The latest big tech company to take a serious look at San Jose is none other than the 800lb gorilla from Seattle. Microsoft has purchased close to 65 acres of "farmland" in North San Jose bound by 237, Zanker Road, and the Coyote Creek. They want to use the space to build either 1.2 million SQFT of light industrial space or a 436,880 SQFT data center and 728,000 SQFT of light industrial space.
Either of the options on the table would not bring as many jobs and tax dollars to the city as a traditional office complex, but it would be a great foot in the door as Microsoft currently has zero presence in San Jose proper. Microsoft has 1,600 employees in the area, but most are in Mountain View. With a grand total of 71,000 employees, San Jose could provide a viable opportunity to move more of their workforce into the tech capital of the world. They would be in good company as both Google and Apple and considering significant operations in San Jose.
This fantastic news has been around for a couple weeks, but I just got back from vacation and feel obligated to repeat it. Adobe has been on fire during the past couple years and is looking to dramatically grow their headcount. The company is planning to build a fourth office tower at 333 West San Fernando Street to compliment their current three-tower headquarters in Downtown San Jose.
The new tower must be massive as it will have capacity for 3,000 employees. That is more than Adobe's current three towers combined (2,500 employees). The 333 West San Fernando parcel is already entitled for up to 725,000 SQFT of space and there is even a render of what such a building might look like (although Adobe will likely go with something more creative).
Downtown is really having a banner year when it comes to attracting more tech jobs. First the Google announcement and now Adobe is more than doubling their Downtown office capacity!
Several San Jose companies have announced new funding rounds in the past couple months. This typically means more jobs, which also benefits our local economy, as well as exciting new product launches. Below are the beneficiaries of our venture capital ecosystem.
Outset Medical - Medical devices startup that created a portable kidney dialysis machine. They just raised $76.5 million in a Series C round. Outset is headquartered at 1830 Bering Drive near the airport.
Visier- Business intelligence startup that makes workforce analytics software for HR departments. Visier raised a $45 million Series D round and is located at 650-550 S. Winchester Boulevard.
CNEX Labs - They build solid-state storage controllers and software for the next generation of data centers. They just raised a new round of $13.2 million and the funding round was led by Microsoft Ventures. CNEX is located at 2880 Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Chowbotics - They make a robot named Sally that can make over 1,000 different types of salads. Chowbotics is a brand new company that raised a $5 million Series A round and have pilot robots at Mama Mia in Campbell and Galvanize's coworking space in San Francisco.
Bonus: Western Digital did not receive a new funding round--they don't need it with $13 billion of annual revenue--but they did officially move their headquarters from Southern California to San Jose (Great Oaks area off of North First Streed).
Two hot tech companies are choosing to grow their presence in Downtown San Jose. Zoom is a video and web conferencing solution founded in 2011. It currently has 180 employees with plans to add 20 more.
Wrike is a work management solution with 10,000 paid accounts. Their first office was in Downtown San Jose, but they moved to Mountain View in 2014 after getting their series A funding. Late last year they moved back to Downtown San Jose and now have 70 employees with plans to grow.
Both Zoom and Wrike are headquartered on Almaden Avenue--Zoom is on the 6th Floor of 55 Almaden and Wrike is on the 10th floor of 10 Almaden.
First off, let me say that I have really missed Nathan Donato-Weinstein's articles in the SVBJ. I am thrilled to see him writing again in the SJ Economy blog.
He recently visited BriteLab, a high-tech South San Jose manufacturing company that makes everything from 3D printers to electric skateboards. The 55,000 SQFT space is a startup incubator that helps new companies bring their products to market. BriteLab provides product-development, design, engineering, manufacturing, and support services. Currently BriteLab employs 75 people, but they are planning to grow to 150.
For all the details, check out Nathan's article over here.
North San Jose is quickly becoming a mecca for electric car companies and the history goes back far. Tesla originally wanted to build their factory in Alviso. Only after they were rejected by the state, did they choose the Fremont location. NextEV and LeEco on the other hand setup their US Headquarters in North San Jose. Access to high-end engineering talent in Silicon Valley and industrial space were no doubt major factors in those decisions.
