Minneapolis-based fintech firm Branch has tapped Tampa for its first office expansion.
The company announced Tuesday it will set up shop in the Industrious space in Ybor City, while remaining a remote-first culture. Andrew Johnson, Branch's VP of revenue, said the company will see how working in the coworking space goes and potentially find more permanent Tampa roots down the road.
"There is a lot of value in this in-person environment," he said. "They can collaborate, get face-to-face time. We will see how it goes as a hub but there is potential [to expand]."
The company currently has three full-time local employees, with plans to hire 20 to 30 employees in the next few years.
"We saw a couple of opportunities; Tampa was growing at a pretty fast clip," Johnson said. "And it had a pretty strong tech community from the sales side and the tech talent standpoint. We found strong initial key hires to grow and build the team."
The expansion is a win for Tampa. Branch made headlines earlier this month after closing a $75 million Series C round and has raised more than $130 million since its 2015 inception. Part of the latest funding will go toward the Tampa space, mainly focused on personnel.
The company runs a personal finance app that helps speed up payday for workers. Fintech, or financial technology, is a growing sector in Tampa Bay. St. Petersburg-based Intrinio and Tampa-based Grifin and EngageFi have all had success in recent years. There's also the newly launched fintech accelerator program, done in partnership with the Tampa Bay Wave and the University of South Florida.
But Johnson said the company looked at the tech ecosystem as a whole, and not just the fintech side, before making the move to Tampa.
"We looked at tech in general and Max [Sakiewicz], director of sales development, has background and knows the tech players," Johnson said. "Looking into the market, speaking with Max, we felt confident we could find the talent."
