Nearly a dozen companies from the Lehigh Valley were featured in Inc. Magazine’s prestigious list of the Top 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies.

Each year the weekly magazine, which focuses on small businesses and startups, releases a list of the country’s top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies. This year, the companies on the list amassed $206.2 billion in revenue in 2017.

“If entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of an economy, consider Inc.’s ranking of 5,000 companies America’s circulatory system,” a statement from the magazine reads. ”Our annual report looks at these fast-growing innovators, and how they made our list.”

Eleven companies from the Lehigh Valley made this year’s list, with Acuity Scheduling of Salisbury Township ranking the highest, coming in at No. 436.

“We’re honored to make the Inc 500 list, and help show that the Lehigh Valley is a great place for business,” said Gavin Zuchlinski, CEO and Founder of Acuity Scheduling.

“Previously we were based in New York City, and since coming to this area and I’ve found a new balance between work and family which has helped accelerate our growth even more,” Zuchlinski said.

Three of the Lehigh Valley companies to make the list finished within the top 1,000. Ideal Concepts of Allentown ranked No. 579, and its partner company American Insurance Organization (AIO) of Nazareth made No. 725.

This marks the second consecutive year Ideal Concepts has made the list, and the third year in a row for AIO. Ideal Companies ranked No. 6 among insurance-related businesses, with a 864% jump in revenue from 2014 to 2017.

“We are so excited to once again top this list, and are very pleased to have achieved No. 579, the highest we’ve ever ranked,” said Ideal Concepts President and Founder John Pequeno. “We’ve worked especially hard during these past three years- some of the most difficult and tumultuous years in individual health insurance- as regulations often change day-to-day.”

Inc. Magazine Editor in Chief James Ledbetter said: “Making the list gets harder every year as your starting base grows. Of the tens of thousands of companies that have applied to the Inc. 5000 over the years, only a fraction have made the list more than once. A mere one in three have the made the list 2 times.”

The $206.2 billion in revenue generated by the companies on this year’s list is an increase of 158 percent from $79.8 billion in 2014, according to the magazine. They also had three-year revenue growth rates that top out at 75,661 percent.

To qualify for the annual Inc. 5,000 list, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2014, and be able to show three full calendar years of sales.

Additionally, companies must be U.S. based, privately held, and independent, revenue in 2014 must have reached $100,000, and revenue in 2017 must have hit at least $2 million, according to the magazine.

The full list of Lehigh Valley companies to make the list include:

• Acuity Scheduling of Salisbury Township (No. 436)
• Ideal Concepts of Allentown (No. 579)
• American Insurance Organization of Nazareth (No. 725)
• Dream Live Prosper of Bethlehem (No. 1,530)
• Creditsafe USA of South Whitehall Township (No. 1,797)
• SmartAcre of Bethlehem (No. 2,413)
• The Wire Guys of Emmaus (No. 2,459)
• MGN Logistics of Easton (No. 3,330)
• The Denzel Group of Upper Macungie Township (No. 3,489)
• SoftNice of South Whitehall Township (No. 3,816)
• Spark Orthodontics PC of Bethlehem (No. 4,317)