Okta is creating a second headquarters in Downtown San Jose

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.

Source: SVBJ (Subscription Required)

Vizio is now indirectly a San Jose company

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.

Source: SVBJ

Samsung adding retail at San Jose HQ

Samsung opened their North American headquarters last year in North San Jose (at Tasman and First Street). One of the perks of the new campus is that is is publicly accessible unlike most tech offices in Silicon Valley (ex: Google, Facebook). However, while you can walk around the beautiful campus there really isn't much to do as a non-Samsung employee. That is about to change with two need retail options that will be a perk to employees and visitors alike. Samsung is adding a Honey Berry and Peet's on the ground floor.

As Nathan Donato-Weinstein alludes to in the source link, tech companies have become pretty notorious for discouraging outsiders to visit. Perhaps that is due to fears of intellectual property leaks or wanting to build camaraderie with internal employees. This mentality really does not feel like the right thing to do in an urban environment. It's great to see Samsung trying to do something different that will perhaps pay dividends by promoting their brand to the local community.

Honey Berry is a popular Asian ice cream/dessert shop that will be a welcome addition to the North San Jose community. They have a few other locations in Silicon Valley, but none in North San Jose. I highly recommend their ice cream sandwiches. Peet's I think requires no introduction.

Speaking of being open, Samsung's corporate cafeteria is also open to the public! I was not aware of that until reading Nathan's article.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Viptela raises $75 million

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.

Source: SVBJ

Virtual tour of Adobe's San Jose headquarters

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.

Source: SVBJ

LeEco chooses San Jose for their North American headquarters

LeEco is an innovate Chinese company that is involved a multitude of high-tech businesses. They make smartphones, smart TVs, and are now working on autonomous cars. They are also a leading provider of streaming content in China (and are sometimes referred to as the Netflix of China). San Jose just scored a big win as LeEco recently decided to locate their North American headquarters here.

The new office is located at 3553 North 1st Street, conveniently close to just about every other major tech company on the planet. The 80,000 SQFT building could be home to as many as 800 new employees by the end of the year. LeEco will primarily use the space for cutting-edge R&D in both artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, two markets that will help drive the next wave of tech innovation.

Below is a short video and photos courtesy of the SJSV Chamber of Commerce.

Silver Spring Networks Moving Headquarters to San Jose

Silver Springs Networks is a company that specializes in smart grid products for energy companies as well as software to help consumers reduce their energy consumption. They have decided to move their headquarters from Redwood City to San Jose. Silver Springs will take on 191,800 SQFT of prime office space at Champion Station (210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive). The company is yet another welcome addition to North San Jose's burgeoning portfolio of tech companies.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Velostrata Raises $14M

Velostrata is a tech company that enables network admins to easily move virtual machines on their network into the cloud. Their software runs on top of VMware, and makes moving servers into the cloud as easy as right-clicking.

The San Jose company--which is headquartered at 2880 Zanker Road--has operated in stealth mode for over a year and is just now announcing a $14 million funding round. This goes to show that San Jose has tech startups as well, not just established companies.

Velostrata has a total of 25 employees, with plans to grow to 40 within a year. They also have an office in Tel Aviv.

Source: VentureBeat

Splunk Is Leasing a 234,000 SQFT Santana Row Office Building!

The newest office building at Santana Row is getting a tenant well before construction is even completed, and it's a significant one. Splunk is a leading data mining company that went public in 2012. The company is currently headquartered in a 213,000 SQFT building in San Francisco. While they are not planning to move their headquarters, Splunk has decided to dramatically increase their investment in the South Bay and move their modest Cupertino operations to one of the most impressive office buildings in Silicon Valley.

The new building at 500 Santana Row has nearly a quarter million square feet and is situated at the tail end of the row with easy access to a couple dozen restaurants, premier shopping, and many other amenities. The office itself has every luxury feature a tenant could possibly want including 13-foot ceilings, outdoor terraces, and an onsite cafe. You can check out some of the renderings below.

This represents a huge win for San Jose and Santana Row. Splunk will bring as many as 1,300 high-paying tech jobs to San Jose with immediate access to San Jose retail. The city will get increased tax revenue from both the office component and sales taxes from Splunk's employees that are shopping and dining out. This double-dipping is one of the many benefits of mixed-use projects. The fact that this is a San Francisco company investing in building a quality outpost in the South Bay and not the other way around is also notable.

Sources: SVBJ, Hillrise from the San Jose Development Forum

BAM Relocates to Downtown San Jose

Yet another tech company is going to call Downtown San Jose home! BAM Labs is a health monitoring company that captures sleep data for both healthcare providers and consumers. BAM is founded by two Apple alumni (one developed the PowerBook and the other wrote its specs).

The company has moved its headquarters from Campbell to the entire 12th floor 111 W Saint John Street (about 13,000 SQFT). Welcome to the neighborhood!

Source: Bisnow, Hillrise from the San Jose Development Forum

Apple and Tesla are Evaluating Expansion to San Jose!

The two hottest companies in Silicon Valley are contemplating expansion to San Jose! It has been a poorly kept secret that Apple is out of room and it's epic 2.8 million SQFT spaceship project in Cupertino will only cover a fraction of the space it needs. To make matters worse for Apple, Cupertino is not allowing any more office construction outside of a limited area round Valco. Reportedly, Apple has been looking at two different major San Jose projects to expand to: 101 Tech on Orchard Parkway (300,000 SQFT) and the Coleman Highline (up to 1.5 million SQFT).

To make things even more interesting, Tesla is also looking at 101 Tech. Whether it would be an expansion of their Palo Alto headquarters or a full move of their HQ is unclear (it would be much closer to the Tesla factory and the office space would cost half as much). In either case, they would be a very welcome addition to San Jose. Tesla actually wanted to create their factory in North San Jose near Aliso, but were not able to secure the state tax credits needed to build in the location.

