In a big move for the ecosystem, a local software company has relocated its entire California-based team to Grand Junction and has grand hiring plans for southwestern Colorado.
INFOCU5, which is headquartered in Telluride and already operates a satellite office in Denver, is moving a dozen employees from Pasadena to Grand Junction after receiving approval for the Location Neutral Employee (LONE) Incentive by Colorado’s Economic Development Commission.
CEO Jake Bush was born and raised in Telluride and returned to southwestern Colorado two years ago, after spending 16 years in California.
“Our ongoing effort to exit our California operations over the past 14 months has been met with great excitement to be officially teaming up with the Grand Valley communities to help spearhead sustainable economic growth and opportunity across the rural-based communities of Colorado, with Grand Junction being the location of our new core operations hub," Bush said in a statement.
The company is the first in Colorado’s Grand Valley to take advantage of the LONE incentive, which provides companies that are approved for a Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit in the State of Colorado with an additional cash incentive for each remote worker employed in an eligible rural county. The incentive was a key driver for INFOCU5 – as nearly 50% of the Grand Junction employees meet the parameters for the incentive.
Prior to this announcement, INFOCU5 had already hired nearly 30 local residents previously employed by Startek, which closed down its operations in Grand Junction earlier this year. Altogether, the company plans to hire upward of 300 employees over the next three years to the new location, with an average annual salary of $60,513.
The company worked with the Grand Junction Economic Partnership on the move and the organization was eager to welcome INFOCU5 to the ecosystem.
“We are excited to see this year-long process end in a win for the Grand Valley,” said Mara Hardy, GJEP’s business development manager for the tech sector. “INFOCU5 is a perfect fit for our growing tech community."
