35 local firms recognized for achievements in Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies

The Inc. magazine list, which comes out annually, included 26 firms from Northern Virginia and nine from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. No D.C.-based companies cracked the top 500.

Veteran-owned business By Light Professional IT of Arlington rated ninth on the list — the highest in the area.

By Light has found its niche in federal contracting, winning such contracts as the Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion program from the Defense Information Systems Agency, according to marketing director Vicki Robella.

“Now we’re trying to grow our business in the [intelligence] community,” Robella said.

The D.C. area’s representation was largely made up of technology firms and federal contractors. Nationally, environmental services, food and beverage, media, health and telecommunications were the fastest-growing industries.

“We’re really excited,” said Michael Ortner, chief executive officer of Arlington-based Capterra, which made the list for the first time, ranking 463rd. The company connects buyers and sellers of business software, with clients including Dunkin Donuts and Boeing.

The D.C. area was the fastest-growing metropolitan region for the fifth consecutive year, though it lost some ground this year to California, according to Inc. Executive Editor Mike Hofman.

Hofman said some D.C. companies are now exploring new avenues of business after years of dramatic growth, particularly with the possibility of a pullout from the Iraq war pending.

“Whatever happens, there will be a market, but I do get a sense that the CEOs of defense-related companies are looking around to see what strategic steps they can take to hedge their bets,” Hofman said.

This year, Inc. expanded its Web edition of the list to create the “Inc. 5,000” list, pulling together the data submitted by all potential companies and ranking them accordingly.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com