Baltimore; 25 employees; $1.8 million in 2011 revenue

Amethyst Technologies helps drugmakers and other health-care businesses in the U.S. and Africa comply with U.S. Food & Drug Administration and international standards. Among its work: assisting the U.S. military in developing malaria diagnostics and vaccines, and setting up labs in remote places such as rural Tanzania. Amethyst is also developing mobile software to help train rural health workers in developing countries. “Everywhere that Amethyst does work we should be benefiting the community,” says founder Kimberly Brown. —JT