“Rapid growth” businesses back on the rise in the Netherlands

After five years of decreasing, the number of "rapid growth" companies in the Netherlands is back on the rise. Last year there were 7,460 rapid growth companies in the Netherlands, an increase of 10 percent compared to the previous year, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday. With last year's increase, the number of rapid growth companies is now back on the level it was in 2011. A rapid growth company is a business that shows a minimum of 10 percent growth in terms of employees for three years in a row. Employment agencies and restaurants count the most rapid growth companies among them, 395 and 335 respectively. Software developers counted 210 rapid growth companies, road hauliers came in fourth place with 170 and engineering and management consultancies made up the top five with 152 of these fast growing businesses each. Larger companies - businesses with 250 employees or more - grew the fastest. In 2012 these large rapid-growth companies had 660 employees on average. Last year they had an average of 1,220, an increase of 31 percent per year. Medium sized rapid growers increased by an average of 25 percent per year, and small ones by 19. All in all, rapid growth companies employed around 527 thousand people last year.