When billion dollar Atlanta fintech company Kabbage eyed an office expansion last year, the company targeted a call center in the Mountain Time Zone.
“We were looking for better coverage for our customers, from a call center perspective we wanted a mountain time office,” said Amy Zimmerman, Head of People Operations for Kabbage.
Kabbage connects small businesses with capital through its automated services. To date, the company has helped more than 170,000 small businesses access over $6.5 billion in funding.
With offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, New York City and India, Kabbage executives saw the Mountain Time Zone as a natural fit for expansion. Ultimately, the decision for the call center came down to Denver and Phoenix.
Due to Colorado’s growing reputation as a tech hub and the availability of talent, Denver won out.
“Because of the tech community, we thought we could grow Denver much beyond the call center,” Zimmerman said.
Now, a year after the expansion, Kabbage is expecting growth in Denver, both on the call center and technical side.
“The launch of the office was to better serve small businesses and our customers. That will continue to be our focus, especially as Denver continues to rank as one of the fastest growing cities for small businesses in the U.S. Our investment in Denver also gives Kabbage broader access to the impressive talent pool in the city,” Zimmerman said.
Kabbage currently has 10 employees working out of its Denver call center at WeWork on 17th Street. Zimmerman said the company expects to bring on an additional 15 employees by the end of this year as they continue to build out the customer success and sales teams.
A strong first year in Denver has allowed Kabbage to grow its local presence.
“We’ve met and hired some awesome people and we’re thrilled with the team there,” Zimmerman said. “There is tons of energy and lots of excitement about what they’re doing. We’ve proven the model, we wouldn’t be growing if we hadn’t.”
Immediate plans are focused on the call center operation, Zimmerman said, but the company is eyeing an expansion of the tech workforce in the Denver location.
“Tech is next, but we don’t have a committed timeline,” she said. “I don’t see any reason why we would slow down.”
Kabbage is currently hiring for a variety of customers success associates, but Zimmerman encouraged people in the tech sector to consider submitting applications. She said the company will be collecting application in anticipation of hiring a larger technical workforce based in Denver.
Earlier this month, Kabbage closed a $700 million asset-backed securitization, bringing its current debt funding to $940 million. The company has raised $489 million in total funding since its launch in 2008, according to Crunchbase.
