Semarchy, a data management company based in Phoenix, has big plans for its Valley operations in the coming years.
Thorwald Herbert, CEO of Semarchy, said the company will establish a “very significant presence” in Phoenix after primarily operating out of France since its inception in 2011.
“The majority of our people are still in France, but we have close to a third of the company now in the U.S.,” he said in an interview. “Then some in Mexico, India, in the U.K., but the proportion of people that are going to be in Phoenix going forward is significantly higher.”
Semarchy, which builds software to help its clients manage and govern data, currently employs about 130 people worldwide and 10 in Phoenix, a figure that Herbert said will more than double each year in the future.
Semarchy was acquired by Boston-based private equity firm PSG about 2 years ago and shortly thereafter Herbert moved up from COO to CEO March 2021, replacing the company’s founder.
Herbert said that PSG’s acquisition precipitated an American shift in the business. The company already had an office in San Francisco, but the Covid-19 pandemic and more remote work made being in Silicon Valley less essential.
As PSG and Herbert looked around the U.S., they decided Phoenix would be the best place to grow the business in its next chapter.
“It's overlooked a lot, but it has so much to offer,” Herbert said of the Valley. “There's strong education institutions, a great talent pool from many, many tech and non-tech companies. And not all this fierce competition for those resources that you'll find in places that are labeled as tech hubs.”
The company’s product and R&D teams will remain stationed in France, but going forward the sales, marketing and other corporate staff will work from Phoenix. The company currently has 29 job openings on its website.
Semarchy competes against major firms including IBM, Oracle and Informatica, but it is claiming market share; The company was listed on the Inc. 5000 rankings earlier this week.
Semarchy customers include Oakley, Fujitsu, Volkswagen, Bose and Chipotle, which uses its software to manage supply chains and adjust menu items at its stores accordingly.
“At the push of a button, more or less, they can pull things off the menu or make quick decisions about what they're going to do with those items, or sourcing different ingredients from somewhere else,” he said. “It's really improved the agility of their business, and in turn, that really impacts their customer satisfaction.”