Last week, NextEV finally pulled back the curtain on their first car. Like Tesla, they are starting with limited-production expensive cars and then creating mass-market vehicles. The NIO EP9 will be the fastest electric car in the world. It can hit 124 MPH in 7.1 seconds and has a top speed of 194 MPH. Range is about 265 miles. The EP9 just set a world record on the Nurburgring, video below. Unfortunately, those specs won't come cheap... the car costs about $1,000,000 (correct number of zeros).
We'll have to see how the less expensive cars in their lineup compete with both traditional car companies and Tesla, but for now you can take some pride in the fact that this is a San Jose company. NextEV is located at 3200 N 1st Street.
ThreatMetrix is a San Jose-based fraud prevention startup located in Downtown San Jose at 160 W. Santa Clara Street. The company was founded in 2005 and helps authenticate consumer transactions to minimize online fraud.
So far, they have raised a respectable $84 million from investors. This latest $30 million financing round will be used to expand its data center and expand sales and marketing teams.
Okta is a hot "unicorn" tech company that provides identity management and security services for other businesses. In an unconventional move, they have decided to create a dual headquarters in the Bay Area.
They currently have 850 employees and around 500 of them work in the San Francisco office. That location limits their potential reach for talent, especially as commutes continue to get longer and longer with no public transit or highway improvements in site that will make a significant dent arriving anytime soon. Okta estimates that adding a HQ in San Jose will open up a third more talent that they would not have access to otherwise.
Okta will start with leasing the 16th floor at 300 Park Avenue near Adobe and right under Xactly. The 19,735 SQFT will provide enough room for at least 100 employees, but they have the option to expand to other floors in the building as well. They have already started hiring people for the office and plan to move in February.
The San Jose location will truly be a second headquarter. Executives will have desks in both locations and split their time between the two offices.
Why San Jose? They evaluated a lot of potential locations, but San Jose had the right mix of pro-growth mentality, expansion opportunity, urban amenities, and transportation options.
Nutanix is a San Jose data tech company that had one of the most successful IPOs in recent years. The company's stock soared from $16 per share to $38 since the IPO, making the company worth over $5 billion. A huge chunk of that value will go to people that work and likely live in San Jose, adding further fuel to our economy.
The company is headquartered at 1740 Technology Drive, Suite 150.
A San Jose company named LuDela is taking smart lighting to a whole other level. Instead of using LEDs like every other smart lighting device, the company's first product uses a real flame. You use a smartphone app called Wi-Fire to turn on the flame, turn it off, set a timer, and see how much wax is left. The app can even control multiple candles. To top it off, LuDela added safety features such as automatic extinguishing if the candle tips and phone alerts.
The LuDela smart candle is available at www.ludela.com for $99. Shipments begin early 2017. For more info, check out their site or read the press release below.
Groundbreaking Wi-Fire Technology Allows Multiple Candles to be Lit and Controlled From a Smartphone App Without the Need for Matches
SAN JOSE, Calif. – September 20, 2016 – LuDela today introduced the world’s smartest and safest real-flame candle. Featuring unprecedented Wi-Fire technology, the LuDela smart candle is the first to feature a real flame that can be lit, extinguished and controlled via a smartphone and eliminates the need for matches or other fire starters. LuDela addresses safety and aesthetic concerns that candle burners have faced for centuries, resulting in a safer, more convenient, and hassle-free approach to burning candles that delivers increased peace of mind and enjoyment to users.
“There’s nothing quite like the glow, smell, and ambiance of candles, but with it comes the fire risk, wax mess, hassles with wicks, and the time it takes to light and extinguish multiple candles,” said Jamie Bianchini, co-founder & CEO, LuDela. “LuDela addresses these issues with a smart candle that delivers the convenience and increased safety benefits of LED candles, but with the magic and fascination of a real flame. Combined with our social mission, LuDela delivers better light and better lives around the world.”
LuDela melds the beauty of traditional candles with 21st century Wi-Fire technology. Its innovative burning design utilizes 100 percent of the natural candle wax with no buried wicks and an “Everbrite Flame” that guarantees the candle will always shine bright. The LuDela smartphone app lights, extinguishes, and controls multiple candles with the touch of a button.
