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In a year when so many struggled, Utah proved (once again) that it was the place to be for business owners and entrepreneurs.
Over the past decade, Forbes has ranked Utah as one of the top three Best States for Business, including six times in the No. 1 spot. Its robust economy, lower cost of living and low unemployment factor into the ranking.
If you want to know how to help your business thrive, you can learn from a long list of successful companies that have gotten their start in Utah. Here are just three of them that have seen impressive growth over the past year.
LoanPro
Founded in 2014 by brothers Rhett, Ben and Lloyd Roberts, LoanPro provides cloud-based, lending management software. The Roberts brothers created the platform after dealing with their own software frustrations as lenders. To simplify and improve the loan process, they created a custom software solution based on automation and data visibility.
After reaping the benefits of their new software, the Roberts brothers began offering it to other lenders. Lenders from all 50 states and all Canadian provinces now use LoanPro products.
In August, LoanPro ranked No. 258 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies with three-year revenue growth of 1,785%. The company manages over $12 billion in loan balances with over 3 million loan accounts (and counting) across all of its lenders. They also process over $400 million in monthly payments and sustain a user base of more than 18,000.
Aside from a great financial year, LoanPro's biggest accomplishment may be their customer satisfaction, which has led to consistently high ratings and reviews.
"LoanPro is a great product for anyone in need of a top-of-the-line loan servicing software. From the top down, the team is incredibly passionate and competent when it comes to what they offer," wrote one Google reviewer.
Awardco
Last year's fastest growing company in Utah started with a brilliant new idea for employee recognition. Steven Sonnenberg, the founder of the Orem-based company Awardco, wanted to give employers better options to incentivize and reward employees. The idea was to integrate and partner with Amazon so that employees could choose their own recognition reward.
Though Amazon initially passed on the idea, Sonnenberg went ahead with it anyway. Using a points-based system, Awardco manually ordered items from Amazon that employees wanted. After funneling in so much business to the retail giant, Awardco finally joined forces with Amazon Business in 2015 to automate the ordering process. The company now integrates Amazon warehouses all over the world, which includes the U.K., Spain, Italy, Japan, France and Canada.
"All it is, is it's a naive entrepreneur that wanted more choices for employees, and it was partnering with Amazon to provide that choice. And through a lot of hard work and luck, we're able to establish that partnership with Amazon to finally bring that Amazon-like experience to employees," Sonnenberg told KSL last year.
In October 2021, PR Newswire reported that Awardco raised $65 million in Series A funding — the largest in HR SaaS history. It boosted the company's valuation to more than $900 million.
Zonos
For 12 years, the St. George-based tech company Zonos had operated without any outside investments. Founder and CEO Clint Reid was determined to wait for the right opportunity and the right investor who shared the company's values. In September 2021, the time finally came.
The company announced that they raised a $69 million Series A led by Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm.
As a company that specializes in cross-border commerce, the investment will help Zonos meet the increasingly complex demands of global trade. More importantly, Reid believes the partnership with Silversmith Capital will help Zonos continue to develop into a great company.
"Throughout this journey, we have aimed to be a great company, not a big one," Reid said. "If we build a great company, our product will be great, and our culture will be great. When you build a great company, customer retention, revenue growth, profitability, and impact are the by-products. We can only do this if we continue to prioritize building a great company over growth at all costs."
Get your business booming with Divvy
If you're a business owner with dreams of landing on Utah's list of fastest-growing companies, Investopedia says that cash management is the key to success. As the leading spend and expense management platform for business, Divvy helps companies like LoanPro, Awardco, Zonos and many others stay on top of their spending.
By offering instant visibility and control of company-wide spending, Divvy gives businesses direct access to funds while eliminating the need for expense reports and retroactive reimbursements. Your information is stored in highly secure data centers that use state-of-the-art electronic surveillance and multi-factor access control systems. The best part? It's free!
With Divvy, you'll never go over budget again. To request a demo or to learn more, visit getdivvy.com.
