Seek Now Inc. opened a technical hub in Atlanta, choosing the city because of its renowned tech talent and growing reputation as an East Coast technology hub.
The new office, a 4,000-square-foot space in the Resurgens Plaza in Buckhead, signifies a rebrand for the Louisville, Ky.-based firm, which helps insurance companies process property claims. Founded in 2012, the company is focusing on refining its software, which CEO Russ Carroll says disrupted the insurance industry.
Seek Now gathers data about the property claims and an on-demand team of gig workers investigates the claims so insurance companies can evaluate how much they should pay for the damage or loss. The expedited process is more cost effective than an insurance representative traveling to the property, Carroll said.
The company plans to have about 35 developers in the Atlanta office, which has the capacity of about 60 employees, Carroll said.
He called Atlanta the best place to recruit talent on the East Coast.
"Where else on the East Coast has the superstar tech talent, both from Georgia Tech and from the employment opportunities here?” Carroll said. “It was the obvious choice for us.”
The university network is an often-cited advantage of the city’s tech ecosystem. Recent tech graduates go on to found startups, fueling the innovation ecosystem, or work for the tech giants expanding in the city, making it easier for mid-sized companies to recruit from those talent pipelines.
Seek Now has about 250 employees in its Louisville headquarters and 900 gig workers across the country. It plans to focus on research and development as it continues its expansion after an investment from Susquehanna Growth Equity and a year of growth.
Carroll said the company quadrupled its research and development team in 2020 and plans to double it in 2021, with Atlanta as the epicenter of this growth. Seek Now is looking into specialty technology, such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, to further advance its platform.
Carroll sees the company's technology expanding beyond the insurance industry. With the gig marketplace and the data-gathering software, real estate appraisers, home inspectors and other housing-related services could use Seek Now.
“We have a massive opportunity in front of us,” Carroll said. “Offering a home to brilliant developers is going to help us scale faster and take advantage of that opportunity.”
A previous version of this article misspelled Seek Now CEO Russ Carroll's last name.
