CBJ's Fast 50 Awards: Private companies with rapid revenue growth – Charlotte Business Journal – The Business Journals

CBJ’s Fast 50 Awards program puts a spotlight on some of the Charlotte region’s fastest-growing, privately held companies.
CBJ PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
The companies in the Charlotte Business Journal‘s 2022 class of winners in the Fast 50 Awards program are going places — in a hurry. This year’s class accelerated through a pandemic that brought about unprecedented challenges to maintain rapid revenue growth.
This marks CBJ’s 30th year of the Fast 50, one of our longest-running, signature awards programs. It seeks to highlight the Charlotte region’s fastest-growing private companies. 
Fifteen of the companies in this year’s ranking posted growth in revenue of more than 100% for 2019-21.
The honorees come from a variety of industries, from real estate teams, contractors and logistics companies to tech firms and health-care services. Many are repeat winners, having sustained strong growth over time.
Companies applied for inclusion in this program after CBJ solicited nominations. Each nominee provided financial documentation to be evaluated by accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen, which ranked participants based on average annual revenue growth over three years. To qualify for the program, nominees had to:
Should your firm be on this list? Reach out now to Research Director Amy Shapiro at ashapiro@bizjournals.com so we can contact you when nominations open for 2023.
CBJ celebrated the honorees’ achievements — and revealed the 2022 ranking for the first time — during an awards ceremony and reception last night at The Westin Charlotte hotel in uptown. 
Here is the complete ranking of Fast 50 honorees in 2022:
No. 1: Shred America
586.41% average growth rate over 3 years
Shred America is a nationwide platform of service and equipment offering document shredding and hard-drive shredding. The Fort Mill-based company began in 2016 as Carolina Shred and, in 2018, became Shred America. The company now has offices and equipment in nine states with a partner network of about 60 smaller document-shredding companies in additional cities.
Read more here: Local veteran leans on military skills in building Shred America
No. 2: Croixstone Consulting
277.88% average growth rate over 3 years
Croixstone Consulting is a business management consultant that drives  outcomes by accelerating and sustaining transformations. Croixstone is a six-year-old firm founded by Patti and Mark Weber that serves middle-market companies in such industries as health care, financial services and fintech, and manufacturing.
Read more here: How consulting firm Croixstone fills niche for middle-market companies
No. 3: Pursuit Search Group
230.80% average growth rate over 3 years
Pursuit Search Group is a recruiting firm specializing in executive search, consulting, staffing and shared services. The company focuses on accounting and finance, HR, mortgage, sales and executive support. It began in 2018.
Read more here: How Pursuit Search Group is navigating shifts in recruiting, workforce
No. 4: Springdale Custom Builders
156.53% average growth rate over 3 years
Springdale Custom Builders is a residential contractor led by Andrea and Brian Seymour. Springdale focuses on new home construction and renovations in Charlotte’s close-in neighborhoods. Renovations start at $500,000 and new homes are up to $2 million.
Read more here: Focus on easing home construction process sets Springdale apart
No. 5: Zapps Wholesale
149.80% average growth rate over 3 years
Zapps Wholesale is one of the largest distributors in America. The company buys merchandise in bulk directly from big-box retailers. The merchandise is just about anything — from furniture to tools, toys to clothing, electronics to sporting goods — that the retailer no longer intends to put on the shelf. Zapps brings the product to its distribution centers and resells it to businesses and individuals.
Read more here: How Zapps Wholesale is working to ‘revolutionize’ retail liquidation
No. 6: PetScreening
145.47% average growth rate over 3 years
PetScreening is a platform that allows property managers to outsource the process of pet risk assessment and validates service or support animals. Housing providers and property managers use PetScreening to validate reasonable accommodation requests for assistance animals and to confirm every resident understands their pet policies. A pet screening gives a landlord insight into the pet’s behavior, personality and health. The pet screening “paw score” determines the amount of additional monthly rent that is paid per animal if the application is accepted.
