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Austin companies shine in Inc. magazine
ranking

An even dozen make annual Inc. 500 list of fastest-
growing companies, plus 60 more in expanded Inc.
5,000.

 AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Austin is one of the hottest entrepreneurial regions in the country, according to Inc. magazine, with 72 companies on its new Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America.

The local companies span the gamut of industries, from real estate giant Keller Williams Realty International, with $114.3 million in revenue, and hair salon franchiser Sport Clips, with $88.3 million, to the Mercury Mambo advertising firm ($3.6 million) and Hayes Software ($2.2 million).
The list is an expansion of Inc.'s annual Inc. 500 ranking, which spotlights companies with the biggest revenue growth from 2003 to 2006.

Because many of the companies are small, the percentage gains are often huge, but even the last company on the Austin list, SupportKids.com, had a healthy 30.1 percent growth rate.

Texas had 38 companies on the regular Inc. 500 list, and Austin ranked third among cities based on companies per million population. Provo-Orem, Utah, was first with 12.7, followed by Washington, D.C., with 7.6 and Austin with 7.3.

Here are the 12 Central Texas companies on the Inc. 500 list:

Ascendant Technology, ROME Corp., Anue Systems, CreditCards.com, Teksavers, Coast to Coast Tickets, Medwing.com, Mercury Mambo, Bulldog Solutions, People Admin, Renew Data and Wintegra.