LuDela Smart Candle features with Wi-Fire technology include:
Instant Ambiance
Tap to Extinguish
Multi-Zone Lighting
Timer
Candle Remaining Meter
Scene Modes
Long-Life Rechargeable Batteries
App Controls Multiple Candles
LuDela Safety Features include:
Proximity Extinguish
Extinguish on Tip Over
Smart Scan
Child-Lock App
Reverse Burn Design
Safe Wax Pool Design
Smartphone Safety Alerts
Low Battery Detection
The LuDela smart candle is available at an introductory price of $99 at www.ludela.com with delivery expected in early 2017. Special preorder bundles and subscriptions–including LuDela’s Seasonal Scented Subscription that features curated scented refills that change with the season–are also available. Unlike standard pillar candles, LuDela burns 100 percent of the wax refills. As a result, consumers benefit from savings of up to 45 percent compared to other natural candles.
“LuDela literally pays for itself,” added Bianchini. “Within the first year, candle refill savings allow most LuDela users to recoup their $99 investment and begin saving money while continuing to enjoy safer, clean burning, beautifully smelling natural candles that light up their space–and their lives.”
For more information and to order your LuDela candle today, visit www.ludela.com.
About LuDela
LuDela is a smart and safe candle company with a mission to deliver better light and better lives to people around the world. With innovative Wi-Fire technology, LuDela offers the convenience and increased safety benefits of LED candles, but with the real flame ambiance and scents of real flame wax candles. LuDela is using its smarter, safer candle as a vehicle to help those suffering from poor lighting and lack of education in developing countries. To join LuDela in delivering a brighter global future, visit www.LuDela.com.
General Assembly, an "Edtech" startup founded in 2011, already has 25,000 graduates from their 15 campuses across the globe. They train their students with practical skills that can be applied immediately to the most in-demand corporate jobs today (coding, web/app design, data science, marketing, et cetera).
They are expanding to 25 campuses by the end of the year and one of those will be in San Jose. The location is yet to be determined but they will host classes, workshops, and events at the new campus. Until the final space is acquired, they will be leveraging San Jose's co-working spaces--something they should be familiar with as General Assembly was originally going to be a co-working company.
General Assembly's only other Bay Area campus is in San Francisco.
America's largest TV company is now officially part of Silicon Valley. LeEco, which has their North America headquarters in San Jose, purchased Vizio for a cool $2 billion. It is unlikely that Vizio itself will move from Irvine to San Jose in the near term, but the purchase at least opens the door.
I have always had a lot of respect for Vizio. They started out as a budget brand focused solely on value and are now able to compete with the top manufacturers in the world. Vizio has always been among the first to drive cutting edge tech into products most people can afford (TV Apps, Ultra HD 4K, HDR, and now Smartcast). This is a company that belongs in San Jose, in North First, with all the other titans of the tech world.
Below is a guest post by Phillip Bergman. Opportunity Fund is a non-profit headquarterd in Downtown San Jose. Over the past 20 years they have loaned $173 million to 13,000 businesses and individuals. Last year alone they provided $60 million in loans. It is tough (and expensive) to run a business in San Jose, and this is a local resource that may be able to help.
San Jose is home to non-profit Opportunity Fund (www.opportunityfund.org), which believes that small amounts of money and financial advice can help people make permanent and lasting change in their own lives, driving economic mobility and building stronger communities. It says yes to small business owners, low-income students, and families because entrepreneurship, education, and sound financial habits are proven pathways to greater economic opportunity.
Even in the most favorable circumstances, creating small business success is a significant challenge. With traditional lenders tightening lending qualifications, small business owners are often left with a narrow set of problematic options – lending schemes with triple-digit interest rates that can cripple a business. Opportunity Fund helps small business owners avoid predatory lending, such as high rate ‘fast cash’ advances. About 90 percent of its loans are to minority owned businesses and Opportunity Fund provides no cost evaluation of loan needs and complimentary cash flow analysis to determine financing that businesses can afford to help promote long term success. The strategy combines microloans for small business owners and microsavings accounts to help students pay for college and families save for a rainy day. As California’s leading microfinance provider, Opportunity Fund has loaned more than $170 million and helped about 13,000 people since 1994.
