Shipshape, an Austin-based company that was part of the TechStars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator program, will establish a satellite office and add employees in Birmingham, Alabama.
The company, which offers smart-home software that tracks home maintenance systems and provides a “check engine” light for homeowners to identify problems before they happen, will establish an office in Birmingham to expand its Southeastern customer base as well as the company’s headcount.
The company recently moved from San Francisco to Austin, and in January was named by Austin Inno as one of the Texas capital's '21 Startups to Watch in '21.'
Shipshape CEO Alex Linn was born in Birmingham and has spent a great deal of time in the Magic City. He said that made the company’s trek to Birmingham for the accelerator a personal one.
“You can imagine me trying to convince my team, or at least sign off my team’s interest to come to Alabama, was not really a normal question to ask a month after we moved to Austin,” he said. “I didn’t know what it would be like for them. They absolutely loved it. For us to get out of our house and come here to this ecosystem that was so supportive and to get the affirmation that we got from so many influential people in the community, I think it was absolutely the wind in the sails that kept us going through a really tough time and really brought us together as a founding team with that unique experience.”
In addition to the accelerator, Linn said the company was impressed with Birmingham Bound — an initiative to build up the tech ecosystem in the Magic City — and appreciated its commitment. That helped convince the company to make Birmingham a growth market.
The company plans to open its office in June, according to Birmingham Bound.
Shipshape has about 32 total employees nationwide and wants to add nine jobs in Birmingham this year.
Linn said Shipshape just closed a fundraising round but said there is potential to raise more, which could lead to more employment growth.
Looking down the road, Linn said it’s possible Birmingham could be a growth hub for the company as it builds a mass of customers in the Southeast.
“For the foreseeable future, I think our executive team will mostly sit in Austin, and most of our sales and support and installation and then enterprise sales and to an extent some of our operations to support that will fit in Birmingham to serve the Southeast, which is about 15 million homes in this region that we’re building a hub to serve,” Linn said.
