Contently Named to Crain’s New York Business Fast50 List

Last week, Crain’s New York released its 2016 New York Business Fast50 list, an annual ranking that recognizes the 50 fastest-growing companies in New York City. The rankings are calculated based on annual growth rate, and only companies with at least $10 million in annual revenue are eligible. We’re proud to announce that Contently ranked 32nd, with a growth rate of 746 percent.

That’s the award by the numbers, but there’s something less quantifiable that characterizes the companies that made this list: they’re nimble, innovative, and doing some remarkable things in media, tech, and more. Some of the most notable include WeWork, BuzzFeed, AppNexus, and SeatGeek. We’re honored to be in their company.

Contently has been recognized for rapid growth before, ranking on both the Inc. 5000 list and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. These lists included some of the brightest emerging companies across an array of industries, as well as across the country. But being recognized among our fellow New Yorkers is something particularly special.

Six years ago, we founded Contently to help brands create a better media world, and at the same time to help creative people make a better living—many of whom were our friends, classmates, and colleagues. That’s why we built our headquarters in New York City, the media capital of the world.

The growth our company has experienced means a lot of things, but one thing that we’re especially proud of is how our success has had a positive impact on the freelance creative community at large. We’ve paid out almost $30 million to journalists, editors, videographers, and designers—and our average price per assignment has climbed to nearly four figures, a far cry from the days when content farms were paying $5 for a story. That growth also means that we’ve been able to fund The Contently Foundation, a nonprofit that supports investigative journalism and releases important stories that hold the powerful accountable. And, of course, we’ve been able to grow our own in-house team of designers, editors, strategists, developers, and writers, all of whom are working to tell better stories and help our customers do the same.

We’re going to continue to build smart technology that helps brands succeed at content marketing and helps freelance creatives make a living doing what that love. We’re going to continue to grow our offices here in New York and around the world. And we’re going to continue working to make the media world a better place.

Receiving recognition is great, but this ranking also serves as an affirmation that Contently, and the company we dreamed of creating, is making a difference for the people we built it for—and for the industry as a whole.