Charlotte Tech News

[KJHburg]

Charlotte based Tresdata invests $2M in UNC Charlotte health initiative https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/04/06/software-company-tresata-to-invest-2m-in-unc.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2018-04-06&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1523049553&j=80896091

[KJHburg]

Charlotte based Passport Inc. partners with Lyft and Charlotte LYNX for a new app to aid riders from the Parkwood and JW Clay stations to get to surrounding areas.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/04/09/how-partnerships-with-lyft-passport-could-boost.html?ana=e_ae_set2&s=article_du&ed=2018-04-09&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1523309733&j=80930071   

[KJHburg]

UNC Charlotte College of Computing and Informatics dean speaks about her college at UNCC.  https://inside.uncc.edu/featured-story/meet-fatma-mili,-dean,-college-of-computing-and-informatics?utm_source=EduConverse&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Public. Research. Urban. University.&utm_content=Campaign surpasses $150M, 49ers get new basketball coach and AlumNiner Weekend is open for registration &utm_campaign=https://inside.uncc.edu/featured-story/there-is-a-research-university-in-charlotte

[KJHburg]

This is interesting will Lendingtree now move to the old Cone Mills in Pineville vs. the 2 buildings they bought in SouthPark?  How much space do they need I wonder.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/04/13/charlotte-based-lendingtree-considering-hq-move-to.html?ana=TWT_staffAF

[cjd5050]

On 4/13/2018 at 10:52 PM, KJHburg said:

This is interesting will Lendingtree now move to the old Cone Mills in Pineville vs. the 2 buildings they bought in SouthPark?  How much space do they need I wonder.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/04/13/charlotte-based-lendingtree-considering-hq-move-to.html?ana=TWT_staffAF

I love the idea of redeveloping that Mill and what it will do to create another commerce corridor in the area.    But if they do relocate there it's going to mess up the town during rush hour.   Which of course I will be fine with because the town messed up the rest of South Charlotte for generations with their decision to block the light rail.  

[J-Rob]

I work on Rexford and have been wondering why they never started on the remodel. Selfishly I still hope they move to Rexford because I hate those two buildings sitting partially empty. Before LendingTree bought them they were filled with a hodge podge of Class B tenants. Nothing wrong with Class B other than the buildings are dated and tired. If the decide to sell them I sure hope they sell them to someone willing to put serious cash into them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KJHburg]

^^ Yeah they closed on those buildings and most tenants moved out as I had a friend working in one of them.  it will be interesting to see what happens at Cone Mills.  They were going to have about 112,000 sq ft  there so wonder how much they need now or project to need.  

[KJHburg]

""Charlotte-based technology startup Stratifyd is now right at home in its new office space.  The company, which specializes in data-analytics solutions for businesses, moved into a roughly 10,000-square-foot office at The Foundry on South Cedar Street back in January""      They moved from 1900 sq ft to this space. Now employ 35 and hiring. 

Subscriber article https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/04/20/charlotte-startup-stratifyd-plans-for-growth-in.html?ana=e_mc_prem&s=newsletter&ed=2018-04-20&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1524230545&j=81132831

Yet another Charlotte tech start up success story.  

[KJHburg]

Wells Fargo chooses Charlotte startup for their accelerator program and the company says it will stay put here in Charlotte and grow here.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/05/10/wells-fargo-selects-charlotte-tech-startup-for.html

[KJHburg]

Well this is more NC tech news coming out of the Triangle tonight from Apple this news:  this subscriber to the Triangle Business Journal article but here is the key points:

""Multiple sources say Silicon Valley electronics giant Apple is zeroing in on Research Triangle Park for a new jobs-heavy campus.The company has been looking at sites across the country and, according to people with knowledge of the project, the Triangle area is a top contender.  Sources in the real estate and legal communities, as well as people inside North Carolina government say discussions are underway to build a customer center with room for future expansion on the Wake County side of RTP. Gov. Roy Cooper and state Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland are negotiating an incentive package with state Senate leader Phil Berger and House leader Tim Moore before presenting it to the General Assembly.  Cooper and Copeland met with Apple CEO Tim Cook on May 11 while Cook was in town to speak at Duke University's commencement May 13, according to sources.""

This would be great the entire state of North Carolina and yes Charlotte too!  

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/05/15/sources-research-triangle-park-tops-apples-short.html?ana=e_trig_bn_breakingnews&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1526420928&j=81604781

[sclark]

8 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Well this is more NC tech news coming out of the Triangle tonight from Apple this news:  this subscriber to the Triangle Business Journal article but here is the key points:

""Multiple sources say Silicon Valley electronics giant Apple is zeroing in on Research Triangle Park for a new jobs-heavy campus.The company has been looking at sites across the country and, according to people with knowledge of the project, the Triangle area is a top contender.  Sources in the real estate and legal communities, as well as people inside North Carolina government say discussions are underway to build a customer center with room for future expansion on the Wake County side of RTP. Gov. Roy Cooper and state Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland are negotiating an incentive package with state Senate leader Phil Berger and House leader Tim Moore before presenting it to the General Assembly.  Cooper and Copeland met with Apple CEO Tim Cook on May 11 while Cook was in town to speak at Duke University's commencement May 13, according to sources.""

