Thriving tech company expands in York
FAST-GROWING tech company Anaplan has opened new offices in York and announced it is to double its headcount in the city.
The new office, built in the old Bonding Warehouse on Terry Avenue, will house the Silicon Valley-headquartered business’s expanded R&D group, which handles product development and engineering worldwide. Located in a building which had previously lain dormant for 14 years, Anaplan’s new premises will enable it to double its R&D headcount in the city to 90 engineers.
Anaplan was founded in 2006 by British software engineer and York resident Michael Gould, and provides a platform for businesses to build financial plans, and assess execution against them. Anaplan boasts more than 20,000 users,
11 offices in seven countries, and a customer list that includes HP, Aviva, Britvic and Procter & Gamble. It recently closed a $100m venture-capital funding round, which included investments from tech luminaries Salesforce.com and WorkDay.
The firm has grown total revenues from $10M in 2012, to $10M per quarter in 2013, to $10M/month in 2014 (as of January 2014).
Gould said: “We’ve taken the company a long way from its conception in my barn in York. Despite our global presence, we strongly believe in the growing pool of technology talent where it all started for us –right here in York.
“We will continue to keep our core development here, in what is rapidly evolving into an increasingly recognised hub for innovation. Thanks to the success of initiatives like DotYork the growing tech community here will only go from strength to strength. We hope our investment in the city will speed its growth.”
Fred Laluyaux, CEO of Anaplan added: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit high-calibre engineering staff in California, and we’ve long believed that the North of England offers a substantial, and untapped, source of great engineering talent.
“In particular, the region has a strong heritage in financial software: the core planning products of SAP and IBM were both built around applications developed here. From this perspective increasing our investment in York is the best way we can maintain our technology leadership.”
Coun James Alexander, leader of City of York Council described Anaplan’s expansion in York as a real success story, not only for the company but for the city.
“It brings with it further highly skilled jobs and will be a significant addition to York’s strong, diverse and growing economy,” he said.
“We continue to work hard with partners in the city to ensure that York has the right environment to attract, retain and grow businesses; whether through improvements to our digital and physical infrastructure or in ensuring access to city-wide training and development opportunities. Today’s announcement is further proof that York is a place businesses want to be located to thrive.”
