Messaging startup Celo Health, which is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, ended up opening its U.S. headquarters in Seattle thanks to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, or NZTE, the country's agency to help businesses grow internationally.
Jack Clough, Celo Health's chief growth officer and the lead for the U.S. headquarters, said NZTE told the company Seattle is a small but supportive environment that is good for startups. Although the allure of the Bay Area was strong, Clough added, Celo Health, which makes an app aimed at health care teams, wanted a tighter community where it wouldn't get drowned out by the noise.
"Also, Seattle is still a fairly big city, at least to us," Clough said. "There's a bunch of big and small health care networks."
The Seattle office, which opened Jan. 3, for now has just 400 square feet at the coworking site Spaces in Belltown. Celo Health plans to grow its sales team, tech support and physical space this year. The company, which has about 12 total employees, has three in Seattle, Clough said.
Clough had been a sales development representative at Outreach before taking his new role at Celo Health last year. Stephen Vlok, Celo Health's founder and CEO, told Clough he wanted to get into the U.S. and asked Clough to come on board, according to Clough.
Celo Health was founded in 2014. Its app is compliant with federal privacy laws, and users can make customizable groups and patient cases. Clough said the basic option is free, but the company sells additional features after gaining traction with users. He added that Celo Health hasn't raised money in the U.S. yet and has only raised small seed rounds and bootstrapped capital in New Zealand.
Clough, who earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Southern California last year, interned with the company during summers. Despite being young for a C-level role, Clough said he's a good fit for the job.
"I was employee number one. As an intern, we were just working out of (Vlok's) living room for a few months there," Clough said. "I know the Celo company and the product very well, and I think (Vlok) trusts me to represent it."