This would be great the entire state of North Carolina and yes Charlotte too!  

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/05/15/sources-research-triangle-park-tops-apples-short.html?ana=e_trig_bn_breakingnews&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1526420928&j=81604781

Great news! 

[KJHburg]

In more local tech news Passport which is adding 50 jobs this year and has already 20 new jobs just added some new execs to further growth.  Hometown local tech upstart success story!  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/05/15/charlotte-basedpassport-continues-hiring-spree.html?ana=TRUEANTHEMTWT_CH&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5afb4a5a04d3013274a382c6&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[J-Rob]

^^Call me cynical or bitter, but I have trouble celebrating Raleigh's win if Charlotte was in contention.  In fact, the cynic in me wonders if this will lead to more state transportation dollars being diverted away from Charlotte, despite Charlotte's out-sized contributions to state revenue/GDP, etc.  I just use state transportation dollars as an example.  Charlotte isn't generally the state's first priority from what I can tell.

[15895]

34 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

^^Call me cynical or bitter, but I have trouble celebrating Raleigh's win if Charlotte was in contention.  In fact, the cynic in me wonders if this will lead to more state transportation dollars being diverted away from Charlotte, despite Charlotte's out-sized contributions to state revenue/GDP, etc.  I just use state transportation dollars as an example.  Charlotte isn't generally the state's first priority from what I can tell.

 

I don't think Raleigh's successes benefit CLT that much. And they honestly never really excite me. Apple would be sorta cool to be a nice bow on the tech industry they have. "Raleigh is a tech hub and the (regional) HQ of Apple" is cool.  It's not as sexy as Oracle, redhat, etc. to those outside the industry. Sorta like how Wells and BofA is a nice crown jewel of our financial industry "Charlotte is a financial hub home to BofA and Wells Fargo" (and again. As great as Ally and other are,  it's not as sexy as people outside the industry aren't too familiar with them on a national scale)

[KJHburg]

^^^ I think it benefits North Carolina for sure.  Lets see what happens but remember the hand wringing after HB2 then the repeal.  It would be a major feather in our state's cap.  It might lead more tech companies to consider NC and that would include Charlotte.  But face it the Triangle has 3 major universities churning out thousands of graduates a  year something Charlotte just does not have.  We have other strengths but I would love for this to come to NC rather than some other state including SC suburbs of Charlotte.  Face it they are probably not getting Amazon HQ2 (nor is Nashville) and this would bring a lot of attention to our state.  I used to dislike Raleigh too but I don't now.  Their economy is many ways is complementary to Charlotte with different strengths than ours.   Take Metlife for example 1300 jobs went to Cary and 1300 came to Charlotte now Brighthouse Financial.  Metlife is now adding 500 more jobs up there.  

In terms of roads I think people in Raleigh Durham would beg to differ with you they get all the roads.  (that would be Greensboro check out their 5 interstates they have!)  Have you been up there in rush hour? I have it and the congestion is like ours especially on 40 and 440.   Charlotte needs to nurture our home grown tech companies like AvidXchange and our much smaller ones too like Passport, MapAnthing etc.  CreditKarma has an outpost here in Ballantyne and maybe we can get more on those.   Charlotte and Raleigh are 2 of the fastest growing cities in the country and that is good for the state as a whole.  

PS I would say SAS is pretty well known around the tech world too.   I guess I want the ENTIRE state to be prosperous from Asheville to Wilmington and every city in between. 

 

[15895]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

^^^ I think it benefits North Carolina for sure.  Lets see what happens but remember the hand wringing after HB2 then the repeal.  It would be a major feather in our state's cap.  It might lead more tech companies to consider NC and that would include Charlotte.  But face it the Triangle has 3 major universities churning out thousands of graduates a  year something Charlotte just does not have.  We have other strengths but I would love for this to come to NC rather than some other state including SC suburbs of Charlotte.  Face it they are probably not getting Amazon HQ2 (nor is Nashville) and this would bring a lot of attention to our state.  I used to dislike Raleigh too but I don't now.  Their economy is many ways is complementary to Charlotte with different strengths than ours.   Take Metlife for example 1300 jobs went to Cary and 1300 came to Charlotte now Brighthouse Financial.  Metlife is now adding 500 more jobs up there.  

