Prairie State Wire

Cresco Labs, The Mom Project and VillageMD finished at the top of a new ranking of the fastest-growing startup companies in the Chicago area, according to the data-analysis company Growjo.com.

Cresco Labs employs 664 workers in the cannabis industry and recorded a 34 percent employee growth rate since last year. The Mom Project, a consumer technology services firm, has 174 employees and saw its workforce expand by 81 percent over the past year. And VillageMD, a digital health company, employs 565 workers, reflecting an increase of 58 percent over the previous year.

The rankings are not just based on year-over-year growth but on Growjo’s evaluation of expected future growth. Growjo uses an algorithm in its calculations that includes revenue estimates, hiring news, funding availability, competitive environment and executive staff announcements.

A number of the startups in the Chicago area offer computer technology services that support the finance and insurance industries, according to Growjo. Chicago finished 24th on the company’s list of U.S. cities with the fastest-growing companies.

---

Top-50 List of the Fastest-Growing Chicago-area Startups

Rank	Company	Industry	Employees	Employee Growth	Current jobs
1	Cresco Labs	Cannabis	664	34%	199
2	The Mom Project	Consumer	174	81%	52
3	VillageMD	Digtal Health	565	58%	151
4	Fyllo	Software services	76	192%	5
5	Clearcover	Insurance	168	63%	33
6	Kalderos	Pharma	76	105%	11
7	Paro.io	Fintech	95	-2%	29
8	Pinnacle Dermatology	Medical Offices	102	23%	12
9	HealthJoy	Digital Health	172	32%	13
10	Forager	Logistics	75	88%	1
11	M1 Finance	Fintech	73	52%	22
12	ShipBob	Logistics	263	-2%	36
13	LogicGate	Software services	136	56%	13
14	Nature's Fynd	Food	68	89%	1
15	G2	Marketing	706	-3%	25
16	Ashling Partners	IT Consulting	72	200%	1
17	Jorie Healthcare Partners	Hospital/Healthcare	83	196%	1
18	CitrusAd	Software services	68	196%	1
19	Ascent Technologies	Financial Software services	81	35%	1
20	Xeris Pharmaceuticals	Pharma	184	31%	27
21	ActiveCampaign	Software services	647	18%	14
22	Cameo	Consumer	209	19%	16
23	Foxtrot Ventures	Software services	137	21%	2
24	Catalytic	Software services	98	11%	8
25	Built In	Advertising	158	13%	10
26	Pine Tree	Real Estate	85	174%	1
27	Harrison Street Real Estate Capital	Real Estate	197	29%	6
28	First Stop Health	Hospital/Healthcare	64	10%	3
29	Project44	Logistics	252	7%	19
30	ThreeKit	IT Consulting	74	10%	2
31	TimeDoc Health	IT Consulting	53	51%	1
32	The Mather Group	Investments	100	54%	1
33	Computer Aided Technology	IT Consulting	268	10%	26
34	InvenTrust Properties Corp.	Real Estate	130	0%	2
35	LanzaTech	Environmental	196	13%	6
36	MVP Staffing	Recruiting	209	11%	11
37	TPC Training Systems	Learning	79	0%	8
38	Copado	Software services	167	61%	2
39	Celebrity Home Loans	Finance	116	132%	1
40	PartySlate	Marketplace	48	14%	1
41	Mediafly	Software services	101	0%	1
42	GTCR	Finance	118	0%	1
43	ReviewTrackers	Software services	106	56%	1
44	Modern Healthcare	Publishing	188	127%	1
45	BigTime Software	IT Consulting	68	48%	5
46	3Cloud	IT Consulting	118	79%	1
47	BrewBike Inc.	Food	51	4%	1
48	Sudrania Fund Services	Finance	101	46%	1
49	Heartland Veterinary Partners	Veterinary	74	45%	1
50	BenchPrep	Learning	135	39%	5

Source: Growjo.com