Either one of these companies coming to San Jose would be a HUGE win. Nate's article is a great read and an excellent way way to start off the week. Grab a cup of coffee and read the full article via the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Outset Medical Raises $60 Million

Outset Medical has developed an in-home dialysis machine called Tablo for those with kidney failure. It would be a huge quality-of-live improvement to be able to do these treatments from home instead of having to go to a dialysis center several times per week. Tablo is capable to purifying regular tap water, creating dialysate, and delivering medication. It does this using a simple UI and dramatically reduces how much time is required for patients to undergo treatment.

Outset Medical has just raised their Series B investment round, which will clock in right around $60 million. That is quite a substantial amount for a young company founded just five years ago. However, this is a $13 billion market and their product already has FDA clearance for clinics and hospitals (they are working on clearance for home use), so it looks like this round is more about scaling and delivering the product rather than creating it.

Outset Medical is located in North San Jose near SJC at 1830 Bering Drive. Check out the short video below for a little bit more information.

Source: MedCity News

Apigee Preparing for an IPO!

We really scored big-time when Apigee decided to move from Palo Alto to Downtown San Jose. The rapidly expanding software company is reportedly in talks with bankers to file for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) valuing the company at $700 million.

What would this mean for San Jose? The IPO would mint many new local millionaires that would be working Downtown. Perhaps some of them will decide to move closer to work, or invest in the area. At minimum, they will be more likely to drop some bucks at local restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues and accelerate our economy. Of course, having another public company headquartered Downtown does nothing but help the area's brand and will attract even more emerging companies.

Source: Siliconbeat

Samsung in San Jose will Beat Apple & Facebook to Achieving Landmark Campus Status

The first Tech company in Silicon Valley to have a truly landmark building when it comes to architecture is not going to be Apple, Facebook, or Nvidia. It's going to be Samsung in North San Jose. At 10-stories it will be the tallest "traditional" tech campus in the valley and also one of the most unique. Each floor will always be at most one level away from an outdoor green space with trees and plants. This will make more sense after you watch the video below.

When completed later this year it will have 680,000 SQFT and home to at least 600 employees.

Source: Venturebeat


Samsung North America Headquarters from nbbjdesign on Vimeo.

ASML Moving Santa Clara office to San Jose

ASML is a supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that is currently based in Santa Clara at 4211 Burton Drive. The company is growing quickly (specifically this division that was formerly Brion Technologies) and has decided to move to 92,000 SQFT at "THE Campus" on Trimble Road. This office complex benefited from a $26 million upgrade last year and sits in a prime location in the middle of the Golden Triangle (the largest tech cluster in the world). For more info, hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Univision Moving from SF to San Jose

In a move that probably should have happened decades ago, Univision has decided to move its Bay Area headquarters from San Francisco to San Jose. Not only will this allow the Spanish media network to be closer to most of its audience, but it will also substantially reduce costs.

Univision will be moving its studios and radio stations to 1940 Zanker Road in North San Jose. It is expecting 60-65 people to work from the new location after the move is completed in the fall. For more info, hit the source link below.

Source: The Merc

Dice.com is Moving to Downtown San Jose!

One of the leaders in tech-related recruiting is finding its way Downtown. Dice.com has just leased 16,000 SQFT at 225 W. Santa Clara St., which is quadruple the amount of space they currently have in Santa Clara. They will be taking over the 11th floor of the building which also houses Deloitte. The new space will give them the ability to hire about 50 more employees in addition to their current Bay Area headcount.

To top off the good news, Slashdot.org will also be bringing its headquarters to the same location. Currently Slashdot (which is owned by the same parent company as Dice) is headquartered in San Francisco.

Office locations all up and down 101 were evaluated, and access to Caltrain and amenities such as the San Pedro Square Market were key drivers in the final decision. I'm sure it also helped that they will be able to put Dice signage somewhere on the building.

It's great to see tech tenants continuing to come Downtown!

Source: SVBJ

A10 Networks Expanding in North San Jose

A10 Networks is an enterprise networking company that improves performance and security for data centers. A10 is growing very quickly and even had an IPO earlier this year. Currently they are located at 3 W Plumeria Drive in an 80,000 SQFT office campus that they acquired in 2011.

Hungry for more space, A10 is looking to lease 101 Tech in North San Jose--the former home of Atmel. The new space clocks in at an impressive 291,000 SQFT, making this one of the largest deals of the year in the area. Hopefully this will help move along some of the speculative projects in North San Jose like N1, Boston Properties, and the Peery-Arrillaga project.

Source: SVBJ

Spansion is Moving their Headquarters to San Jose

Spansion is a leader in Flash memory-based embedded solutions. Their products drive the development of faster and more energy efficient electronics. Currently they have 450 employees with a home-base in Sunnyvale. Their former 24.5-acre campus is being razed and turned into 250 homes.

Their new global headquarters will be in North San Jose at 1001 Ridder Park (124,000 SQFT) and 1717 Fox Drive (30,000 SQFT). This is yet another big lease to help us get the office market back to capacity in the North San Jose submarket.

Source: SVBJ

Blach Moving HQ to San Jose

Blach Construction is a 44-year-old general contractor that has built offices for Stanford, Kaiser, and Silver Lake Partners. They have been renting in Santa Clara (about 26,000 SQFT) but have decided to take a big step up and purchase an 88,000 SQFT R&D building in North San Jose. Of that space, they will occupy 54,000 SQFT--still giving the company plenty of room to grow--and leasing the rest to Laird Technologies.

Blach plans on putting $7 million in improvements to their new San Jose headquarters at 2040 Fortune Drive. They are hoping to stay there for generations to come.

Source: SVBJ