Although Tesseract Ventures is expanding to Tampa, it’s still focused on its Kansas City headquarters.
“Our heart’s here in Kansas City,” Tesseract founder and CEO John Boucard said.
Not only has Tesseract been able to source local talent, most of its investors — including tech bigwigs — also are based in the Kansas City area, he said. Other local perks include a collaborative and close-knit tech industry culture and a plethora of businesses that are in it for the long haul.
Tesseract develops next-generation technologies, including robots, wearables and an artificial intelligence-driven Smart Space, which visualizes data in both physical and virtual spaces to help teams collaborate and make better decisions faster.
Tesseract’s new Tampa office will cater to the company’s military and Department of Defense customers through invention, advanced prototyping and manufacturing. Similar to Kansas City, Boucard wants to build a “smart factory of the future” in Tampa focused on advanced robotic software and components, high-resolution 3D printing, smart spaces and new business model creation.
Boucard views the Tampa-area universities as a source for tech talent and new technologies that Tesseract can commercialize via a tech transfer relationship. He also aims to build similar relationships with Kansas City-area universities to commercialize technology.
“We have the minds, the team and the skill set to do that,” he said.
Tesseract, which is on the fast-track for growth, wants to continue growing in Kansas City, he said.
“We’ve grown quickly in all divisions of the business,” he said.
In addition to building out the team and its technology portfolio, Tesseract also is attracting larger customers. It employs just under 30 people and plans to reach 42 by the end of the first quarter. The company also launched a Series A round to raise between $15 million and $20 million.
