Charlotte Tech News

[Blue_Devil]

35 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

yes they are here are their open positions in Charlotte.  So with this spin off from Credit Karma we have 2 fintechs Square and Credit Karma with Charlotte offices from their split.

Jobs at Square (squareup.com)

Where is Squares Charlotte office? 

[KJHburg]

Just now, Blue_Devil said:

Where is Squares Charlotte office? 

Not sure but think Ballantyne since they bought the division from Credit Karma which is there now. 

[Blue_Devil]

1 minute ago, KJHburg said:

Not sure but think Ballantyne since they bought the division from Credit Karma which is there now. 

For some reason I have a distinct memory of SouthEnd, with a sign and everything. 

[KJHburg]

3 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

For some reason I have a distinct memory of SouthEnd, with a sign and everything. 

Maybe I looked on their website and could not find an address for Square.    Credit Karma is currently on N Community House Rd in Ballantyne 

[CLT2014]

Based on when the acquisition closed, I'd assume almost everybody that works for Square in Charlotte has been WFH during the pandemic and they don't have a physical presence here yet. Also, any office presence that may be added will be smaller as Square has announced a permanent work from home policy:
"Moving forward, Squares will be able to work from home permanently, even once offices begin to reopen. Over the past several weeks, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes for people to effectively perform roles outside of an office, and we will continue to learn as we go.”"

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/18/21261798/square-employees-work-from-home-remote-premanent-policy-ceo

Edited May 25, 2021 by CLT2014

[joenc]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Maybe I looked on their website and could not find an address for Square.    Credit Karma is currently on N Community House Rd in Ballantyne 

I walked through Venture-X down in Toringdon a few months ago and Square had some space there.

Edited May 25, 2021 by joenc

[KJHburg]

Here is one tech CEO that believes in working in offices the CEO of Credit Karma from  an article in Biz Journal after the announcement.

""Kenneth Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, said during Tuesday's call that working together in person is important for the company. "We believe being together, being in the office together, (is) something that's really important to the connectivity as well as the product we're building," Lin said. "While we would remain flexible and are trying to learn through the process, it's hard to make really challenging and long-term decisions when you're still working through all of what is Covid."

They have 30,000 sq ft of space in Ballantyne now with 189 workers so I estimate they will need 100,000 sq ft plus space for all 800 workers.  I would expect either the new 11 story Overlook building or the Harris Tower where they have 150,000 sq ft.  Their headquarters in Oakland has 160,000 sq ft.  So I will start calling this their HQ2 since Amazon coined the phrase. 

Credit Karma to establish Charlotte as East Coast technology hub, bolstering local fintech sector - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[J-Rob]

I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere, but I classify this as CLT tech news.  Printful's US base is here in Charlotte, and they just reached unicorn status. I've used Printful before, and the product quality was a little spotty, but the service makes a ton of sense. Printful allows small businesses and side hustlers to create/sell products that are print-on-demand, so they don't have to invest money in inventory.  Very cool concept. The tech component is that it is a web-based platform that integrates to etsy, shopify, and other e-commerce platforms. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/05/28/printful-raises-130m-round-reaches-unicorn-status.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_23&cx_artPos=3#cxrecs_s

Edited May 28, 2021 by J-Rob

[KJHburg]

Tracking migration of tech workers nationwide Linkedin said Charlotte was one of the top 3 cities of movements of tech people updating their profile locations after Austin and Nashville.

Austin Is Biggest Winner from Tech Migration, LinkedIn Data Show (wealthmanagement.com)

[SydneyCarton]

23 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Tracking migration of tech workers nationwide Linkedin said Charlotte was one of the top 3 cities of movements of tech people updating their profile locations after Austin and Nashville.

Austin Is Biggest Winner from Tech Migration, LinkedIn Data Show (wealthmanagement.com)

I guess that Austin is closer to California, and, perhaps, Californians are more familiar with it.  That being said, I'd much rather live in Charlotte.  It's much cheaper and has a lot less traffic.

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

I guess that Austin is closer to California, and, perhaps, Californians are more familiar with it.  That being said, I'd much rather live in Charlotte.  It's much cheaper and has a lot less traffic.

While there are certainly a lot of Californians that move to Austin, the principal driver of net migration population growth for Austin is coming from the other metro areas in Texas. Over 50% of new Austin residents moved from somewhere else in Texas. By building an identity as the "tech city" of Texas, it is drawing recent college graduates and younger residents looking to move out of the other Texas metros, while still being within driving distance of mom and dad's house in boring / safe Dallas and Houston suburbs like Plano, the Woodlands, Southlake, et. 

