5 Philly tech companies made Forbes’ 2022 list of Best Startup Employers

Following methodology that essentially ranks companies that keep their employees happy, Forbes has named the country’s top 500 Best Startup Employers for the fourth year in a row.

The media company partnered with market research company Statista to evaluate 2,500 US businesses that have at least 50 employees and were founded between 2012 and 2019. (Not that we here at Technical.ly roughly define a startup to be a little younger and smaller). The 2,500 companies were ranked based on employer reputation, employee satisfaction and growth.

The firm reviewed articles, blogs and social media posts pertaining to each considered employer, and searched for phrases like “corporate culture” and “employee engagement.” Statista then assessed employee satisfaction by evaluating online reviews, growth and examining the organizations’ website traffic and headcount over a two-year period.

Startups were a bit more in-demand from employees before the pandemic, Forbes noted: According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, applications to work for startups outpaced those for corporations, prior to 2019. But conditions have changed, with workers now being 20% more likely to want to work for bigger businesses, Forbes said. The tech industry has grown more prominent for satisfaction, accounting for 6.8% of the list, up from 5.4% in 2021.

“Now startups are having to do things to become even more appealing,” Thomas Vick, regional director at Robert Half, told Forbes.

The top 10 companies hail from tech hub giants such as Cambridge, Massachusetts; Mountain View, California; and San Jose, California. But five companies on the list come from Philly.

Old City-based B2B software company Piano landed at No. 41. The 2015-founded company has routinely made the Inc. 5000 list, a roundup of the country’s fastest-growing private companies, and in 2021, raised an $88 million Series C round of venture funding led by existing investors Updata Partners.

Quickly growing dbt Labs, home to the SQL-based data analytics tool and community of the same name, made the list at No. 90. The company recently raised $222 million, bringing its valuation to $4.2 billion.

Instant needs delivery company Gopuff made No. 199, after massive venture capital raises and employee growth over the last several years. It’s followed by Guru at No. 308 and healthcare company Tmunity Therapeutics at No. 497.