

Technology Fast 500 awardees are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2015 to 2018. Over the past quarter century, the Fast 500 program has honored nearly 6,000 companies across North America.

Overall, the 2019 Technology Fast 500 companies achieved revenue growth ranging from 166% to 37,458% over the three-year time frame, with a median growth rate of 439%. Results also show a shift to more private companies making the list (76%) versus public companies (24%) — a 7% change from last year’s rankings.

“This year marks the 25^th anniversary of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, so we are especially pleased to announce and congratulate the 2019 winners,” said Sandra Shirai, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP, and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “Once again, we saw innovation across the board, with software companies continuing their dominance of the top 10. It’s always inspiring to see how the Fast 500 companies are transforming business and the world we live and work in.”

“Being recognized by Deloitte as the fastest growing technology company on the Fast 500 List is nothing short of incredible,” said Daniel Dines, co-founder and CEO of UiPath. “What we’ve achieved over the last decade could not have been done without the hard work of our employees and the amazing support of our customers, partners and investors. They humble us and inspire us to work harder to evolve RPA as the technology that not only unlocks the true potential of AI, but also other emerging solutions. This achievement is for all of them.”

The Technology Fast 500’s top 10 include:

Silicon Valley has largest share of winners
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 winners represent more than 41 states and provinces across North America. California’s Silicon Valley continues to produce fast-growing companies, leading regional representation with 19% of this year’s Fast 500. The New York metro area also fared well with 12% of the companies; New England with 8% and Greater Washington, D.C., with 7%, and Greater Los Angeles accounted for 5%.

Following is a summary of the 2019 ranking by regions with a significant concentration of winners:

Software continues to dominate for the 24th straight year
Software companies continue to deliver the highest growth rates for the 24th straight year, representing 68% of the entire list and eight of the top 10 overall winners. Of the private companies on the list, 48% identify themselves as part of the software as a service (SaaS) or enterprise software subsector and 12% of companies are software with a financial services orientation (fintech). Since the creation of the ranking, software companies have consistently made up the majority of the winners, with a median growth rate of 449% in 2019.

Biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies make up the second most prevalent sector in this year’s rankings, accounting for 11% of the Fast 500 companies and achieving a median growth rate of 402% in 2019. Digital content/media/entertainment companies rank third at 10% of the list with a median growth rate of 439%.

The Technology Fast 500 by industry sector:

Four out of five companies received venture backing
In the 2019 Fast 500 rankings, 85% of the companies were backed by venture capital at some point in their company history. Notably, 28 of the top 30 companies on the Technology Fast 500 in 2019 received venture funding.

“As technology innovation trends toward ‘everything as a service,’ it’s no surprise that software companies dominate the winners list yet again this year,” said Mohana Dissanayake, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and industry leader for technology, media and telecommunications, within Deloitte’s audit and assurance practice. “What’s exciting about celebrating 25 years of the Tech Fast 500 is we now have a quarter century of innovation stories to draw and reflect upon. These are the companies that push boundaries, help organizations become more efficient and productive, and ultimately enable businesses to drive growth and revenue. We congratulate all the well-deserving winners.”

SOURCE Deloitte