Fast-growing health-benefits startup Centivo has moved its headquarters into downtown Buffalo.
Centivo – led by founder and CEO Ashok Subramanian – had split local operations between downtown and an office in Cheektowaga. The company combined those sites into 9,000 square feet on the fifth floor of the University at Buffalo’s downtown Gateway Building.
The decision plants the Centivo flag amid most of the region’s other high-growth technology companies, in a setting that is “cooler, hipper and more modern” as the company seeks to appeal to high-aptitude local talent, according to Stephanie Argentine, the company’s chief people officer.
“This is the kind of space that people want to work in,” Argentine said. “It’s a modern workplace that people want when they are choosing an employer.”
Centivo builds self-funded health-care plans for employers, using technology to simultaneously improve the quality and cost of health care. Subramanian previously built health benefits exchange company Liazon Corp., one of Buffalo’s first successful technology startups.
Centivo has raised $118 million in venture capital in the last few years to accelerate its national rollout. The company has 63 local employees.
While the company is hiring for technology and business roles, it also has a need for entry-level employees in medical coding and customer service, Argentine said. Its new headquarters places it in the same building as the Buffalo Employment and Training Center and UB’s Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center. The EOC has a medical coding program.
“Ashok has a strong point of view that a city is only as healthy and robust as its urban core,” Argentine said. “We view this as part of rebuilding the core of Buffalo.”
Centivo also has a relationship with UB’s Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics, which is providing a subsidy for the Gateway Building lease.
Finally, the company’s workforce has been adopting a flexible work-from-home/office policy, depending on the role. Having all Buffalo operations in one space will simplify when, where and how its local employees work.
“We could have simplified and consolidated into more space in the suburbs,” Argentine said. “But we think that being downtown, being near the medical campus and what we think of as the startup district, has a benefit.”