No. 7: Undergrads
143.05% average growth rate over 3 years
Undergrads is a labor-only moving company started by college students as a class-friendly way to earn money. Working in five states, the company provides a team of enthusiastic and hard-working movers and eliminates the overhead costs associated with a traditional moving company.
No. 8: MedChat
135.55% average growth rate over 3 years
MedChat is a modern patient access and messaging platform that provides HIPAA-compliant live chat, chatbots, an answer bot using artificial intelligence and two-way texting. MedChat deploys custom chatbots that enhance communication and automate workflows. The platform is used by hundreds of health-care organizations.
No. 9: Loan Pronto Inc.
132.40% average growth rate over 3 years
Loan Pronto offers residential mortgages in 20 states, fueled by an aggressive marketing campaign on dozens of radio stations and a quick online application process. Customers get rates and apply online and can be in underwriting for a new home loan within hours. The company’s robust marketing campaign enables its loan officers to close five to seven times the number of loans monthly as a typical mortgage officer.
No. 10: Dualboot Partners
128.86% average growth rate over 3 years 
Dualboot Partners is an on-demand, product design and software engineering firm. The company provides product strategy, design, web development and mobile development to help companies scale and grow. Dualboot works with clients in multiple verticals, including fintech, retail, manufacturing, automotive, beverage, construction and health tech.
No. 11: TUSK Partners
123.81% average growth rate over 3 years
Tusk Partners is a business broker specializing in the dental industry. The firm has completed over $650 million worth of transactions across all specialties. Tusk has an in-depth understanding of the marketplace and access to hundreds of buyers nationwide to help clients pursue transactions that maximize long-term value.
No. 12: Riverstone Logistics
117.20% average growth rate over 3 years
Riverstone Logistics offers final-mile solutions for heavy goods retailers needing delivery and installation. The firm was founded in 2017 by four partners who work in the business. Riverstone provides final-mile deliveries through dedicated and network models for various clients across the nation. In 2021, the company expanded into delivering building products and appliance delivery and installation.
No. 13: Carolinas Dream Team
112.31% average growth rate over 3 years
Carolinas Dream Team is a residential real estate firm affiliated with Keller Williams that is based in Fort Mill with offices in Spartanburg. The firm is led by Mike Morrell and Faiyaz Dossaji. The team focuses on the robust markets of upstate South Carolina and in Charlotte.
No. 14: Contractor Growth Network
110.85% average growth rate over 3 years
Contractor Growth Network is a digital marketing and search-engine optimization agency. The company only does marketing for contractors; that specialty helps contractors find high-value, pre-qualified leads so they can pick and choose the clients they want instead of chasing low-margin jobs. The network helps contractors improve digital visibility with websites, SEO strategies, marketing and video marketing.
No. 15: Impact Marketing of NC
109.80% average growth rate over 3 years
Impact Marketing of NC is a full-service marketing and advertising agency. Impact Marketing helps birth brands and builds the marketing strategy across all media platforms in 100 markets across the U.S.
No. 16: Open Broadband
98.15% average growth rate over 3 years
Open Broadband’s fixed-wireless internet service provides qualified households and small businesses with high speeds via outdoor antenna and indoor Wi-Fi gateway router. The company uses several different technologies to bring speed and reliability to customers. Open Broadband brings internet to underserved areas in 19 North Carolina counties and additional counties in Virginia and South Carolina.
No. 17: Pinnacle Solutions Group
89.19% average growth rate over 3 years
Pinnacle Solutions Group is an IT consulting services firm specializing in business intelligence, e-business solutions, mobile applications and custom technology solutions. Pinnacle has offices in Cincinnati and Charlotte.
No. 18: Lightserve Corp.