For metro area migration patterns, the big Texas metros have been bigger drivers of population growth than tech heavy areas like San Francisco or San Jose. This contrasts with Charlotte, where the biggest metros driving net population growth in our MSA are located outside of North Carolina and even outside of our broader region (NY, Miami, Chicago, DC, LA, Philly, et.). The only regional MSA contributing Top 10 net population growth to Charlotte is Fayetteville. 
https://www.austinchamber.com/blog/10-08-2020-migration

Edited June 3, 2021 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

That is one thing I don't people understand about the Charlotte tech community and where they are coming from.  I think many come from the colleges and universities in the region from VA Tech to all the NC schools and those in SC and even some of the Georgia schools.  

In other tech news Bundle raised Charlotte startup fintech Bundle raises $600K from investors here locally.

Charlotte Inno - Bundle raises $600K, readies platform for launch of a real-time shopping model (bizjournals.com)

Bundle: Compare mortgage rates anonymously | Bundle (bundleloan.com)

[KJHburg]

Why did Credit Karma choose Charlotte for their 600 job expansion?  Here are some reasons:

Credit Karma exec: Talent was main driver in fintech firm's decision to expand here - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

"""She said available talent was the No. 1 driver in Credit Karma's decision to expand locally. The area has an intersection of legacy financial-services employees coupled with up-and-coming tech entrepreneurs.  "In our opinion, Charlotte is really well-positioned to be the hub, so regardless of any of the other locations we would choose, we're making a statement that this is the place that we want to have the largest number of people," McCreary said.   Charlotte is a good stop between Credit Karma's London and West Coast offices, she said. The company also has a growing presence in Atlanta and New York City.  The local office's strong leadership team is another benefit. Credit Karma's head of talent acquisition, Ashleigh Anderson, is based here. Andy Jenkins, vice president of engineering, supports the firm's Money product from here. Former Passport executive Michael Scully heads up the core product team. Credit Karma's head of finance also plans to relocate to Charlotte.""

[KJHburg]

Davidson tech startup partners with Microsoft and raises $1 M (and this is a woman owned tech firm)

Davidson tech startup Grocery Shopii raises $1M, partners with Microsoft - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Meal Planning for Grocery eCommerce | Grocery Shopii

part of Charlotte tech rising.

Edited June 8, 2021 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

People may forget that Apple has a huge data center in Catawba County in Maiden.   They were asking the county government to extend some tax breaks to newly purchased land.  $3.6  Billion spent in Maiden and rising! 

Here are some highlights:

Schedule 1 of the July 6, 2009 Economic Development Agreement specified 181.61 acres of 
real estate that qualified for the terms of qualifying incentives. The Agreement contracted Apple to a 
minimum investment of $1 billion dollars by the company over the first 10 years and agreed to create a 
minimum of 50 direct Apple jobs and 150 additional permanent jobs at the facility. Apple far exceeded 
those commitments, spending over $3 billion dollars and having created 400 permanent on-site jobs in 
less than 7 years. Apple acquired sizable properties around the original 2009 site for future expansion 
purposes. As contemplated in the Second Amendment, Apple has acquired several smaller nearby 
properties totaling 46.65 acres and desires to include these ancillary properties in the original agreement 
by way of this Third Amendment. The properties added under this amendment are not areas for primary 
facilities and are mostly acquisitions to create buffer area and clear property lines.
The initial incentive was a 10 year grant in an amount equal to 50% of taxes received for real property and 
buildings and 85% of personal property/contents for the first $1 billion; another 10-year period is added 
if they have spent or commit to spend another $1 billion in the second 10 years, and another 10-year
period if they have spent or agree to spend an additional $500 million in the third ten years. They have 
reported expenditures of $3.623 billion since 2010, far exceeding any commitments. Total building on the
original 181.61 site exceeds 1,300,000 square feet.

from Catawba County agenda

comb_boc_agenda_for_monday-_june_07-_2021_--_copy.pdf (catawbacountync.gov)

sounds like they have a lot more investment they will make and they are the LARGEST taxpayer in Catawba County! 

from the Triangle Biz Journal

""In 2020, Apple topped Catawba County’s taxpayer list, with an assessed valuation of $1.2 billion. That’s $6.9 million in county taxes levied, eclipsing the second-highest assessed company, Duke Energy Carolinas (NYSE: DUK), which was assessed at $761.4 million.   According to the county, Apple has invested about $3.6 billion so far in Catawba County, creating 400 jobs. And it’s also fueled major improvements to the county through tax revenues, officials have said.  In April, Maiden Town Manager Todd Herms said that, boosted by Apple, the town has actually been able to reduce local taxes.""

