FreightWaves, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based provider of supply chain and logistics data, news and information, debuted on the annual Inc. 5000 list at No. 85. The 2021 list was revealed earlier today. The company experienced exponential revenue growth of 4,597% from 2017 to 2020.
FreightWaves topped the list as the fastest growing Tennessee-based company and third in the software category.
“We are building the nerve center of the global supply chain right here in Chattanooga,” said Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves. “Joining the Inc. 5000 as one of the prestigious top 100 companies among the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. speaks volumes about FreightWaves, our culture and our products/services. We could not be more proud of this achievement.”
2020 was a breakout year for the SONAR platform, with more than 270 new enterprise clients subscribing. Shippers represented a major growth area of the company, helped with new product offerings, supply chain dislocation, and provider consolidation in the freight market data space.
SONAR provides freight market participants with benchmarking, analytics, monitoring, and forecasting of global freight data, giving subscribers near real-time information about the direction of the market.
The Inc. 5000 represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment – its independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on previous Inc. 5000 lists.
“Much of FreightWaves’ success is tied to our ability to attract a team of experts that understand the unique dynamics of the global supply chain,” Fuller explained. “Working alongside top data scientists and analysts, we are able to build products that help clients benchmark, analyze, monitor and forecast real-time developments in the global freight economy.”
(Photo: FreightWaves staff)
Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, those companies on this year’s list also proved especially resilient and flexible given the unprecedented global challenges of the COVID pandemic. Among the 5,000 companies, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543%, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.
Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc., which will be available on newsstands on Aug. 20.
“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”
(Photo: FreightWaves staff)
Award methodology
Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of Dec. 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 was $100,000; the minimum for 2020 was $2 million.
For more information on the Inc. 5000, including the Vision Conference, visit http://conference.inc.com/.
About FreightWaves
FreightWaves is the world’s leading provider of freight market forecasting, data, news and analysis. Logistics and supply chain firms depend on FreightWaves for benchmarking, analytics, monitoring and forecasting of pricing, capacity, demand, energy and carbon intelligence. The company provides the freshest data and market insights through SONAR, a subscription SaaS platform, and through the world’s largest streaming media network focused on logistics and supply chain information.
As the global freight dashboard, FreightWaves SONAR provides near real-time freight market data and supply chain intelligence to 560 plus enterprises. The SONAR data platform offers the fastest and deepest set of freight market data on the planet. FreightWaves Carbon Intelligence provides supply chain firms with transparency on carbon emissions and solutions to achieve carbon neutrality.
FreightWaves Media operates the FreightWaves, American Shipper and Modern Shipper brands. FreightWaves Media serves more than 1.5 million unique monthly visitors on its websites, generates 15 million monthly minutes of streaming TV and 100,000 monthly podcast downloads. Earlier this year, FreightWaves was honored for Best Media Brand (Overall Editorial Excellence) in the 67th annual Jesse H. Neal Awards. It’s the most prestigious accolade in a contest considered the Pulitzer Prize of business-to-business journalism.
About Inc. media
The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including web sites, newsletters, social media, podcasts and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Vision Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.