Two Local Companies on Inc.’s Fastest-Growing List

Inc. magazine on Friday released the Inc. 5000 Series: California List, which honors the 250 fastest-growing companies in California, and two North Los Angeles companies made the top 15: CannaSafe in Van Nuys, and Caulipower of Encino.  CannaSafe, with a growth of 4,303 percent, ranked No. 6 on the list while Caulipower, with 1,534 percent growth, clocked in at No. 13. The company that topped the California list, a Stockton-headquartered business service called Human Bees, had 22,349 percent growth. CannaSafe, a cannabis testing lab based at 7027 Hayvenhurst Ave., was founded by Aaron Riley in 2012; Caulipower, a gluten-free food product company headquartered at 16200 Ventura Blvd., was founded by Gail Becker in 2016. “Our success can be attributed to our focus to service the industry and its patients with reliable and defensible data,” CannaSafe President Antonio Frazier told the Business Journal Friday. “Our founders chose the SFV years ago due to its great location and other cannabis businesses already operating in the area.” In a conversation with the Business Journal, Inc. Executive Editor Marli Guzzetta explained that the rankings are based on growth during the 2017-19 fiscal years. To qualify on the magazine’s annual regionals list, these companies, which must have been established by late March 2017, needed to have made a minimum of $100,000 in revenue in 2017 and a minimum of $1 million in revenue by the end of 2019. “Those two companies had strong performance and strong growth,” Guzzetta said, adding that in the case of CannaSafe, the company ranked No. 13 on Inc.’s 5,000 national list last year.  This year’s National 5,000 list will be released by September with an in-person ceremony tentatively planned for October. As far as the California list is concerned, Golden State companies that made this year’s list grew, on average, 137 percent between 2017 and 2019 – and generated $6.7 billion in total revenue. The L.A. metro area had the largest share of companies to make the list (112) and also took the top spot as the metro area with the highest revenue, with companies from this area adding $3.2 billion in revenue to the California economy. “Across every single industry, these businesses have posted revenue and growth rates that are beyond impressive, further proving the tenacity of their founders and CEOs,” said Guzzetta. Added Frazier, “CannaSafe is excited to be profiled by Inc. again and wish to continue our success here in L.A.”