Payments industry celebrates 2021 Inc. 5000

Payments industry enterprises are included in this year's 2021 Inc. 5000, Inc.'s annual homage to fast growing, privately held companies with U.S. headquarters. The honorees, disclosed Aug. 17, 2021, are especially impressive because they found a way to grow and scale their companies during a global pandemic, noted Scott Omelianuk, editor in chief at Inc.

"Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement," Omelianuk said. "Building one in the crisis we've lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people."

Omelianuk additionally noted that Inc. measured qualifying companies' percentage of revenue growth between 2017 and 2020. These U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent companies with annual revenues of at least $100,000 in 2017 and $2 million in 2020, were evaluated by growth rate to determine rankings, he noted, adding that there was one tie in this year's Inc. 5000 list.

Fast-growing ISOs

The Green Sheet Inc.'s newswire has been abuzz with press releases from payments industry firms included in the 2021 rankings. VizyPay, an Iowa-based ISO ranked 45 on the list, credited its success to "constant innovation and development of proprietary technology and programs to better support its customers."

VizyPay co-founder Frank Pagano, stated that he and co-founder Austin Mac Nab began their journey as small business owners who saw a need for simpler technology. "We've built our company around honesty and the highest level of customer service, striving to build programs that help small business owners succeed," he said. "We are honored to be recognized as one of the fastest growing payment processing companies in the industry today and proud that these efforts all tie back to the support we are providing SMB's across the United States."

Maverick Payments, number 566 on the 2021 Inc. 5000, thanked its team for meeting challenges with passion and resolve. Ben Griefer, chief operating officer, mentioned that the company champions small business owners. Alan Griefer, chief executive officer at Maverick Payments, agreed, stating that making the list "reflects our dedication to providing our merchants and resellers with industry-leading technology and white-glove support, which is crucial to compete with some of the biggest banks and processors."

Celebrating Universal Processing's ranking at 3,958 on the list, Saint Hung, the company's founder and chief executive officer, said, "Ours was an industry that was deeply affected by the pandemic." He added that his employees delivered over 14,000 personal protection masks in-person to under-supplied hospitals during the pandemic. "Our success this year is shared with the merchant partners that have triumphed in the face of great adversity."

Fast-growing service providers

CardFlight, an SaaS payment technology company, has been making the list every year since 2017, noted founder and CEO Derek Webster, who thanked employees and partners for driving the company's sustainable, year-over-year growth.

"We've been humbled to see our hard work and passion for supporting small business owners be recognized by Inc. every year since CardFlight first became eligible," Webster said. "We look forward to continuing to serve our customers and collaborating with our partners to help small businesses across America grow."

Arkose Labs, a global security firm headquartered in San Francisco, debuted at 195 on the Inc. 5000. Founder and chief executive officer Kevin Gosschalk stated that he was humbled by the honor.

"I am incredibly proud of our people and our company's culture, where a strong moral compass guides everything we do," Gosschalk said. "As a result, we have not only been able to create a world-class product but have also been able to win the confidence of investors, who have come forward to support our fight against fraud."

Editor's Note: The Green Sheet congratulates all payments industry companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list, and we would like to hear from you directly. Send your press releases to press@greensheet.com.

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