The state’s companies on the annual list vary from software, communication and IT providers to retailers, manufacturers and providers of health-care services.

“Support for Arizona entrepreneurial businesses has really been growing in the past five years,” said Sidnee Peck, director of entrepreneurial initiatives at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “With the Internet, it’s become much easier for startup companies to sell their services or products without having to raise much money first.”

Of the state’s companies to be ranked by the magazine, 11 made the more prestigious Inc. 500 list.

Tempe-based Now Communications ranked the highest at No. 37, with a 6,764 percent growth rate between 2009 and 2012.

The company sells TV, Internet and phone services nationally and has become one of the nation’s largest dealers for DirecTv.

Now Communications reported 2012 revenue of $7 million, compared with $102,742 in 2009.

It has hired 104 of its 110 employees during the past three years.

The Joint, the Scottsdale-based chiropractic-clinic franchisor, attained the second highest spot on the list, at No. 45.

The company reported its revenue increased 5,962 percent during the past three years to $7.4 million. The Joint has 14 employees.

BlueSquare Resolutions, a Scottsdale-based provider of secure payment processing to merchants, ranked No. 102. The firm reports posting a 3,458 percent increase in revenue since 2009.

Rigid Industries of Gilbert is No. 151 on the list. The company makes LED lighting products and accessories for heavy-duty vehicles.

Chandler-based CSI Powerline ranked No. 174.

It provides staffing and consulting for construction and utility firms.

Other Arizona firms to rank among the nation’s 500 fastest-growing companies: Phoenix-based software firm WebPT at No. 233; human-resources firm VincentBenjamin of Phoenix at No. 246; Scottsdale-based IT-service firm SunSoft at No. 319; Phoenix-based Value Card Alliance, a commercial barter firm, at No. 421; health-care firm GlobalMed of Scottsdale at No. 465; and Phoenix-based Owens Harkey Advertising at No. 493.

Peck said many of Arizona’s most successful entrepreneurial firms are very focused on a niche or have been able to shift their business model by relying on new technology.