Charlotte Tech News

[joenc]

4 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

actually they laid off some people. 

https://technical.ly/baltimore/2019/03/28/paypal-will-close-its-hunt-valley-office-plans-380-layoffs/

 "transitioning the consumer credit portfolio to Synchrony Financial"

I don't know exactly what they (https://synchronycareers.com/about-us/charlotte-nc/) do in Charlotte, but some of it probably is managed here

[KJHburg]

Synchrony  Financial down in Ballantyne manages credit cards for retailers like Lowes for example.  So who knows they might do it for paypal too they also have an office in Atlanta. 

 

As for Raleigh  and Cary they have major offices for Citrix, Dude Solution, Epic Games, Ipreo based in NY, LexisNexis, HCL Technologies, of course Cary based SAS, plus Oracle, and Infosys is adding 2000 tech jobs in Raleigh last count I heard was up to 500. Not to mention major companies like MetLife, Credit Suisse, Fidelity Investments etc that have huge technology operations there.    Many smaller Silicon Valley companies are opening up offices there to scale their business in a more affordable place.  

But it is great that both Charlotte and Raleigh Durham are attracting tech jobs.  

Edited June 18, 2019 by KJHburg

[elrodvt]

I'm not attacking the question above which deserves an answer.  But, I get a little tired of the premise of the conversation. Is it really the point that PP expanded somewhere else or not? Who knows what was missed and WTH cares??? It was morally despicable politics and obviously a stain on the state which moved us towards being a laughingstock like MS or AL. It's embarrassing.

[joenc]

15 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Synchrony  Financial down in Ballantyne manages credit cards for retailers like Lowes for example.  So who knows they might do it for paypal too they also have an office in Atlanta. 

 

As for Raleigh  and Cary they have major offices for Citrix, Dude Solution, Epic Games, Ipreo based in NY, LexisNexis, HCL Technologies, of course Cary based SAS, plus Oracle, and Infosys is adding 2000 tech jobs in Raleigh last count I heard was up to 500. Not to mention major companies like MetLife, Credit Suisse, Fidelity Investments etc that have huge technology operations there.    Many smaller Silicon Valley companies are opening up offices there to scale their business in a more affordable place.  

But it is great that both Charlotte and Raleigh Durham are attracting tech jobs.  

There's a big difference between crappy outsourcing body shops like HCL and Infosys, and companies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google.

Our local politicians don't realize it, but not all tech jobs are created equal. Raleigh not having any of the last two generations of tech companies, it's not a good sign.

[KJHburg]

From the San Francisco Business Times about CreditKarma and their growth and it mentions Charlotte:

""In Charlotte, where Credit Karma CEO Kenneth Lin and his team spent some time this week, the fintech doubled its space to more than 18,000 square feet and plans to add about 30 people in product, engineering and marketing roles. About 70 people, out of a total workforce of approximately 1,200 people, now work for Credit Karma in Charlotte.  “Charlotte has a really great talent base, especially with all of the financial institutions and the growing number of tech companies coming in, and we want to take advantage of that,” Credit Karma’s Chief People Officer Colleen McCreary told the Charlotte Business Journal, a sister publication of the San Francisco Business Times. “As our growth continues, Charlotte remains front and center as a place we’d love to have a bigger footprint.”""

[KJHburg]

IBM picks Charlotte for FinTech accelerator program in conjunction with Queen City Fintech.  Many times these companies tend to stay around too. 

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2019/06/20/ibm-picks-charlotte-queen-city-fintech-for-fintech-health-tech-accelerator-program/

[Matthew.Brendan]

I would love to work for Big Blue. Might need to touch up my resume. 

[49er]

Charlotte to surpass Raleigh area in tech jobs? I find this hard to believe but what a coup if true!

https://www.wfae.org/post/bizworthy-charlotte-pace-surpass-raleigh-area-tech-jobs

 

[Sigma]

Not surprising that techies want to live in the larger more urban city TBO.  Would you rather live/work/play in Southend or Uptown, or drive to work in the RTP from 9-5?

[KJHburg]

I will put this article from the new Charlotte Ledger here as it talks more about the tech job growth in Charlotte.   We have always been FIN but now we are becoming more finTECH.  And our list of technology employers is very diversified and all business related.  

https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/breaking-lowes-picks-charlotte-for

[KJHburg]

in depth about the Lowes tech center decision for Charlotte and South end in particular from a subscriber Business Journal article.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/06/27/lowes-tech-center-deal-was-competitive-so-why.html

""A recurring theme by state, county and city officials as well as executives at Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) at Thursday's announcement emphasized, underlined and repeated how workforce was the key driving factor for the company. But, ultimately, Charlotte — specifically South End, where Lowe's will lease the entire office space at a new tower near the Design Center of the Carolinas — won the competition for up to 2,000 technology jobs with an average annual wage of about $118,000.  "Lowe’s could have put this new tech center in other urban areas across the country, and they were wanted," said Gov. Roy Cooper at the event.  It had been publicly disclosed by the company that Dallas was a contender — the city is a larger metro and tech center than Charlotte and is in the state of Texas, which is known for its competitiveness from an incentives and business standpoint.""

