Local Companies on Inc. 5000 List

A pair of Northwest Arkansas companies are the fastest growing private companies in Arkansas, according to Inc. magazine.

Shopper marketing agency Collective Bias was ranked No. 589 and headwear and apparel company Infinity Product Group was ranked No. 1,824 on the magazine’s 34th annual list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America.

Both companies are headquartered in Rogers.

The magazine released its annual ranking Aug. 20. It included nine Arkansas companies, five of them from Northwest Arkansas.

Others to make the list are Prime-Line Inc. of Malvern (No. 2,216), Viridian of Little Rock (No. 2,381), capSpire of Fayetteville (No. 2,481), Central Researc Inc. of Lowell (No. 2,801), Mark Zweig Inc. of Fayetteville (No. 3,720), Mainstream Technologies Inc. of Little Rock (No. 4,529) and Tiger Correctional Services of Jonesboro (No. 4,632).

The Inc. 5000 is an expanded version of the list that the magazine has put together since 1982 of the top 500 fastest-growing private companies. Rankings for the lists are based on how fast a business’ revenue is growing year over year.

Collective Bias, which recently relocated its headquarters from the downtown Bentonville square to a new office building near the Pinnacle Hills exit off Interstate 49 in Rogers, experienced revenue growth of 810 percent between 2010 and 2013, with $15.5 million in revenue in 2013.

Co-founder Amy Callahan told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal in June the company’s revenue for 2014 is projected to be about $25 million, and the principals are now eying larger markets.

Collective Bias was founded in 2009 and besides its Rogers headquarters has offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, Cincinnati and London.

Founded in 1997 by Doug Keller, Infinity Product Group, according to its website, is a privately held manufacturer, merchandiser and marketer of consumer products for many of the world’s leading retailers and consumer product companies.

The company’s three-year growth rate was 227 percent, with revenues reaching $28.7 million in 2013.

The success has been fueled in large part by the company’s proprietary MascotWear products, launched in August 2010 with the help of two unidentified angel investors.

MascotWear products are available for dozens of colleges and universities, including each of the Southeastern Conference schools, as well as all four major North American professional sports leagues.

capSpire, a global consulting company that develops software for the commodity trading risk management sector of the energy industry, was also on last year’s list, as was Central Research, which specializes in the identification, verification, and documentation of deceased and incarcerated individuals as well as Freedom of Information Act support services.

Fayetteville businessman Mark Zweig achieved a career milestone with his company’s inclusion. The significance is that both of his primary companies have now been ranked on the list — ZweigWhite LLC three times, including last year, and now Mark Zweig Inc.

Mark Zweig Inc. is a design, construction and development company focusing on high-quality residential projects.
“It is a validation of our idea that not everyone in Northwest Arkansas wants the cheapest-built house, nor the gaudiest, most pretentious house they can buy,” Zweig said. “There is some segment of the market who wants and is willing to pay for good design, high build quality and energy efficiency, and yet not show off. Those are the buyers who have responded to our product and the reason we’re growing.”