Back to News

Forbes Recognizes MAKO Medical as One of America’s Best Startup Employers

March 24, 2022

MAKO Medical Laboratories, a national reference laboratory and leader in COVID-19 testing, is pleased to announce it has been recognized as one of Forbes’ 2022 America’s Best Startup Employers.

“This recognition comes after two years of dedicated pandemic response and incredible efforts by our team.” said Josh Arant, MAKO Medical Chief Operating Officer. “We are grateful for our dedicated team members who are the reason MAKO can earn an honor like this.”

2022 is the third consecutive year MAKO Medical has appeared on the Forbes list.

The award, presented in partnership with market research company Statista, recognizes the top 500 U.S. employers based on over 8 million data points. Considerations are made based on three factors: employee satisfaction, employer reputation, and company growth.

To qualify for the award, employers must be headquartered in the U.S., have at least 50 employees, and have been founded between 2012 and 2019. This year’s list was compiled after evaluating 2,500 qualified employers. The full list of award recipients can be found on the Forbes website.

Founded in 2014, MAKO Medical is a College of American Pathologists (CAP) accredited laboratory that operates more than 70,000 square feet of laboratory space across two North Carolina facilities, one in Henderson and one in Raleigh. The Henderson facility was expanded in 2020 in response to COVID-19, increasing the lab’s capacity from 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to over 150,000 tests per day.

Since April 2020, MAKO Medical has processed more than 10 million COVID-19 tests utilizing RT-PCR technology and industry-leading testing assays, including the Applied Biosystems TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Assay. Currently, the MAKO team processes samples from over 40 states. Last year, MAKO Medical formed a comprehensive partnership with the CDC to provide nextgeneration sequencing of SARS-CoV-2.

Since January 2021, MAKO has utilized sequencing processes to analyze a group of more than 5,000 samples for sequencing per week from tests conducted across more than 40 states. To date, these efforts have identified the occurrence of multiple variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.617.2 and now the B.1.1.529 variants.

MAKO’s core business is setting a higher standard on serving as a diagnostics partner for health care providers across the United States. The MAKO Way delivers turnkey lab services with precision and accuracy.

Company Highlights:

  • August 2020, MAKO Medical announced the company scored 100% on CAP COVID Proficiency Testing, demonstrating MAKO’s commitment to quality lab results.
  • Committed to the U.S. Military—At MAKO’s founding, leaders carved out divisions of the company to hire U.S. military veterans. These teams are foundational to MAKO’s elite and hightouch client services model. In November 2021, MAKO held its second annual Veterans Day lunch to honor veterans, handing out more than 400 free meals Vance County veterans and their family members.
  • May 2021, MAKO Medical was recognized by the Triangle Business Journal with a 2021 Life Sciences Award.