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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →This was a 2019 snapshot, not a current ranking. GeekWire’s November 15, 2019 report identified 20 Seattle-area companies across two separate lists: 17 companies in Deloitte’s North America Technology Fast 500 and three startups in CNBC’s 2019 startups-to-watch ranking.
The lists measured different things. Deloitte ranked companies primarily by three-year revenue growth from 2015 through 2018; CNBC’s list highlighted promising startups. The 20 companies were not ranked against one another.
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At a glance
- 17 companies came from Deloitte’s 500-company technology growth ranking.
- Three companies—Polyverse, FlavorCloud and The Riveter—came from CNBC’s list of 100 startups to watch.
- Outreach was the highest-ranked Seattle-area Deloitte company, placing No. 4 overall with reported three-year revenue growth of 16,069%.
- The figures are historical: Deloitte measured fiscal-year growth between 2015 and 2018.
Sources: GeekWire’s original report and Deloitte’s 2019 winners list.
The 17 Seattle-area companies on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500
Deloitte’s ranking was quantitative. It ordered eligible North American technology, media, telecommunications, life-sciences and related companies by percentage revenue growth over a three-year period.
#1 Best Overall
| Company | Deloitte rank | Three-year growth | Business description in the 2019 coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outreach | 4 | 16,069% | Sales engagement and automation software |
| FLEXE | 38 | 3,338% | On-demand warehouse space for retailers |
| Highspot | 41 | 3,172% | AI-powered sales software |
| Quadrant Resource | 62 | 2,123% | Product development |
| Auth0 | 73 | 1,813% | Identity management |
| Discuss.io | 124 | 1,013% | Video-based and crowdsourced market research |
| Remitly | 150 | 780% | International money-transfer technology |
| Zenoti | 170 | 669% | Software for salons and spas |
| Adaptive Biotechnologies | 181 | 614% | Immune-system sequencing and computational biology |
| Snap! Raise | 182 | 608% | Fundraising software for schools, clubs and teams |
| Zipwhip | 188 | 584% | Business text-messaging software |
| Icertis | 192 | 573% | Cloud enterprise contract-management software |
| RiskLens | 233 | 470% | Cybersecurity risk-management software |
| Smartsheet | 286 | 378% | Work-collaboration software |
| Apptentive | 287 | 377% | Mobile customer-engagement software |
| Yapta | 324 | 312% | Business tracking of hotel and airline prices |
| iSpot.tv | 357 | 273% | Television advertising measurement and analytics |
Outreach’s No. 4 position made it the leading local company in the Deloitte results. It ranked behind only three companies nationally on the overall Fast 500 list.
What Deloitte’s growth percentage means
Deloitte calculated growth using the change in fiscal-year operating revenue from 2015 to 2018. The published formula was:
((2018 revenue − 2015 revenue) ÷ 2015 revenue) × 100
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFor eligibility, companies generally needed a North American headquarters, at least four years in business, proprietary technology or intellectual property contributing to most operating revenue, at least $50,000 in base-year operating revenue and at least $5 million in current-year operating revenue. Public and private companies could qualify. See the methodology description in Deloitte’s 2019 program announcement.
The denominator matters. A company starting from a comparatively small revenue base can post an extraordinary percentage increase as it scales. Therefore, 16,069% growth does not mean Outreach became 16,069 times larger in every meaningful business measure. The percentage also does not establish profitability, valuation, product quality or long-term durability.
Across the full 2019 Fast 500, reported growth ranged from 166% to 37,458%, and the median growth rate was 439%. Those figures provide context, but they do not turn the ranking into an investment recommendation.
Rank #3
The three Seattle-area startups on CNBC’s list
GeekWire also reported three local entries in CNBC’s 2019 ranking of the 100 most promising startups to watch:
- Polyverse: a cybersecurity startup.
- FlavorCloud: technology for international shipping and returns.
- The Riveter: a women-focused coworking provider.
The available report identifies the three companies but does not provide individual CNBC positions for them. They should not be assigned ranks or compared directly with Deloitte’s revenue-growth placements.
What the combined list says about Seattle’s technology economy
The 20 names covered a broader range of industries than a simple software list suggests. Enterprise technology was the dominant theme: Outreach, Highspot, Auth0, Icertis, Smartsheet and several others sold tools to businesses. GeekWire characterized 13 of the 20 companies as primarily focused on business tools.
Rank #4
There was also meaningful sector diversity:
- Logistics and warehousing: FLEXE and FlavorCloud.
- Financial technology: Remitly.
- Biotechnology: Adaptive Biotechnologies.
- Cybersecurity: RiskLens and Polyverse.
- Advertising analytics: iSpot.tv.
- Travel technology: Yapta.
- Consumer and workplace services: Zenoti and The Riveter.
- Education and community fundraising: Snap! Raise.
That mix makes the list useful as a historical view of Seattle’s startup ecosystem in 2019: a region with a strong enterprise-software base alongside fintech, life sciences, logistics and specialized consumer services.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the count is 20—and why another source says 21
The arithmetic in GeekWire’s article is straightforward: 17 Deloitte companies + three CNBC startups = 20 companies. The two groups should not be merged into a single ranking.
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There is, however, a contemporaneous counting discrepancy. A separate Built In Seattle roundup counted 18 Seattle companies on Deloitte’s list and added BioLife Solutions, ranked No. 440 with 206% growth.
The safest way to describe the original article is that GeekWire identified 17 Seattle-area Deloitte honorees and three CNBC selections. The difference appears to reflect different definitions of “Seattle area” or different publication cutoffs. BioLife Solutions is not included in the 20-company count above because it was not part of GeekWire’s list.
“Seattle-area” does not mean Seattle city limits
The geographic label is broader than the city itself. Seattle-area technology coverage can include companies headquartered in nearby communities such as Bellevue and elsewhere in the Puget Sound region. The ranking should therefore not be read as a list of companies located within Seattle’s municipal boundaries.
How to use this list today
Use it as a historical reference, not as a current leaderboard. The revenue figures describe 2015–2018 performance, and the article was published on November 15, 2019. Company ownership, headquarters, products and operating status may have changed since then.
For example, Auth0 was acquired by Okta in 2021 and should not be described as an independent startup today without that qualification. The available evidence does not establish the 2026 status of every company in the list, so it would be misleading to imply that all 20 remain independent, active or Seattle-based.
Nor does inclusion provide personal-finance or investment advice. A growth ranking is not a statement about a company’s stock prospects, financial strength or ability to deliver future returns.
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