Seven Northwest Arkansas companies are ranked on this year’s Inc. 5000 list.
Cabana Holdings of Fayetteville, Overdrive Brands of Fayetteville, RevUnit of Bentonville, ZENWORK of Fayetteville, Limbird Real Estate Group of Rogers, capSpire of Fayetteville and B-Unlimited of Fayetteville were the companies recognized by Inc., which bases its ranking on the company’s revenue growth rate from 2014-2017.
None of those Northwest Arkansas companies grew faster than Cabana Holdings, a financial services company founded in 2007 that has 20 employees. It ranked No. 457 nationally this year, growing its revenue by 1,113 percent over the three-year period.
“Dedication to and expansion of our family office services has provided exponential growth for our firm’s retail advisory business, specifically in the Northwest Arkansas and Dallas-Fort Worth areas,” said Chadd Mason, the company’s CEO. “We owe much of our success to our communities and the clients that have been with us from the beginning. Separately, in early 2016, we recognized a huge opportunity for growth in our sub-advisory money management business. Since then, we have invested our time and money into increasing our accessibility to advisers and firms across the country, as well as gaining credibility within the marketplace.”
Overdrive Brands, an e-commerce platform founded in 2014, grew its revenue by 636 percent, coming in at No. 785 on Inc.’s list. Company revenue is near $21 million a year.
Owned by CEO Kurt Lind, President Jack Sanders and a financial investor, the company has 21 employees and has offices in Fayetteville and the Chicago suburb of Mundelein. It expects to add four or five employees in the next year, Lind said.
Bentonville-based RevUnit has grown to 74 employees and now has an additional office in Las Vegas.
RevUnit, a Bentonville company founded in 2012 by business partners Joe Saumweber and Michael Paladino, ranked No. 1,228 nationally. The company’s revenue now exceeds $8 million.
“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized again this year among such inspiring businesses,” Saumweber wrote on the company’s website. “Our growth is a testament to the great work of our teams, who resolve to be a little better all the time. What I’m most proud of is that we’re growing the right way, partnering with innovative clients, bringing on the best talent, and pushing the boundaries of what enterprises can achieve through intelligent technology.”
ZENWORK, which has 45 employees and used to be called TechAtlantis, was founded by Sanjeev and Rekha Singh. It’s a digital tax compliance and regulatory reporting company. It ranked No. 1,281 on the Inc. list. its annual revenue now tops $5 million.
Fayetteville’s ZENWORK, has revenue in excess of $5 million a year and 45 employees. It helps customers with tax and regulatory matters.
“Our team works hard to create compliance and information reporting tools our clients love,” said Sanjeeve Singh. “It is an honor to be named with so many other high-performing, high-growth companies.”
Limbird Real Estate Group, which was established in 2015 and now has 18 full-time real estate agents, ranked No. 1,964 with 228 percent revenue growth over the three years. Its annual revenue is $3.7 million.
Tara Limbird, who owns the company with her husband Nick Limbird, said the company has sold 500 properties for four consecutive years and it expects to hit that mark again in 2018.
In terms of revenue and employees, none of the Northwest Arkansas companies on the list are bigger than capSpire, a firm that earned a spot on the Inc. list for the sixth consecutive year. Established in 2009, capSpire’s annual revenue now tops $23 million, growing by 152 percent over the three years measured by Inc.
Jeff Hardcastle (pictured) and Mike Scharf are the co-founders of capSpire.
The technology company provides commodity trading and risk management services, focusing on the energy sector. It has offices in three states (Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas) and two other countries (Ireland and the United Kingdom). Eighteen of the company’s 104 employees are based in Fayetteville. Ranked No. 2,734 on the list, capSpire’s best accomplishment may be its frequency being recognized by Inc. Just 6 percent of the companies manage to stay on the list for six years or more, and capSpire is in its sixth year being ranked.
B-Unlimited does custom screen printing, making T-shirts, sweatshirts, outerwear and headwear. It ranked No. 2,772. With annual revenue approaching $8 million, it started in 1994 and now has 60 employees. CEO Ben Clark purchased the company in 2006.
Companies now well known across the nation were once members of the Inc. 5000 list. Zillow, Pandora, Domino’s Pizza and Yelp are all former Inc. 5000 members.
The 2017 Inc. list included 14 Arkansas companies, and eight of them were in Northwest Arkansas. Five of the region’s companies honored by Inc. this year — B-Unlimited, LImbird, capSpire, Overdrive Brands and RevUnit — made the 2017 list.
Pictured at the top: Molly Churchwell, Dan Kim and Whitney Klemann are among the capSpire employees based in the company’s office in Fayetteville. Among the seven Northwest Arkansas companies ranked by Inc. magazine on its annual Inc. 5000 list, capSpire is the largest both in terms of annual revenue and number of employees.
