At the Trends Gazelles 2026 Brabant Wallon, 5th floor ranks 4th in the Medium companies category, for the 2nd time. This annual ranking by Trends-Tendances recognises Belgium’s fastest-growing companies based exclusively on hard numbers: value added, headcount, and cash flow. No application, no jury.
Two nominations, one trajectory
For the 2nd time, 5th floor appears in the Trends Gazelles ranking, the annual Trends-Tendances list that recognises Belgium’s fastest-growing companies, based exclusively on hard numbers: value added, headcount growth, and cash flow. No application required, no subjective jury. Just annual accounts filed with the National Bank, analysed over five consecutive financial years by Trends Business Information.
This year, 5th floor ranks 4th in the Medium Gazelles category for Brabant Wallon, with 164 points. No podium finish, but a position that speaks to how we build this company, steadily, over time.
“With generative AI producing code at breakneck speed, the real challenge is no longer writing code, it’s keeping systems healthy and maintainable.”
Vincent Warnimont, co-founder, 5th floor
How the Trends Gazelles ranking works
What gives this ranking its weight is its strictly data-driven methodology. Every company that files its accounts is automatically assessed. The ranking is built on three criteria measured over five years:
5th floor sits in the “Medium companies” category, value added between €1m and €5m. In one of Belgium’s most economically active provinces, that bracket is fiercely competitive. The 164 points carry real weight in that context.
The only IT company in the top 5 and what that means
Looking at the five leading companies in this year’s Brabant Wallon ranking, one fact stands out: 5th floor is the only pure-play IT and software development firm in this group. The other four operate in food distribution, road construction, modular buildings, and logistics.
Making the top 5 alongside industries as different as these is a concrete proof of concept: software development can generate growth that is just as tangible in value created and jobs built as the most traditional sectors.
L4F: recycle rather than rewrite
In most organisations, custom-built applications from 5, 10 or 15 years ago keep running, but quietly accumulate debt. Every new feature takes longer, costs more, and introduces more risk.
This observation is what drove the development of L4F (Legacy for the Future), 5th floor’s new platform dedicated to intelligent application portfolio management.
L4F provides a unified dashboard that consolidates data from all analysis tools and cross-references it with business context: criticality, actual usage, development activity. AI completes the analysis to filter out false positives, identify priorities, and turn noise into actionable signals.
The philosophy is clear: understand before you modernise. As Gilles Stragier puts it, “without a clear picture of where a system creates value and where it causes problems today, any modernisation roadmap remains theoretical.”
B Corp certified, 100+ people: growth with purpose
This ranking comes at a pivotal moment for 5th floor. The company obtained B Corp certification in 2025, joining the community of businesses that treat economic performance and positive societal impact as complementary goals.
With more than 120 team members, 5th floor is asserting its place in a fast-changing IT market. The dual recognition, Trends Gazelles for growth and B Corp for responsibility, gives a fairly accurate picture of the direction we intend to hold.
Sources:
Trends-Tendances / Trends Business Information, Trends Gazelles 2026 ranking – Top 50 Medium Gazelles, Brabant Wallon, published 19 February 2026. trends.levif.be/dossier/gazelles-2026
Trends-Tendances, “Croissance sur mesure : la méthode 5th floor”, interview with Vincent Warnimont and Gilles Stragier, February 2026.
Selection methodology: trendsgazelles.be (accessed 3 March 2026).
