Tech, healthcare and energy drive fastest-growing companies in the Americas

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Technology, healthcare, energy and financial services have been the main drivers of corporate growth in the Americas, according to a list covering a three-year period that included the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns and the end of rock-bottom interest rates.

IT and software made up 22 per cent of the Financial Times’ sixth annual ranking of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas, while healthcare and financial services were each responsible for nearly 10 per cent.

The FT’s 2025 list was compiled with Statista, a research company, and ranks businesses across the Americas by their compound annual growth in revenue between 2020 and 2023.

The median revenue of the ranked companies, based on disclosed revenue growth between 2020 and 2023, was $20.1mn, slightly lower than last year’s $20.5mn.

Energy and utility groups comprised 5.3 per cent of the sector distribution. Global Partners, an energy supply company, generated the most in revenue. The US-based group, founded in 1933, almost doubled its revenue in 2023 from three years earlier to a total of more than $16bn. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotech based in Boston, reported nearly $10bn.

The uplift among energy groups reflects a surge in global demand over the past few years, driven in part by the evolution of artificial intelligence and the need to build power-hungry data centres. Many governments, meanwhile, have pushed to develop their solar, wind and hydropower industries.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House, however, signals an about turn from the US in international efforts to address climate change. The president’s declared support for the fossil fuel industry while stepping back from a number of climate commitments potentially bodes ill for the renewables sector.

Planned tariffs unleashed by his administration, meanwhile, are set to hit the green energy industry, threatening to raise prices and disrupt supply chains, clean-technology executives have said.

Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, in his 2025 letter to investors, called for an “energy mix”.

“We need energy pragmatism,” Fink said in his letter. “That starts with the slow, broken permitting processes in the US and Europe. But it also means being clear-eyed about our energy mix.”

He added that most new infrastructure investment has flowed into renewables. “But without major breakthroughs in storage, wind and solar alone can’t reliably keep the lights on,” he says. “In the near term, more than half the electricity powering data centres must come from dispatchable sources. Otherwise, the air conditioning will shut off, the servers will overheat and the data centres will shut down.”

Canada’s oil and gas businesses are seeking to fuel their growth even as their southern neighbour’s policies spark turmoil in the markets and a fall in crude prices.

Calgary-based Saturn Oil and Gas was the industry’s fastest growing company, placed fifth overall, after it posted a compound annual growth rate of 353 per cent between 2020 and 2023. It was number 23 last year.

The robust growth comes as Canada is debating how to produce more energy for the US and beyond. “The fundamentals are strong; the business case is there,” Lisa Baiton, the chief executive of Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told an investor conference in April.

Clean energy groups, however, remain upbeat about their prospects, especially in Latin America where local demand, abundant natural resources and competitive prices promise to keep the industry buoyant. Access to clean electricity is a major issue in decision-making, say executives in Brazil and Mexico, as companies see renewables as a source of cheap and secure power.

US-based Solar Landscape is keen to take advantage of a rebalancing of the market for renewable energy. The company has expanded over the past five years and moved away from the residential sector to become the leading business leasing commercial rooftops for solar power generation.

Healthcare makes up about a tenth of the FT ranking. ABA Centers, which provides one-on-one sessions with behaviour therapists for those with autism spectrum disorder, topped the list with a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 595.3 per cent.

A rise in diagnoses of the neurodevelopmental condition has increased demand for the company’s services, while US legislation and state-level mandates have improved access to coverage through insurance plans.

Next on the list was Clara, a payments platform based in Mexico.

Two-thirds of the 300 companies were based in the US, while Canada made up 16 per cent. New York was home to the most entries, followed by Toronto, Bogotá and Vancouver.