""City Council member Tariq Bokhari, who also serves as executive director of Carolina Fintech Hub, said the Lowe's project was "hyper-competitive" and that new approaches, such as looping in the private sector early on to address outstanding questions from the company, made the difference in landing the deal.  "The old way was holding everything real tight to the chest ... not a lot of people knew what was going on," Bokhari said. "This is a different, more collaborative approach that just netted us a major tech hub expansion."   He said the major question for Lowe's throughout its decision process, which went on for several months, circulated primarily around sourcing enough tech talent in whichever market it landed in. Carolina Fintech Hub was asked to speak with company executives, introducing them to workforce development programs like Workforce Investment Network and generally making the case for Charlotte as a tech workforce center.""

I can not underscore how good this is for the Charlotte tech community and further diversifying our city's strong economy.   Great news indeed! 

 

[KJHburg]

Charlotte Ledger has another story on the view of the Lowes technology center and the reaction from Dallas and includes some quotes from UPers!  Good  roundup of reactions. 

https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/lowes-tech-reaction-and-the-view

[KJHburg]

DealCloud a local upstart fintech firm recently opened a new office at 300 South Tryon Barings tower.  They employ 90 locally now.

""Financial-technology firm DealCloud Inc. recently tripled its office space in uptown Charlotte.  The company's employees moved into an approximately 18,000-square-foot office in the Barings tower at 300 S. Tryon St. about a month ago. It's an impressive jump from the firm's startup beginnings in Packard Place — a coworking space that employees can still see from the 12th-floor windows.  DealCloud later moved into an Industry Coworking space at the AvidXchange Music Factory before subleasing an area from Uber Technologies Inc. at 129 W. Trade St. in 2016. Even after doubling its initial space to 6,000 square feet on West Trade, DealCloud quickly ran out of room again, chief executive Rick Kushel said.""

from the Business Journal subscriber article https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/06/28/photos-inside-dealclouds-larger-office-in-uptown.html?iana=hpmvp_clt_news_headline     another Charlotte tech upstart success story. 

[KJHburg]

CBRE has their tech talent report out and it shows Charlotte metro gaining rapidly on Raleigh Durham in terms of tech jobs and so forth.

Raleigh Durham has 61,040 tech jobs growing at 8.9% since 2013 I think

Charlotte metro has 55.430 growing slightly faster at 9.2% 

Here is the whole report.

https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/Scoring-Tech-Talent-in-North-America-2019

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Big Avidxchange press conference coming at 10am today.  My guess is #charlotterising HQ2.

Link to for live press conference:

https://www.facebook.com/AvidXchange/

Edited July 18, 2019 by CharlotteWkndBuzz
Added link

[KJHburg]

I think this is about their 2nd building this is what Business NC emailed out last Thursday about a major press conference but they thought it was last week.  I hope it is bigger and taller than 6 stories. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

1 minute ago, KJHburg said:

I think this is about their 2nd building this is what Business NC emailed out last Thursday about a major press conference but they thought it was last week.  I hope it is bigger and taller than 6 stories. 

Yeah...I hope the second building is a little bit more unique, however, from earlier renderings, it was an identical tower linked with a sky-bridge connecting the two.  I've heard they have some cool plans for the other building they own at the Music Factory across the street (warehouse looking one).  Possible indoor basketball court/rec courts and food hall.  Would love to see a conference hotel on that site too...there is still a lot of land over there.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Hope it is not another blah rectangular box that belongs in ballantyne ...

[Guest]

Its absolutely a twin of the other building. 

[UrbanCharlotte]

[wilmore]

3 hours ago, UrbanCharlotte said:

I find it hard to care about this, because the Music Factory is a *terrible* location. It's completely inaccessible from basically every other part of the greater uptown area. 

[King of the Queen City]

4 hours ago, wilmore said:

I find it hard to care about this, because the Music Factory is a *terrible* location. It's completely inaccessible from basically every other part of the greater uptown area. 

That’s sadly true unless you take a stroll through the cemetery or something, and even then you can only cross the railroad tracks at Johnson Street. I hope that the future Graham Street Station on the Silver Line will one day help to make it more accessible, but even that looks challenging.

[Nick2]

If only people could be convinced to move the cemetery. I really doubt the current tenants would mind, just their families/churches.

[King of the Queen City]

26 minutes ago, Nick2 said:

If only people could be convinced to move the cemetery. I really doubt the current tenants would mind, just their families/churches.

Not sure that moving a historic cemetery that was already divided by the interstate would be necessary. It seems to me that the railroad tracks, 277 and ADM Milling are the biggest challenges to connecting the Music Factory to the city. It is out on an isolated island.

Edited July 19, 2019 by King of the Queen City

[Nick2]

3 hours ago, King of the Queen City said:

Not sure that moving a historic cemetery that was already divided by the interstate would be necessary. It seems to me that the railroad tracks, 277 and ADM Milling are the biggest challenges to connecting the Music Factory to the city. It is out on an isolated island.

It's definitely not necessary. Not while there are still parking lots uptown. However, cemeteries are wastes of space especially in such a high value area.