In August, infrastructure giant AECOM, which is working on Texas’ hyperloop project, became the sixth Fortune 500 company to relocate to DFW in the past six years. But, it wasn’t the only company making moves in the region.
Last month, six tech-focused companies announced plans to relocate their headquarters either from outside or within the region. Seven other companies like Waymo, LikeWize and Wipro announced plans to expand their footprint in the region with new investments or facilities. In total, all of the announcements NTX Inno tracked could create more than 2,000 jobs. And if electric vehicle maker Rivian chooses Fort Worth for an upcoming manufacturing facility, 7,500 more jobs could be on the way.
Two companies – Dallas prebiotic soda startup Poppi and Kofile Technologies subsidiary GovOS Inc. – announced plans to move their headquarters from the region. Both are opening offices in Austin, citing the region’s talent pool for the industries they serve.
To help keep up with who is coming and going from North Texas, we’ve rounded up the top headquarters moves and company expansions in North Texas from August.
Pro tip: You can read daily updates on HQ and personnel moves in our newsletter, The Beat.
HQ Relocations to North Texas
A fast-growing startup with ties to the region’s space flight history is relocating its headquarters within North Texas. In a move to ramp up production to meet demands, EXOS Aerospace, a maker of reusable space vehicles, is planning on moving its Greenville-based operations to McKinney as it looks to focus on the commercial orbital market, according to its Co-founder and COO John Quinn.
Dallas fintech startup Bestow is embracing a hybrid approach as it eyes bringing 180 employees back to the office in the coming month. And when it’s around 130-person local team returns, it will be to a new HQ. The life insurance-focused company is moving its HQ from just outside downtown to a 42,000 square-foot space at The Stack Deep Ellum. The move is set to finalize by Q1 next year. With teams in Austin and Dallas, Bestow is looking to hire more than 70 additional employees by the end of the year. Bestow has raised nearly $150 million in funding since launching in 2016, most recently with a $70 million Series C round in December.
The McKinney EDC’s Innovation Fund, aimed at attracting early-stage startups launched by McKinney's EDC, has allowed close to 20 companies to relocate or expand in the city. One of the newest is Frisco company that has shifted its home base to the city. Xcelerate Auto, a financial technology company that focuses on electric vehicles, relocated its headquarters to McKinney. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Multinational infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, working on the high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston and Texas' hyperloop project, is moving to Dallas from Los Angeles. While a number of the company’s LA workers will remain there, Dallas will be the hub for its a "select number" of its executive team. Dallas Regional Chamber President and CEO Dale Petroskey said large companies are attracted to the region by DFW’s two major airports, relatively low cost of living, business climate, tax structure and reasonable regulations, among other attributes.
California mobile infrastructure consultancy MD7 LLC is one of the newest transplants from the West Coast to announce an HQ relocation to DFW. The global firm is moving its U.S. headquarters from San Diego to Allen while keeping its European HQ in Ireland. The move creates nearly 220 jobs and more than $6.8 million in capital investment. It's being aided by a Texas Enterprise Fund grant worth $773,000. The company provides help around the wireless industry as 5G becomes an increasingly important part of the sector’s future. Its services are around development and management along with consulting, according to its website.
Since its launch, the Texas Blockchain Council’s leadership has had strong ties to the DFW area. Now, it’s planting a physical presence in the region with a new headquarters. The nonprofit trade association, which aims to push the state to become a leader in technology, is joining several other local innovators taking up space in the city of Richardson’s Innovation Quarter. The council’s new HQ will be located at The Drawing Board, a local coworking and private office space at 1900 Jay Ell Dr.
Leaving North Texas
In February 2020, prebiotic soda maker Poppi was a team of two, with husband-and-wife co-founders Stephen and Allison Ellsworth. It now has around 50 employees as it takes its products to store shelves nationwide. Already with products in thousands of stores across the country and with plans to go fully nationwide with companies like Target, the Dallas-based apple cider vinegar-based beverage brand landed a $13.5 million funding round to fuel its expansion. It’s also relocating its headquarters to Austin later this year to be closer to longtime partner Whole Foods.
