Pair of software firms plan to add a combined 160 jobs

Central Indiana’s technology sector continued its run of expansion announcements Monday, with PactSafe and WDD Software rolling out plans to add a combined 160 employees over the next few years.

PactSafe, a legal-tech startup, plans to invest $575,000 to lease and equip new offices in Indianapolis after outgrowing its current, 1,500-square-foot quarters at 6311 Westfield Blvd. in Broad Ripple. The firm, which has eight employees, plans to another 91 by 2020.

Meanwhile, WDD Software, which began as a consulting firm in 1993 and now develops its own software, will invest $522,000 to expand from its current, 6,043-square-foot office at 9229 Delegates Row in the Precedent office park on the north side. It has 16 full-time employees and plans to add 69 by 2021.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered PactSafe up to $1.35 million in tax credits. It offered WDD up to $750,000 in credits, along with $50,000 in training grants. The incentives are performance based, meaning the companies are not able to claim them until workers are hired.

"Keeping PactSafe based in central Indiana is a no-brainer,” PactSafe CEO Brian Powers, a former Taft Stettinius & Hollister attorney who launched the firm in February 2015, said in a statement. "We've been able to attract and keep top-tier talent, due in large part to Indiana now being established as a great place to start and grow a tech business.”

PactSafe sells cloud-based software that connects contracts across the Web, mobile and other connected devices, allowing businesses to manage and analyze its trove of digital legal pacts that often end in “I Agree.”

The firm, which has secured $1.2 million in venture capital funding in the last year, has 84 clients across the country, including Angie’s List and Emmis Communications in Indianapolis. It says it brought aboard 55 national clients in just the last six months.

WDD Software has more than 30 clients, from Community Health Network and Long’s Bakery in central Indiana to Jasper-based Kimball International and the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of County and City Health Officials.

The company’s top products include a health management system used by public health departments and software that provides a “real time entertainment and giving experience” for not-for-profit organizations.

Central Indiana tech firms have unleashed a wave of expansion announcements in recent weeks. Those planning to add jobs include Brite Systems, Site Strategics, Sigstr and Torchlite.

“I am heartened to see great companies not just choosing Indianapolis as their home, but continuing to grow and invest in our community,” Angela Smith Jones, Indianapolis’ deputy mayor of economic development, said in a statement.

The Indianapolis area is adding high-tech jobs at an 18 percent clip, which is three times faster than the national average of 5.7 percent, according to real estate firm CBRE Research.

PactSafe said its new jobs will pay more than double the state’s average wage, which is about $45,000. WDD said its new jobs will pay more than 50 percent above the state’s average.