88.13% average growth rate over 3 years
Lightserve provides lighting solutions for commercial, industrial, health care, institutional and retail customers. The company provides design, maintenance, IoT controls and audit to ensure customers have well-lit workplaces. Lightserve provides enterprise-level program management, from LED retrofits and smart ceilings to electrical rollouts and electric vehicle charging stations.
No. 19: McCray Griffin Corp.
80.86% average growth rate over 3 years
McCray Griffin Corp. is a family-owned company that performs the installation of resinous flooring, polished concrete and self-leveling toppings for commercial and industrial projects.
No. 20: QC Kinetix
77.19% average growth rate over 3 years
QC Kinetix is a Charlotte-based franchise company offering comprehensive regenerative medicine treatments to address musculoskeletal conditions and joint pain. QC Kinetix uses the body’s own healing properties through state-of-the-art, natural biologic treatments as alternatives to invasive surgery and addictive pain medications. The health-care franchise currently operates in 17 cities.
No. 21: MigWay Inc. 
76.40% average growth rate over 3 years
MigWay is an asset-based freight carrier specifically designed for rushing critical loads. The company offers warehousing, dry vans and flatbed trucks to get loads where they need to be quickly. Founder David Voronin started the company in 2012 and has grown it to 230 trucks.
No. 22: 4TEKGear.com
71.08% average growth rate over 3 years
4TEKgear sells hardware, software, services and solutions primarily to IT professionals using a highly digitized inventory system. The company uses digital analytics for nearly real-time insights on when products are available while other websites merely provide out-of-stock notices. Through partnerships with major manufacturers, 4TEKgear eliminates the need for significant product warehousing.
No. 23: Aruza Pest Control
65.88% average growth rate over 3 years
Founded in 2016, Aruza Pest Control serves residential, commercial and industrial properties in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Friends started the business with two trucks, knocking on doors to find customers. The business has grown to more than 100 employees and is fueled by an internship program that employs more than 250 college students in door-to-door marketing roles.
No. 24: Hylaine
54.20% average growth rate over 3 years
Founded in 2017, Hylaine is an IT consulting firm that helps companies with digital transformation. Based in Charlotte, Hylaine has offices in Raleigh, Atlanta and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Hylaine aims to be a smaller, high-touch consulting firm to stand in contrast to consolidated larger firms.
No. 25: Airwavz Solutions Inc.
51.83% average growth rate over 3 years
Airwavz Solutions designs, installs, owns and operates wireless infrastructure inside commercial office and hospitality buildings in dense metropolitan areas. The company ensures building tenants and guests receive exceptional cellular service while also allowing wireless carriers to improve coverage and increase capacity throughout their networks.
No. 26: Lumaverse Technologies
51.06% average growth rate over 3 years
Lumaverse Technologies launched in 2020 to bring more value to SignUpGenius customers. The company is comprised of a suite of software tools that includes SignUpGenius, NonProfitEasy, TimeTap, Fundly, Membership Toolkit, AtoZConnect, Learning Stream, GoSignMeUp and RegistrationMax. Together, the solutions focus on scheduling, coordination, communication, registration, membership, volunteers and fundraising management challenges.
No. 27: Aegis Logistics
50.10% average growth rate over 3 years
Aegis Logistics Group is a Matthews-based freight management and logistics firm. As a freight broker, Aegis provides an array of freight management and supply-chain services, from everyday products and equipment to time-critical shipments, including cold-chain freight. Founded in 2016, Aegis has a network of trusted carriers throughout North America.
No. 28: Dry Otter Waterproofing
48.78% average growth rate over 3 years
Dry Otter Waterproofing is a locally owned and operated company providing basement and crawl space waterproofing and moisture control for the greater Charlotte area. The Denver-based company began in 2013 and specializes in waterproofing, sump pumps, French drains, mold remediation and crawl space repair and encapsulation.