Apple wins additional incentives in small town North Carolina - Triangle Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[KJHburg]

How the recruitment of Fin-tech is going in Charlotte and there is more to come.

(Varo Bank for example)

Inside Carolina Fintech Hub's role in recruiting for Charlotte - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), like many companies, was focused on picking a city where it knew it could hire for tech-intensive roles like software and infrastructure engineers, data scientists, analysts, user experience and user interface professionals, and artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers. Cities like Nashville, Tennessee, and Dallas were said to be in the mix to land the center, which will include up to 2,000 jobs. The city of Charlotte organized multiple sessions around hiring and recruiting tech talent to prove to Lowe’s the workforce was here.  “We had probably a 20-provider roundtable for Lowe’s, where we brought in all of our talent providers and training partners,” said West, assistant economic development director for the city of Charlotte. “(Carolina Fintech Hub) was one of them.”""

""The recruitment pipeline Carolina Fintech Hub has right now looks to be strong, he said. Each announcement and expansion into Charlotte makes it easier to sell the next company on locating here. “If 10% of my list closes in the next year, it’s going to be one of the most interesting case studies ever,” Bokhari said. “(But) the No. 1 thing we are working to convince them is the accessibility of talent.”""   (hmm like Varo Bank) 

[KJHburg]

an Edtech firm based in Mooresville that moved down from Pittsburgh is growing again.

Mooresville-based TrueLearn acquires Phoenix startup Picmonic - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""TrueLearn's acquisition of that startup, Picmonic, closed last week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  TrueLearn has been in Mooresville since 2017 after relocating from Pittsburgh, adding 44 jobs that year. Its founder and CEO, Dr. Joshua Courtney, said at the time he was "tremendously impressed with the economic growth in Charlotte" and that it "complements extraordinarily well the technology community we’ve built with our relationship with Carnegie Mellon University in the Pittsburgh area." Courtney, an anesthesiologist, had moved to the Charlotte region five years prior, mainly for career reasons.""

[rancenc]

Tech job openings continuing to surge throughout the state including the Charlotte metro area.

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2021/06/21/new-report-tech-job-opening-across-nc-up-60-in-raleigh-30-in-durham-chapel-hill/

[KJHburg]

Payzer another Charlotte fintech startup raises $19.5 M 

Payzer, a mobile payment platform startup in Charlotte, raises $19.5M | WRAL TechWire

Charlotte Tech Rising and rising fast! 

Home - Payzerware

[KJHburg]

first look inside the Robinhood offices in Deloitte tower at Legacy.  It will be open October 1  View up Tryon is great! 

FIRST LOOK EXCLUSIVE: View from Robinhood’s New Charlotte Uptown Offices | Carolina Fintech Hub

[KJHburg]

Dice Tech jobs and salary reports shows some interesting information.  These photos show the highlights I saw.

And the fact Charlotte is now on the list of the top 25 tech markets is great which 10 years ago nobody would have included our city.  Our average tech salaries are about 4% less than Los Angeles for example yet their average home price more than doubled ours.  

The Dice 2021 Tech Salary Report | Report | Dice Resources

[Blue_Devil]

51 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Dice Tech jobs and salary reports shows some interesting information.  These photos show the highlights I saw.

And the fact Charlotte is now on the list of the top 25 tech markets is great which 10 years ago nobody would have included our city.  Our average tech salaries are about 4% less than Los Angeles for example yet their average home price more than doubled ours.  

The Dice 2021 Tech Salary Report | Report | Dice Resources

Banks pay money, Big banks pay some of the highest salaries of any industry. Hench Fintech getting paid $$$

[KJHburg]

Gambling.com a Charlotte based tech startup plans an IPO.

Gambling.com – led by UNC grads and based in Charlotte – plans IPO | WRAL TechWire

Their open jobs seem to be in Charlotte or Dublin Ireland. 

Based in the Railyard probably with a wework office. 

[videtur quam contuor]

 

[joenc]

 

On 6/25/2021 at 10:55 AM, KJHburg said:

Dice Tech jobs and salary reports shows some interesting information.  These photos show the highlights I saw.

And the fact Charlotte is now on the list of the top 25 tech markets is great which 10 years ago nobody would have included our city.  Our average tech salaries are about 4% less than Los Angeles for example yet their average home price more than doubled ours.  

The Dice 2021 Tech Salary Report | Report | Dice Resources

I don't think these tech salaries include RSUs.

Most engineers I know in Bay Area/Seattle are making 2-4x that all-in.

Edited June 29, 2021 by joenc