This week, business magazine Inc. released its list of the 1,500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States. The list is divided into six regions — California, Florida, Texas, the Midwest, the D.C metro area and the New York metro area — and includes 250 top startups in each region.
“If the Inc. 5000 represents the big league, the Inc. 5000 Regionals are the AAA level — pitting local favorites against one another on a proving ground for national stardom,” the magazine said in its announcement. “The winners are fresh out of the gate — still racing toward their best.”
California-based companies brought in a total of $6.7 billion in revenue and added over 17,000 jobs last year. It’s no surprise that Silicon Valley led the way in terms of companies with the largest amounts of growth in the Golden State. Nine Bay Area-based startups placed in the list’s top 20 and, of those nine, four of the top spots belong to companies headquartered in San Francisco.
Click here for the full list, which includes companies located throughout the state as well as those outside of the tech industry. Read on below for details on the top five San Francisco tech companies who led the way in this year’s Inc. ranking.
Rank #29, 618% Growth
Kong’s open-source software connects APIs and microservices across and within clouds, Kubernetes, data centers and more using intelligent automation. The company kicked off the year with a $100 million Series D round that it closed in early February. The fresh capital tripled the newly minted unicorn’s valuation to $1.4 billion.
Rank #20, 1,077% Growth
Outschool’s remote learning platform provides users with a virtual marketplace for live online classes. The company closed on a $45 million Series B in September of 2020. Last year was huge for those in the edtech space, as many schools and universities had to quickly adapt to online learning. From August of 2019 to August of 2020, Outschool saw a more than 2,000 percent increase in bookings, according to the company.
Rank #11, 1,801% Growth
The contract lifecycle management platform kicked off 2021 with $100 million following the close of its Series D in early January. Ironclad handles a variety of contract workflows including sales agreements, HR agreements and non-disclosure agreements. The company’s list of corporate clients includes L’Oreal, Mastercard, Dropbox and Asana.
Rank #8, 3,249% Growth
Affinity’s technology structures and analyzes millions of data points across emails, calendars, and third-party sources to offer sales teams the tools they need to close deals. The company provides its users with an overview of their sales networks in a centralized database that automatically updates. In February of 2019, Affinity closed on a $26.5 million Series B round. The company has raised a total of $40.5 million in financing to date.
Rank #4, 6,070% Growth
In early February, the fintech platform raised $63 million in new financing by way of Russell Westbrook Enterprises. Varo offers customers bank accounts that have no minimum balance requirement or monthly account fee. The company is now hiring for dozens of available positions across several departments. Varo Bank has raised a total of $482.4 million in financing to date.