No. 29: Elevate Digital
46.34% average growth rate over 3 years
Elevate Digital is a national provider of solutions for the digital economy, filling the space between in-house talent and a traditional consultancy. Elevate helps companies advance digital transformation with a focus on marketing, cloud, process automation, data and analytics, cybersecurity and contact centers. The company operates offices in Charlotte, Atlanta, New York, Austin, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
No. 30: Galasso Learning Solutions
41.63% average growth rate over 3 years
Galasso Learning Solutions partners with accounting firms to provide custom training solutions for National Association of State Boards of Accountancy-certified continuing professional education. Melisa Galasso founded the company in 2016 and works to create educational programs that include real-world information and promote interactive learning, focusing on a company’s individual needs to meet their professional development objectives. Galasso provides live training events and webinars.
No. 31: Renu Energy Solutions
40.46% average growth rate over 3 years
Founded in 2010, Renu Energy Solutions is a Charlotte-based, full-service solar energy installer and provider of energy-saving products and services, such as energy storage and system monitoring. The company works in residential and commercial markets and has served over 4,500 homes and businesses across the Southeast. With offices in Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville and Columbia. Renu provides end-to-end, customized solar solutions. It recently completed a high-profile project at New Belgium Brewery in Asheville.
No. 32: BuildingPoint Southeast
36.59% average growth rate over 3 years
BuildingPoint Southeast is a construction equipment supplier providing advanced hardware and software to help contractors build great projects. BuildingPoint Southeast provides such tools as 3D scanning, robotics, lasers and mixed-reality tools to digitally transform the design-build process. The company was founded in 2016 and serves the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
No. 33: Armstrong Transport Group
36.12% average growth rate over 3 years
Armstrong Transport is a third-party logistics provider founded in 2006. The company is a non-asset-based freight brokerage with over 150 freight agent offices and 1,000 logistics professionals working around the country. In October, Armstrong Transport moved to larger offices in Vantage South End’s East Tower to accommodate future growth.
No. 34: Ekos
36.01% average growth rate over 3 years
Ekos is a business management technology platform for the craft beverage industry. The company helps more than 18,000 users on six continents drive efficiencies and power growth in their breweries, wineries, cideries and seltzer-making facilities. Ekos makes it easy to manage inventory, production, sales and accounting. It was founded in 2014 by CEO Josh McKinney and Greg Forehand; the pair grew the business from a garage operation to more than 65 employees.
No. 35: Urban Design Partners
35.31% average growth rate over 3 years
Urban Design Partners is a civil engineering firm focused on planning, landscape design, architecture, engineering and urban design. The company specializes in complex projects where design solutions connect people, nature and the economy. Urban Design operates offices in Charlotte, Raleigh and Rock Hill. Recent projects include Optimist Hall and work at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
No. 36: Team Auto Group
35.23% average growth rate over 3 years
Team Auto Group is an automotive dealership for Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. Team Auto has grown from one to six dealerships across North Carolina since 2017. The company has pursued uncommon revenue streams to contribute to its financial success while providing new and pre-owned sales and service. It has nearly 400 employees.
No. 37: McFarland Construction
32.92% average growth rate over 3 years
McFarland Construction is a full-service commercial construction firm specializing in the delivery of projects through general contracting, design-build and construction management services. The firm offers pre-construction planning and project controls on a consulting basis. With headquarters in Charlotte, McFarland has satellite offices in Fayetteville and a recently opened location in Raleigh. Tino McFarland started the business in 2010 and has grown it into one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the Charlotte area.
No. 38: The Redbud Group
31.42% average growth rate over 3 years
The Redbud Group is a real estate team with Keller Williams SouthPark assisting homebuyers and sellers. Real estate broker and CEO Trent Corbin started the company in 2015 and has grown it to 60 agents in Charlotte and a team in Asheville. The Redbud Group is the official real estate partner of Charlotte FC.