In terms of roads I think people in Raleigh Durham would beg to differ with you they get all the roads.  (that would be Greensboro check out their 5 interstates they have!)  Have you been up there in rush hour? I have it and the congestion is like ours especially on 40 and 440.   Charlotte needs to nurture our home grown tech companies like AvidXchange and our much smaller ones too like Passport, MapAnthing etc.  CreditKarma has an outpost here in Ballantyne and maybe we can get more on those.   Charlotte and Raleigh are 2 of the fastest growing cities in the country and that is good for the state as a whole.  

PS I would say SAS is pretty well known around the tech world too.   I guess I want the ENTIRE state to be prosperous from Asheville to Wilmington and every city in between. 

 

 

Does the fact its "just" a call center make it less significant? I mean. It's still sexy to say Apple has a presence in RDU. But it just doesn't seem the Raleigh posters on other websites and sorta on this one feel like it's such a huge deal being "just" a call center. I guess there is the intangible factor of being associated with Apple that would be a recruiting tool ?   

Not being negative. Just parsing through how big of a deal was that it needed to be included in this thread. I am very much a "Great State of Mecklenburg" type of guy. I love my state, but it doesn't flip the switch on my doomaflatchie when other cities in the state get a call center or an auto manufacturing plant, etc. Hell, I don't even care when Fort Mill gets relo's. 

 

I do agree that if Apple had an "HQ2" type in Raleigh, then I could see an impact on the entire state. But call center? Not sure it means anything to Mecklenburg.  

Edited May 16, 2018 by AirNostrumMAD

[KJHburg]

No its a lot more than a call center if Austin is any indication of what it is.  Certainly some of it maybe that way but other than that  Austin's 6000 employees do a lot more than just answer calls.   Do a search on Austin Apple jobs: sales, hardware and software engineers, data analytics etc.   They are looking to do something like what they did in Austin a city very similar to Raleigh and the Triangle in many ways.  

But we can get back to Charlotte:  what is anyone hearing on the 2nd building for AvidXchange.?  There was talk about it starting shortly after their first building was completed but haven't heard anything else about it? 

 

 

 

[Crucial_Infra]

29 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

No its a lot more than a call center if Austin is any indication of what it is.  Certainly some of it maybe that way but other than that  Austin's 6000 employees do a lot more than just answer calls.   Do a search on Austin Apple jobs: sales, hardware and software engineers, data analytics etc.   They are looking to do something like what they did in Austin a city very similar to Raleigh and the Triangle in many ways.  

But we can get back to Charlotte:  what is anyone hearing on the 2nd building for AvidXchange.?  There was talk about it starting shortly after their first building was completed but haven't heard anything else about it? 

 

 

 

Yep, it's way more than a call center. And people need to realize that we're all in this together. Anything that's good for NC will automatically be good for Charlotte. Frankly, this is as much a PR win than anything else. We've got A LOT of damage to undo caused by the disasterous and idiotic folks behind HB2.   

Edited May 16, 2018 by Crucial_Infra

[HighRiseHillbilly]

If it's not directly in the city limits my interest goes down & my pettiness goes up. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

Nose....Face...... something something. 

Very excited to have a (second)  major presence of Apple here in NC. Now if we could just land an Apple Store uptown....

[urbanlover568]

Apple's salaries will be higher than HQ2 and will have a faster ramp up. The floor will be 3K jobs, but expected 10K(40K less than Aamzon). Apparently this will be their east coast headquarters. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

WashingtonPost says NoVA

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/its-not-just-amazon-apple-quietly-explores-northern-virginia-for-20000-jobs/2018/05/16/1c66b3b0-5566-11e8-abd8-265bd07a9859_story.html

[KJHburg]

28 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

WashingtonPost says NoVA

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/its-not-just-amazon-apple-quietly-explores-northern-virginia-for-20000-jobs/2018/05/16/1c66b3b0-5566-11e8-abd8-265bd07a9859_story.html

Not confirmed yet but this is coming from the Raleigh media.  And this means more jobs and investment for Maiden in Catawba County as well.  https://www.wral.com/north-carolina-apple-negotiating-deal-on-triangle-campus-second-site-in-cary/17558985/

[CLT2014]

A 300 acre campus! Wow. I don't think Charlotte could have come close to providing a site with existing infrastructure in place like that without going to the outer edges of Charlotte (like the River District, which isn't close to shovel ready) or out to Indian Land, Huntersville, etc.... In addition to the tech force in Raleigh, Charlotte just doesn't have many 300 acre plots of land that have the infrastructure to support a shovel ready suburban office campus project like the RTP. 

Edited May 17, 2018 by CLT2014

[atlrvr]

I'm 95% certain the only "Charlotte" site considered was in Fort Mill, which was on the short list.