310 Va. companies make this year’s Inc. 5000 list

Arlington digital ad agency tops group at No. 13

Published August 17, 2021 by Katherine Schulte

This year, 310 Virginia companies are ranked on the most recent Inc. 5000. Inc. magazine released its annual list of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing privately-held companies Tuesday morning.

Leading Virginia’s companies on the list is No. 13 Olympic Media, a digital media ad company based in Arlington. Incorporated in 2017, the firm focuses on politics and advocacy advertising and fundraising, sports media and entertainment marketing, intelligence and defense advertising and mission-critical digital assets and media and consumer brands, owning several content platforms. Olympic Media bases its compensation on the success of its ad campaign, rather than charging a flat fee.

The Inc. 5000 bases its rankings on verified annual revenues from the most recent three years.

Olympic Media was founded by CEO Ryan Coyne, who was formerly chef financial officer for Alexandria-based marketing agency IMGE. A Philadelphia native who also worked as a Wall Street investment banking analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Coyne attributes his company’s rapid growth to its compensation structure, talent and word of mouth.

After learning the company had ranked so close to the top of the Inc. 5000 this year, Coyne felt proud of his team. “I think there’s kind of an enormous sense of responsibility to keep up the good work. You know, nobody wants to make it only once and it’s kind of on us now to continue doing what we’re doing and expand the business as best we can next year and the years after,” he said.

Last year’s top-ranked Virginia company was Sassy Jones at No. 75 — this year, the Richmond-based online jewelry and accessory retailer rose to No. 24. Three other Virginia companies were ranked in the top 100: No. 75, PingWind, an Annandale-based cybersecurity, program management, infrastructure and consulting federal contractor; No. 76, Go Powertrain, a Hinton-based supplier of new, remanufactured and recycled automotive parts; and No. 100, CTW Solutions dba Informed XP, a Chantilly-based IT systems development company.

Go Powertrain moved up on the list from No. 1337 in 2020 to cracking the top 100 this year.

“We’re so excited about the continued recognition as an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company,” Go Powertrain Owner and CEO Aaron Barnhart said in a statement. “It brings excitement to the workplace that we’ve built, and the people on our rapidly expanding team are the ones responsible for this achievement. We are so proud of our team.”

Virginia companies on the list had a median growth rate of 152% since 2017 and brought in $18.4 billion in total revenue. Collectively, they added 33,559 jobs, and 173 out of the 310 Virginia companies were repeat winners. Last year, 280 companies in the state made the list.

Of the 310 Virginia companies on this year’s list, 213 are in Northern Virginia, with 128 of those based in Fairfax County.

North Carolina had 127 companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 list, and Maryland had 138 companies.

The top 25 Virginia companies on the Inc. 5000 list include (in order of ranking):

No. 13: Olympic Media, 20,330%, advertising & marketing, Arlington

No. 24: Sassy Jones, 12,736%, retail, Richmond

No. 75: PingWind,  5,118%, government services, Annandale

No. 76: Go Powertrain, 5,034%, manufacturing, Hinton

No. 100: CTW Solutions dba Informed XP, 3,910%, IT systems development, Chantilly

No. 197: Objective Area Solutions, 2,199%, government services, Arlington

No. 242: Cloth & Paper, 1858%, consumer products and services, Henrico

No. 262: Centurion Consulting Group, 1,769%, government services, Herndon

No. 263: Gravy Analytics, 1,768%, software, Dulles

No. 279: ShineManagement, 1,664%, business products and services, Charlottesville

No. 291: Markesman Group, 1,583%, government services, Newport News

No. 306: Secure Planet, 1,497%, government services, Arlington

No. 314: Core One Solutions, 1,455%, government services, Sterling

No. 331: Black Bear Technology Solutions, 1,413%,  IT Management, Alexandria

No. 336: Kern Technology Group, 1,399%, government services, Virginia Beach

No. 352: WheelsOnSite USA, 1,343%, retail, Sterling

No. 393: Broadleaf, 1,235%, government services, Manassas

No. 408: Donor Bureau, 1,185%, software, Arlington

No. 411: Kreative Technologies, 1,184%, government services, Fairfax

No. 432: 4P Foods PBC, 1,132%, food & beverage, Warrenton

No. 434: Hungry, 1,127%, food & beverage, Arlington

No. 453: Dobrin Properties, 1,073%, real estate, Richmond

No. 469: Old Dominion Strategies, 1,031%, government services, Reston

No. 511: The Building People, 953%, real estate, Leesburg

No. 519: Spinnaker Consulting Group, 941%, financial services, Richmond

This story has been updated and corrected since publication. 

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