ROCHESTER, N.Y. — LiveTiles, an Australian software company, is making its way to downtown Rochester and is expected to bring 500 jobs with it.
Gov. Cuomo was on hand with various city, town and county officials to make the announcement on Commercial Street in Rochester's High Falls District, where the new high-tech company's offices will be held.
“That’s what made Rochester Rochester, we were innovation before they used the word innovation,” Cuomo said. “We were the innovation hub before there was ever such a thing as an innovation hub. Kodak, Xerox, Bausch and Lomb; all those high engineering jobs, all those high intellectual jobs. They were here! Before there was a Silicon Valley, Rochester was the first Silicon Valley.”
The company, founded in Austrialia in 2014, focuses on cloud-based software and is currently headquartered in New York City, with other offices in London, Seattle, and elsewhere throughout the United States and the world.
LiveTiles develops simple drag and drop designs so businesses can publish and manage content more efficiently. It also helps companies utilize artificial intelligence.
“We knew we needed to create an innovation hub," said LiveTiles CEO Karl Redenbach. "We looked literally around the world, then we narrowed it down to five states and five cities in this beautiful country of America."
Redenbach said his company was considering Rochester among other cities in America for their new offices, but said the Flower City emerged as the top choice because of a highly-skilled workforce and a vibrant downtown atmosphere.
“We’re one of the fastest ever growing public software as a service companies," Redenbach said. "We have offices all around the world. We transact in 169 countries. We’re growing at a rate that we think is going to exponentially grow us as we’re looking to use Rochester as a hub for this growth."
“It’s a new economic game in America. It’s a new economic game internationally," Cuomo said of the changing landscape of the global workforce.
"Rochester is perfectly positioned for the future," said Empire State Development CEO Howard Zemsky, who spoke at the event.
LiveTiles currently works with major global organizations like Pepsi, Nike, Microsoft, United Kingdom Department of Defense and United States Defense Force, among many others throughout the world.
“It takes money to make money and government has to be an active partner in the investment," Cuomo said. "And that’s exactly what we’re doing here today. Total project cost is $17 million; the state is going to invest $7 million, the county is going to invest $650,000, the city is investing $250,000. We all go together, we all cooperated – 500 new jobs right here in LiveTiles.”
The high-tech company is already listing openings to hire managers for the future operation.