GovOS Inc., a subsidiary company of Dallas-based Kofile Technologies Inc., has selected Austin for its headquarters, citing the city’s talent pool. The company's new space is in Northwest Austin near North Capital of Texas Highway and Spicewood Springs Road. The new space is looking to house about 100 employees by the end of the year. Kofile launched GovOS, which develops digital document management applications for government agencies, earlier this year. It's planning on keeping its Dallas HQ, which will retain several GovOS employees, along with GovOS President Kevin Lafeber.
Expansions in DFW
CarMax, a vehicle buying and selling company, is looking to hire more than 200 workings in Plano after choosing the city as its new technology hub. The Virginia-based company’s Chief Information and Technology Officer Shamim Mohammad chose the region over places like Boston and Silicon Valley due to its talent base. CarMax is currently in the process of hiring software architects and engineers who will be working on areas that include artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science as the company looks to bolster its tech offering amid a surge in e-commerce during the pandemic. In Q1 of this year, CarMax had a record net revenue of $7.7 billion.
Electric vehicle maker Rivian is investing in Texas as it looks at an $80 billion and eyes a potential $5 billion facility in Fort Worth. According to The Dallas Morning News, the company will invest at least $7 million in other sites across the state, including $2.8 million in renovations at a 42,000 square.-foot warehouse near Love Field. Other projects include a 27.5,000 square-foot site in Houston and a 23,000 square-foot facility in Austin, along with a $500,000 investment in charging stations in various cities.
Likewize (formerly called Brightstar), a mobile device protection and support provider, quietly moved its HQ from Florida to Southlake last year. The company, which has around 4K global employees and annual revenue of more than $5 billion, is looking to invest $25 million in North Texas, including a fulfillment center and Flower Mound and a call center in Southlake. Over the next year, Likewize plans to spend around $100 million on its efforts locally, including headcount and other operational items. By mid-2022, the firm expects to have about 650 employees in the region.
U.K.-based meatless chicken maker Quorn is investing $335 million in the U.S. market, including a new Culinary Development Center in Irving. According to Dallas Innovates, the center will be used to cook up new products. To lead the initiative, Quorn has brought on Stephen Kalil as its new executive chef. Kalil also serves as a board member of the Research Chefs Association and has worked with Frito-Lay, Cheesecake Factory and Chili's.
India-based IT and consulting firm Wipro, which has a 45,000 square-foot tech and cybersecurity center in Plano is launching a digital transformation studio in the region alongside software company ServiceNow. Called @now Studio, it focuses on developing new transformation tools and solutions. The studio plans to create jobs for graduates from UT Dallas, UT Austin, UNT and the University of Houston. Through the partnership, the companies are looking to roll out more @now Studios in Europe and elsewhere.
Waymo, part of Google-parent Alphabet, is working on a dedicated trucking hub that covers nine acres in Lancaster, according to Rocky Garff, head of trucking operations at Waymo Via, in a statement. The site will be able to accommodate hundreds of vehicles and hundreds of personnel, according to a spokesperson. The company is ramping up the effort as it scales in Arizona and California. Waymo got its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009 and earlier this year landed an investment round with additional funding of $2.5 billion, with the majority from Alphabet.
Fort Worth is considering a project by an electric auto company that would bring more than 7K jobs and mean an investment of $5 billion, according to a new document. Rivian, which has backing from Amazon.com and Ford, would be able to produce 200K vehicles a year and create at least 7,500 jobs by 2027, according to an Aug. 10 presentation by the City of Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department to the City Council. It's a "proposed economic development program agreement with Rivian Automotive" or affiliate.
Fort Worth is also set to get one of nine new planned production facilities for oat-based dairy alternative maker Oatly. The Sweden-based company, which went public on the Nasdaq in May, is planning to set up a 280,000 square-foot manufacturing center in the city. The company hopes to finish the project by 2023, after that the site will create 100 jobs and produce about 150M liters of oat milk per year. That will make it Oatly’s largest of its three current facilities, according to The Dallas Morning News. The move is being aided by a grant package from the city of Fort Worth totaling nearly $1.1 million.
This article has been updated to reflect the number of AECOM leaders moving to the area.
