Another tech company expands its St. Pete footprint

St. Petersburg’s technology industry is growing beyond its traditional business centers, with companies working in financial technology, artificial intelligence and maritime defense establishing headquarters and expanding operations across the city.

Some have arrived from larger markets. Others have grown locally, adding employees and office space as the city’s business community changes.

Across the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, the technology sector supports 95,163 jobs and generates an estimated $19.2 billion in direct annual economic impact, according to CompTIA’s 2026 State of the Tech Workforce report.

The region is home to nearly 6,700 technology businesses with employees on payroll, according to the report. Those figures include Tampa and Clearwater, making it difficult to isolate St. Petersburg’s share of the industry.

Still, the city has attracted an assortment of technology companies in recent years, from major financial firms to smaller businesses developing specialized software.

One of the latest examples is Viirtue, a St. Petersburg telecommunications and artificial intelligence company that recently relocated its headquarters from 401 16th Street N. to 360 Central Ave. (First Central Tower).

Founded in 2017, Viirtue began in a small office on Martin Luther King Jr. Street with room for about six employees. Today, it employs approximately 70 people, including about 20 in Florida.

Co-founder and CEO Dan Rosenrauch said the new office will allow the company to bring employees and business partners together for training and other events. Additional hiring is expected in 2027, though he said the company has deliberately avoided expanding its workforce too quickly.

Viirtue develops telecommunications and AI-powered voice technology that other companies sell under their own brands. Rosenrauch said it works with more than 600 reseller and channel partners.

“We’re the biggest telecom company that you’ve never heard of, and that’s by design,” Rosenrauch said.

The company is part of a wider group of businesses putting down roots in St. Petersburg.

Investment firm ARK Invest relocated its headquarters from New York in 2021. Two years later, city and county officials celebrated the completion of the $15.87 million ARK Innovation Center, a 45,000-square-foot business incubator in the city’s Innovation District.

In March, the Catalyst reported that spARK Labs had reached full office capacity, with 45 companies participating in its incubator program and a waiting list for offices.

Financial technology companies have made significant investments as well.

Online brokerage Webull relocated its headquarters from New York in 2022 and purchased a 157,755-square-foot office building in Carillon for $29.5 million. The company had hired 135 local employees by February 2025, according to previous Catalyst reporting.

St. Petersburg’s technology industry also extends into maritime defense.

Data analytics firm PVM relocated to the city in 2022, two years after maritime intelligence company Pole Star established its U.S. headquarters here. The companies have collaborated on software supporting Coast Guard operations, including a 2023 hackathon aimed at improving tools used to identify suspicious vessel activity.

More recently, Canadian technology provider Oncore Cloud Services moved its U.S. headquarters from Atlanta to St. Petersburg in October 2025. The company had added four local employees by May 2026 and planned to hire 10 more over three years, according to Pinellas County Economic Development.

Research institutions and medical facilities also contribute to the city’s technology economy.

The St. Petersburg Innovation District reported more than $3 billion in economic impact over its first decade. Its published figures show approximately $700 million in economic contributions from marine science and $1.7 billion from life sciences.

Those totals include healthcare, research and other operations beyond conventional technology companies.

For Rosenrauch, who first visited St. Petersburg in 2013, downtown’s transformation has helped make the city a more attractive place to work.

He recalled a time when there were fewer high rises, restaurants and places for employees to gather. Now, he said, the city’s atmosphere is helping attract workers who might otherwise settle in larger technology markets.

Although Viirtue’s workforce is mostly remote, Rosenrauch said some employees based in other cities, including Austin, Texas, have begun relocating to the Tampa Bay area.

He sees that interest continuing, even as the city faces the challenges that come with growth.

For Viirtue, the decision to remain in St. Petersburg was straightforward.

“It absolutely is,” Rosenrauch said when asked whether the city would continue serving as the company’s headquarters.