Opportunity Fund's role is to help working families realize their dreams and move beyond worrying about how to live day to day. Visit www.opportunityfund.org for more information about the organization and San Jose office.
Blue Apron, EatClub, and Caviar have all been gaining in popularity for on-demand food service, but we have a local San Jose company that has thrown its hat in the ring. Sun Basket is a subscription-based meal service that specializes in healthy, organic, paleo, and gluten-free options. They deliver the raw ingredients in the right proportions along with instructions on how to prepare the meals. It is a fantastic option for people that want to cook wholesome meals but do not want to waste time shopping for ingredients or hunting new recipes.
My wife and I currently use Blue Apron which has a similar business model, but are planning to try out Sun Basket very soon. So far we have had great experiences with Blue Apron meals. I really think these services are a great compromise between getting take out and traditional cooking. 90% of the meals I've had are restaurant-grade and half the price.
Sun Basket already has 20,000 subscribers. The company has 225 full-time employees and is planning to grow to 300 in the near future. They are based in a 65,000 SQFT warehouse on Olinder Court in East San Jose (formerly Race Street Foods).
Check out the Sun Basket website over here, and make sure to read SJ Economy's post using the source link below.
Viptela is a software-defined computer networking startup that is based in North San Jose. The company has just announced a $75 million funding round to help it ramp up globally. This will bring its total funding to nearly $110 million and its valuation to around $900 million.
The new dollars will be used to scale up sales, marketing, support, and R&D. Viptela has already grown its workforce to 150 in the past year and is planning to hit 200 employees by the end of the year and 300 employees by then end of 2017. With all of the downsizing happening in the Valley right now, it is nice to see some companies bucking the trend (especially in San Jose).
Viptela is located at 1732 N. 1st Street, Suite #600.
Did you ever wonder what is inside Adobe's three office towers in Downtown San Jose? You can now take a brief virtual tour of the largest company headquartered Downtown. Unfortunately, a few areas were omitted like the basketball court in the middle of the three buildings and the many terraces towards the top of the towers with amazing views.
Head over here and explore one of our flagship companies.
The final phase of the America Center in San Jose's northernmost tip is breaking ground. Two more six-story buildings will add 450,000 SQFT of office space to the office center, bringing the grand total to 1.1 million SQFT.
Polycom and Flextronics both have their US headquarters in the office complex. There is also a new Aloft hotel onsite using the "Aloft Santa Clara" moniker (the naming really irks me since it is physically located in San Jose).
The new building will be wrapped in a massive amount of electrochromatic glass, which can tint the windows automatically based on the amount of sunlight or user preference. This helps cut down on HVAC costs and is also more convenient for people working in the building. Other cool amenities include a 16,000 SQFT fitness center/cafe, a roofdeck with putting green, an outdoor bar, and 36 electric vehicle charging stations.
The location is right off of Highway 237 and close to Highways 101 and 880, making it easily accessible by freeway from all directions. Transit access is nonexistent although there might be some corporate shuttles available to employees. For more information, visit the source link or watch the video below.
We're getting spoiled. Whenever a few weeks go by without major Downtown San Jose development news I start to get antsy. It is easy to forget that there was a time not long ago where years would go by without substantial news.
Nathan Donato-Weinstein has broken a story about the latest high-rise proposal by none other than Lew Wolf and Phil DiNapoli, both veterans in the Downtown San Jose development scene. Last week they submitted plans for a massive 725,000 SQFT office tower next to the Adobe campus on 333 W. San Fernando Street. The project would be built on 2.5 acres that are currently being used as a parking lot.
The single 19-story building would nearly have as much square footage as all three of the Adobe towers combined. This means it would feature the sprawling floor plates and tall ceilings that Silicon Valley tech companies love these days. Other amenities include cutout decks and platforms that would create outdoor gathering spaces and a ground floor partially wrapped with retail.
