With the majority of its customers based in North America, it made sense for New Zealand-based SaaS startup FileInvite to explore the U.S. for its newest headquarters.
The company had been growing rapidly on the international scene and nearly 40% of its customers were from North America.
Founder and CEO James Sampson said FileInvite considered a variety of factors in choosing its next city, including the time zone juxtaposition with New Zealand, the availability of tech talent and the cost of living.
Ultimately, the decision came down to Utah, Texas, Illinois or Colorado.
Sampson said he, and other New Zealanders, were aware of the Denver startup scene in part due to accounting software firm and fellow countryman Xero’s successful move to the city in 2018.
With that pedigree and Colorado’s ability to check the other requirements FileInvite laid out, the company announced in June that it would open an office and bring 140 new jobs to the state.
FileInvite’s software helps businesses improve customer experience and productivity by helping to collect documents and share information. The company has seen rapid adoption of its technology in the mortgage and financing space due to the back-and-forth nature of document sharing.
In each of the past four years, FileInvite reported more than 100% revenue growth, including 300% revenue growth in fiscal year 2020.
Building on that success and looking to further tap into its U.S. customer base, Sampson said Denver will be an ideal fit for the company’s second headquarters.
“It’s obviously a larger space and had a lot of growth coming from there,” Sampson said about the U.S. “We were getting excited about bringing the technology and ramping things up there.”
The company said it will begin hiring immediately, focused initially on sales and marketing roles.
“Denver will essentially be our headquarters office from a sales perspective,” Sampson added.
Before the June announcement, FileInvite’s potential move to Colorado was known as “Project Files,” a name given by the Colorado Economic Development Commission. At the time, commissioners offered as much as $1.69 million in job growth incentive tax credit funding for the company to add 144 jobs at an average annual wage of $102,049.
“In addition to 140 good-paying new jobs to Colorado, FileInvite brings a spotlight of global awareness to Colorado’s technology sector,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement at the time. “We are the best location for companies from across the world seeking to invest and grow in the U.S. market and we welcome Fileinvite to our great state.”
And, after raising a total of $4.5 million New Zealand dollars since its founding, the company comes to the U.S. ahead of an upcoming Series A funding round. Sampson expects that round to be closed by the beginning of 2022.
As it builds out its local team, FileInvite will adopt a hybrid model to work. In New Zealand, the company offers a four-day work-from-home schedule, with one day in the office. While that’s a flexible policy, Sampson envisions something similar in Denver.
“All of us are trying to understand what the future looks like, and New Zealand is probably a good example because we’ve returned to normal sooner than most,” he said. “What we’ve seen here is a hybrid model, between work from home and in office space. I envision that’s what we’ll see globally and for us as well.”
