Big deal for Denver
Insurance technology firm is moving headquarters here
A longtime developer of insurance technology said Monday that it is moving its headquarters from Washington state to Denver, where it plans to hire at least 300 new workers over the next four years.
Vertafore, which traces its origins back to a punch-card tabulating service in 1969, picked Denver because of its “robust pool of talented professionals, central U.S. location, and emerging status as a thriving technology hub,” the Bothell, Wash.-based company said in a statement. The company, which will keep a small office near Seattle, will also receive up to $700,000 in financial incentives from Colorado and the city of Denver.
“Denver has so many things going for it — an existing toplevel talent pool, a burgeoning tech scene, and an overall environment conducive to helping us grow both our business, and the business of our customers. It very quickly became the obvious choice once we started looking at locations for our customer-centric centers of excellence strategy,” Amy Zupon, Vertafore chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Vertafore specializes in cloud-based technology that helps the insurance industry, from independent agents who need help managing clients and processing claims to large firms and even state governments to streamline quotes and stay in
compliance. It currently employs about 120 employees in Denver in a temporary space in the Denver Place building at 999 18th St. By August, the company will move into the fourth floor, and it has options to expand in the building.
Zupon said that by the end of the year, the Denver office hopes to triple its employee count to 300 people.
“Earlier this year, in January, we launched a center for excellence in Denver and had great success. The location is absolutely helping us attract top-tier employees,” Zupon said. “… We’re a software company, so we’re looking to hire more development resources, engineers, support and customer service.”
The company received matching incentives of up to $350,000 from Colorado’s and Denver’s economic development agencies.
In February, the city agreed to pay up to $210,000 cash to Vertafore for the first 300 full-time jobs the company adds. It has four years to qualify for the job-incentive cash. Another $40,000 grant is for relocation expenses and an additional $100,000 credit will discount Vertafore’s business personal property taxes.
Vertafore was earlier approved for a $350,000 strategic fund award in November as part of “Project Cresta” by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The company will get a tax credit as it brings 500 jobs to Denver that pay an average annual wage of $64,480 over eight years.
The company won’t get the credits or cash unless it proves that it has hired new workers for at least one year. It currently has 36 job openings in Denver.
While Vertafore’s history dates back nearly a half century, the company gained new momentum last year after being acquired in June by private equity firms Bain Capital and Vista Equity Partners for a reported $2.7 billion, according to Reuters. At the time, the company had more than 500,000 insurance professionals using its technology daily.
Under new ownership, Vertafore hired Zupon as its CEO last September. Zupon had previously served as CEO of Denver-based P2 Energy Solutions, which prior to Zupon’s hiring was owned by Vista Equity Partners. While a smaller Washington office will be maintained, Vertafore’s management team has already moved to Denver, according to a company official.
The company, which now numbers 1,200 employees, has grown through acquisition over the years and under new ownership, acquisitions continued. Last month, Vertafore acquired RiskMatch, an insurance analytics company that helps large and small companies better mine big data.