Parking would be split across 10 floors (???), five levels below ground and five levels above ground. I don't think we have a parking structure in San Jose today that utilizes so many floors. Given the location's proximity to every transit option imaginable, hopefully they are able to reduce the number of spaces and instead increase the square footage of the office space.
If this gets built, it would but a another win in what is becoming a large collection of victories for Downtown San Jose. The fact that we are even discussing this in addition to the dozen other major projects already in the pipeline is already some level of success.
StartOrganic is a vegetable gardening service based in San Jose. Their first major corporate project was at PayPal's San Jose headquarters, offering weekly gardening lessons for employees and a vegetable farm right on the PayPal campus. I love the concept and hope more companies will offer similar programs. How cool would it be to start seeing organic vegetable gardens on the roofs of corporate buildings in San Jose? Check out their full press release and video below.
SAN JOSE, CA
StartOrganic Vegetable Garden Service announced today they are expanding their popular Corporate Organic Vegetable Gardening Programs, after their tremendous success with the Corporate Organic Vegetable Gardening Program at PayPal’s Headquarters in San Jose. Presently in its fourth year, the Program is StartOrganic’s most extensive corporate garden to-date with weekly gardening lessons for PayPal employees covering topics such as pest control, plant selection and spacing, as well as monthly workshops. It features 30 raised organic vegetable garden beds with 24 maintained by PayPal employees, under the guidance of StartOrganic, and 6 beds are used as demonstration gardens and maintained by StartOrganic. Other gardens StartOrganic has designed, consulted, built and maintain include the Saratoga Elementary School, The Forge at Santa Clara University, The Studio by Angi – Salon and Boutique, West Valley Community Services, La Mesa Verde/Sacred Heart, and the YMCA Saratoga.
“The number of benefits a corporate garden can provide is just incredible,” said StartOrganic Co-Founder Josh Levine. “For example, the PayPal Employee Vegetable Gardening Program lets employees grow their own produce on their lunch break or free time for their personal use or to share with co-workers. The gardening skills we teach the employees, they then use in their own home gardens to teach their families and neighbors, thereby improving their neighborhoods. It’s also a fantastic team-building exercise that allows employees to get outside and have an experience completely different than their daily routine,” concluded Levine.
“The PayPal Employee Vegetable Gardening Program has allowed us to showcase the huge health benefits of eating organic vegetables versus grabbing something from a vending machine,” said StartOrganic Co-Founder Troy Smothermon. “Employees are healthier because of their eating habits, but they also get personal satisfaction from growing their own food, not to mention the mental benefits of getting outdoors and away from their cubicle allowing them to positively re-charge. A corporate gardening program is the perfect way for a company to attract and retain happy, healthy and productive employees,” stated Smothermon.
Corporate gardens are an inexpensive way for companies to stimulate employee engagement. As a part of the program, StartOrganic offers company-wide vegetable gardening workshops which benefit all employees. Excess organic produce grown by the employees is used in company cafeterias, providing a truly localized food experience. StartOrganic will work with any company or organization to create a custom corporate garden program with the space available and unique needs of the employees. From consulting, designing, building, maintaining and training – the vegetable garden service facilitates the entire process and operation of the Employee Gardening Program. For more information about StartOrganic’s Corporate Organic Gardening Programs visit http://startorganic.org or call 408-888-1903.
About StartOrganic StartOrganic was founded in 2011 by local Bay Area residents, Josh Levine and Troy Smothermon. The company has developed many school gardens, community gardens and corporate organic gardens. StartOrganic’s goal is to empower and educate people throughout the South Bay Area by helping them to grow their own organic produce and build sustainable local food systems. For more information visit http://startorganic.org or Like them on Facebook.
Signifyd is an e-commerce startup that specializes in fraud protection. They charge e-commerce companies a percentage fee in order to verify that purchases are coming from a legitimate source. Signifyd has protected $5.6 billion worth of transactions so far.
The company has just raised a $20 million Series B round, bringing their total amount of investment to $31 million. It's always great to see San Jose startups getting traction and the funding needed to continue to grow.
Signifyd is headquartered at 2590 North 1st Street.
