diff --git a/lib/contracts/contract_deployer.js b/lib/contracts/contract_deployer.js
index 3385d642a..b97bb4750 100644
--- a/lib/contracts/contract_deployer.js
+++ b/lib/contracts/contract_deployer.js
@@ -152,16 +152,16 @@ class ContractDeployer {
           accounts = _accounts;
 
           // applying deployer account configuration, if any
-          if (typeof contract.fromIndex == 'number') {
+          if (typeof contract.fromIndex === 'number') {
             deploymentAccount = accounts[contract.fromIndex];
             if (deploymentAccount === undefined) {
               return next(__("error deploying") + " " + contract.className + ": " + __("no account found at index") + " " + contract.fromIndex + __(" check the config"));
             }
           }
-          if (typeof contract.from == 'string' && typeof contract.fromIndex != 'undefined') {
+          if (typeof contract.from === 'string' && typeof contract.fromIndex !== 'undefined') {
             self.logger.warn(__('Both "from" and "fromIndex" are defined for contract') + ' "' + contract.className + '". ' + __('Using "from" as deployer account.'));
           }
-          if (typeof contract.from == 'string') {
+          if (typeof contract.from === 'string') {
             deploymentAccount = contract.from;
           }
 
diff --git a/lib/contracts/contracts.js b/lib/contracts/contracts.js
index f53d5fd53..cff1b19e8 100644
--- a/lib/contracts/contracts.js
+++ b/lib/contracts/contracts.js
@@ -261,8 +261,45 @@ class ContractsManager {
           });
         }
         callback();
+      },
+      function setDependencyCount(callback) {
+        let className;
+
+        function getDependencyCount(contractName, cycleDetector) {
+          if (!self.contracts[contractName]) {
+            return 0;
+          }
+          if (self.contracts[contractName].dependencyCount || self.contracts[contractName].dependencyCount === 0) {
+            // Already have that count
+            return self.contracts[contractName].dependencyCount;
+          }
+          if (!self.contractDependencies[contractName] || !self.contractDependencies[contractName].length) {
+            self.contracts[contractName].dependencyCount = 0;
+            return 0;
+          }
+          let total = self.contractDependencies[contractName].length;
+          self.contractDependencies[contractName].some(dependencyName => {
+            if (cycleDetector.indexOf(dependencyName) > -1) {
+              // We are in a cycle because of the dependency, set both to Infinity
+              self.contracts[dependencyName].dependencyCount = Infinity;
+              total = Infinity;
+              return true;
+            }
+            cycleDetector.push(dependencyName);
+            total += getDependencyCount(dependencyName, cycleDetector);
+          });
+          self.contracts[contractName].dependencyCount = total;
+          return total;
+        }
+
+        let cycleDetector;
+        for (className in self.contracts) {
+          cycleDetector = [];
+          getDependencyCount(className, cycleDetector);
+        }
+        callback();
       }
-    ], function (err, _result) {
+    ], function (err) {
       if (err) {
         self.compileError = true;
         self.events.emit("status", __("Compile/Build error"));
diff --git a/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js b/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
index 7f63a4d43..b53c4b0d1 100644
--- a/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
+++ b/lib/contracts/deploy_manager.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 let async = require('async');
+const _  = require('underscore');
 
 class DeployManager {
   constructor(options) {
@@ -31,12 +32,15 @@ class DeployManager {
       self.logger.info(__("deploying contracts"));
       self.events.emit("deploy:beforeAll");
 
-      async.eachOfSeries(contracts,
-        function (contract, key, callback) {
-          contract._gasLimit = self.gasLimit;
-          self.events.request('deploy:contract', contract, (err) => {
-            callback(err);
-          });
+      const contractsPerDependencyCount = _.groupBy(contracts, 'dependencyCount');
+      async.eachSeries(contractsPerDependencyCount,
+        function (parallelGroups, callback) {
+          async.each(parallelGroups, (contract, eachCb) => {
+            contract._gasLimit = self.gasLimit;
+            self.events.request('deploy:contract', contract, (err) => {
+              eachCb(err);
+            });
+          }, callback);
         },
         function (err, _results) {
           if (err) {
diff --git a/lib/tests/test.js b/lib/tests/test.js
index 2cd5d7fac..5053f4739 100644
--- a/lib/tests/test.js
+++ b/lib/tests/test.js
@@ -123,6 +123,10 @@ class Test {
 
       this.engine.contractsManager.build(() => {
         self.builtContracts = cloneDeep(self.engine.contractsManager.contracts);
+        let className;
+        for (className in self.builtContracts) {
+          self.builtContracts[className].dependencyCount = null;
+        }
         self.compiledContracts = cloneDeep(self.engine.contractsManager.compiledContracts);
         callback();
       });
@@ -211,6 +215,7 @@ class Test {
       function resetContracts(next) {
         self.engine.contractsManager.contracts = cloneDeep(self.builtContracts);
         self.engine.contractsManager.compiledContracts = cloneDeep(self.compiledContracts);
+        self.engine.contractsManager.contractDependencies = {};
         next();
       },
       function deploy(next) {