2022 Fast Growth 150: Forging Ahead At Top Speed

The 150 companies on this year’s Fast Growth 150 list recorded an average two-year growth rate of 96 percent and collectively generated revenue of $82.4 billion last year.

The channel has faced serious headwinds as solution providers and their customers have wrestled with the global pandemic, economic uncertainty, employee shortages, ongoing supply chain issues and other challenges in the last two-plus years.

And yet many solution providers have not only survived but thrived as they navigate changes in IT needs and usage including the rapid shift to work-from-home and hybrid workplaces, high demand for cybersecurity solutions, and the ongoing migration to cloud computing.

“We’re growing like crazy,” said Michelle Accardi, CEO of Logically, a Portland, Maine-based MSP and MSSP that works with both customers and other solution providers.

The CRN Fast Growth 150 list ranks solution providers with annual sales of at least $1 million by their average two-year revenue growth rate (this year between 2019 and 2021). The 25 solution providers with the highest growth rates appear on the following page and the complete list can be found at www.CRN.com.

[Related: 2022 Fast Growth 150: The Top 25 Solution Providers]

Computacenter United States is No. 1 this year with an impressive 772.55 percent two-year growth rate. The Hatfield, U.K.-based solution provider has been establishing its presence in the U.S. through a series of acquisitions including FusionStorm in late 2018 and Pivot Technology Solutions in November 2020 – acquisitions that undoubtedly account for a big part of the company’s rapid growth.

Overall, this year’s Fast Growth 150 recorded an average two-year growth rate of 96 percent. That’s up from 83 percent average growth for the Fast Growth 150 list in 2021, but below the 101 percent growth recorded by the 2020 Fast Growth 150 class.

The 150 companies on this year’s list collectively generated revenue of $82.40 billion in 2021. That’s down from $94.78 billion for the 2021 Fast Growth 150, but considerably above the $37.80 billion collectively reported by the Fast Growth 150 in 2020. (The cumulative revenue figure can vary widely year to year depending on the mix of small and large companies on the list.)

Some solution providers on this year’s Fast Growth 150 are well-known names in the channel including SADA Systems (No. 10), Denali Advanced Integration (No. 27), Converge Technology Solutions (No. 30), Slalom Consulting (No. 63), EPAM Systems (No. 68), ePlus Technology (No. 72), Carahsoft Technology (No. 89), and GreenPages Technology Solutions (No. 144).

This year’s Fast Growth 150 also includes a number of solution providers that are appearing on the list for the first time including ExterNetworks (No. 5 with 295.5 percent growth), 5 Point Technology (No. 13 with 221.4 percent growth) and BlackHawk Data (No. 16 with 203.6 percent growth).

While organic growth certainly plays a major role in many solution provider’s overall growth rate, mergers and acquisitions are often a major factor in boosting a company’s Fast Growth 150 ranking.

Converge Technology Solutions has been on a torrid acquisition spree, acquiring 31 companies in five years, and is on pace to increase its revenue by $1 billion this year through acquisitions.

Acquisitions are essential to building the kind of talent that will make Toronto-based Converge a multibillion-dollar provider of IT services in the next couple of years, CEO Shaune Maine told CRN.

“We believe that the team will always beat an individual, no matter how bright they are,” Maine said. “We’ve really emphasized that team mentality, and the way that we’ve been bringing on talent is by buying companies rather than hiring individuals. When you buy a company, they’re already a team.”

Computacenter just acquired Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based solution provider Business IT Source in July, a move that does not factor into Computacenter’s Fast Growth 150 ranking this year. But the acquisition could boost Computacenter’s standing in 2023 given that Business IT Source is No. 49 on this year’s list with 83.2 percent growth.

A series of acquisitions has helped fuel Logically’s growth to No. 28 on this year’s Fast Growth 150 list. In June the company acquired Ohio-based MSP Cornerstone IT, Logically’s 11 acquisition since 2019.

But spiking demand for Logically’s services has also boosted organic growth. “Cybersecurity and outsourced remote IT support are the two areas that obviously companies are needing,” CEO Accardi said.

SADA, a Los Angeles-based solution provider and IT consultancy, has experienced explosive growth thanks to its superstar status as a Google Cloud Premier Partner.

“We’re winning from a significant migration of existing data centers, and we’re winning from other clouds,” SADA president and CEO Tony Safoian told CRN in April. “The fact that we surpassed the $500 million mark in just two years and a quarter versus the three years that we had [planned] to achieve that is a great sign.”

For a look at the 25 solution providers with the fastest two-year growth rates on this year’s list, check out The Top 25 Solution Providers slideshow. Take a look here for the complete Fast Growth 150 list.