No. 39: Let’s Talk Interactive
30.89% average growth rate over 3 years
Let’s Talk Interactive is a software company that develops easy, fast and safe virtual connections between people and professionals anywhere in the world. The company developed a virtual care ecosystem comprised of innovative telehealth solutions, software development, provider networks, medical hardware and 3D printing. The telehealth platform is an AWS Public Sector Partner providing access to more than 240 countries around the world.
No. 40: JLPollack CPA
30.82% average growth rate over 3 years
JLPollack CPA is an accounting firm focused on small to midsize businesses and the needs of individuals. James Pollack started the firm in 2011 and has grown it to eight accountants. The team guides clients through ever-changing tax laws and regulations and assists with real estate investments, capital gains and losses, unreimbursed employee expenses, education and child-care expenses and credits, multi-state returns and other scenarios. For small companies, JLPollack helps with business setup, income tax returns, payroll advice and sales tax.
No. 41: PresPro Homes
30.79% average growth rate over 3 years
PresPro Homes is a custom homebuilder constructing and renovating homes across the region and in Georgia. PresPro builds high-end, luxury homes and affordable, entry-level homes. The company has a division dedicated to building duplexes and homes to be turned into rentals. PresPro began in 2009 to renovate and repair homes that had returned to bank ownership after the housing crisis. The company won the top spot in the Fast 50 in 2017.
No. 42: Environmental Service Systems
30.42% average growth rate over 3 years
Environmental Service Systems is a national janitorial and facility maintenance company based in Charlotte. This minority-owned company provides custom maintenance, safety and training programs and green-cleaning options. Environmental Service Systems works with clients in the health care, industrial, retail, automotive, financial, energy and corporate headquarters sectors.
No. 43: NJR Construction
27.66% average growth rate over 3 years
NJR Construction is a subcontractor specializing in metal framing, drywall and acoustical ceilings. The company was formed in 2014. Past projects include the American Legion Memorial Stadium and Bechtler Museum of Art. 
No. 44: City Wide Exterminating
19.91% average growth rate over 3 years
City Wide Exterminating is a family-owned pest-control company. Headquartered in Locust, City Wide offers residential and commercial solutions. Services include pest control, termite control, wildlife removal and moisture control and encapsulation.
No. 45: Plancentric Financial Group
19.65% average growth rate over 3 years
Plancentric Financial Group is an affiliate of Northwestern Mutual. The firm delivers an integrated approach to comprehensive financial planning and investment management. Services include financial planning, wealth management, retirement planning, risk management solutions, disability income planning and estate planning.
No. 46: FirstLight Home Care of Greater Charlotte
17.21% average growth rate over 3 years
FirstLight Home Care provides in-home assistance to seniors, new mothers, people recovering from surgery or those who just need extra help. Highly trained assistants provide services from meal preparation to personal care and companionship in 36 states. FirstLight champions family caregivers who give countless hours to their loved ones every day by providing the resources and support needed to help them maintain balance in their own lives.
No. 47: Prochant
15.32% average growth rate over 3 years
Prochant is a reimbursement firm focused on home medical equipment and pharmacy. The company helps health-care providers outsource their billing processes to accelerate cash flow from insurance payers with end-to-end revenue cycle management.
No. 48: Broad River Retail
15.30% average growth rate over 3 years
Broad River Retail is a home furnishings retailer and operator of Ashley Home Stores. The company operates 31 stores throughout the Southeast and three distribution centers.
No. 49: Perry’s Diamonds & Estate Jewelry
14.05% average growth rate over 3 years
Perry’s Diamonds & Estate Jewelry is a 45-year-old, family-owned jewelry store specializing in vintage and estate jewelry, engagement rings, loose diamonds, custom jewelry and repair. The SouthPark-area store is a staple of the local retail scene and employs 10 graduate gemologists.
No. 50: Jackrabbit Technologies
14.04% average growth rate over 3 years
Jackrabbit Technologies is a software company whose technology powers more than 12,000 gyms, dance studios and other athletic organizations with studio and class management systems offered through subscription.
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