Avencia
Rank: No. 13
City: Philadelphia, Pa.
Web site
Chief executive: Robert Cheetham
Workers: 21
2008 revenue: $2 million
2008 growth rate: 39%
Estimated 2009 growth rate: 30%
Robert Cheetham started Avencia, a Web-based software development firm that specializes in geographic analysis , out of his apartment in 2000 with a few thousand dollars of savings. Customers range from local police departments, which use it to help analyze crime trends, to archival groups who use the software to map the locations of all of their historical photographs. Avencia is just starting to pursue business outside of Philadelphia, and it's also looking for clients outside the public sector, such as academic institutions and nonprofits. It hasn’t abandoned public work entirely, of course — it is also pursuing federal R&D grants and statewide projects.
