Chicago-based Geofeedia, the company behind a popular social media intelligence platform, announced Tuesday morning that it plans to expand its downtown Indianapolis operations, creating up to 336 jobs by 2020.
Geofedia said it will invest $2.9 million to lease and equip a 9,200-square-foot office in Circle Tower on Monument Circle. The company said it plans to make the location its largest office. It will focus on developing predictive software technology used by consumer brands, media organizations and public safety agencies.
“With the many top-notch colleges nearby and the recent successful IPOs and acquisitions within the city’s tech sector, a strong technology talent pool has emerged in Indianapolis. We expect to build an exceptional team here to help grow the business as we develop our solution and enter new markets,” Phil Harris, co-founder and CEO of Geofeedia, said in a prepared statement.
Geofeedia already has 20 full-time Indiana workers and 44 overall, spread between Indianapolis, Chicago and Naples, Flordia. The company has begun hiring for business development, marketing, sales and software development positions here.
The four-year-old's company analytics platform is used by the likes of CNN, Mall of America, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and others to monitor social media activity in specific locations.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. plans to offer Geofeedia up to $4.4 million in tax credits based on the company's job-creation plans. The credits are performance-based, meaning that until workers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The city of Indianapolis will consider additional incentives at the request of Develop Indy.
IBJ reported in December that Geofeedia had hired two former ExactTarget executives to lead its Indianapolis operations. Wes Antrobus, who previously led a 60-person North American marketing division at ExactTarget, serves as vice president of inside sales at Geofeedia. R.J. Talyor, a 10-year ExactTarget veteran who dealt in product and strategy, is vice president of product management.
In an interview for that story, Harris, a former Priceline.com executive, said: “I think that ExactTarget has really changed the entire technology scene in Indianapolis. And what we see is an opportunity to capitalize on [that].”
San Francisco-based Salesforce.com acquired ExactTarget for $2.5 billion in July 2013. Many ExactTarget executives have gone on to help lead or help fund other technology companies.
One of the investors in Geofeedia is former ExactTarget Chief Marketing Officer Tim Kopp, who announced last month he would establish an Indianapolis office for the Chicago-based venture capital heavyweight Hyde Park Venture Partners. Kopp told IBJ in December that he expects to see more tech companies expand in Indianapolis to capitalize on the growing pool of experienced workers from ExactTarget and other firms.
“It is an absolute horse race to get the best people who have experience scaling and building these companies,” he said.
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