Welcome home: Latest companies to establish HQs in Tampa and St. Pete

The Tampa Bay area is ranked one of the top corporate relocations in multiple studies and it is evident by the rapid business activity that’s drawing even more attention to the region’s robust growth.

In a new Florida market report from Berkadia, a leader in the commercial real estate services space, the firm spotlights certain companies that have either established or relocated their headquarters in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

The majority of companies mentioned in the report either moved or were established in the region last year or in early 2022.

In 2021 alone, 94 new companies were added to St. Pete’s pipeline, and 12 projects were announced with nine being relocations, according to the St. Petersburg Economic Development Corporation’s data.

According to Berkadia’s report, which references announcements from economic development groups, these were the highlighted companies that relocated their headquarters to Tampa Bay:

Companies that relocated or opened a St. Petersburg HQ

Cathie Wood of ARK Invest. File photo.

• ARK Invest: Founder Cathie Wood moved her New York-based ARK Invest firm to downtown St. Petersburg. The HQ is based in the 200 Central building in downtown and the firm will have space inside the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, which has been renamed the ARK Innovation Center.
• Madison Cloud: A cloud and enterprise storage provider that moved its headquarters from Baltimore to the Feather Sound area in Pinellas County. The relocation took place two years ago, but the company was still included in the report.
• RabbitRun Technologies: The tech firm opened its North American headquarters in St. Petersburg. Based in Toronto, RabbitRun is a provider of business networking and cloud computing solutions to managed service providers and IT service providers
• CodeBoxx: A company that trains people how to be web, app and software developers relocated from San Francisco to St. Petersburg.
• CrossBorder Solutions: The giant fintech firm, which helps some of the world’s largest companies automate their corporate tax departments, relocated from New York to St. Petersburg.
• Procoto: A self-service procurement solution for small and mid-sized businesses relocated from Atlanta to St. Pete.

Additional companies that made a recent move to St. Pete, but were not included in the report include:

The Code-X executive team (Code-X CEO Darren LaCroix pictured in the center). Photo provided.

• Code-X: The cybersecurity firm focused on working with the Department of Defense moved to St. Petersburg.
• Climate First Bank: The financial institution, headed by banking veteran Ken LaRoe, is a newly formed community bank based in St. Petersburg. 
• Shamrck: The startup developed an artificial intelligence-powered career exploration platform that helps schools create career and technical education programs by connecting students to employers. The founder relocated the firm from Mississippi to St. Pete.
• Spontivly: A Canadian-based company, known for its community management platform, announced it would move its HQ from Canada to St. Pete.
• CitrusAd: The global e-commerce media firm was also recognized. It opened its U.S. HQ in St. Pete.
• Many defense tech firms also relocated or established their HQ in the newly opened Maritime and Defense Technology Hub in St. Petersburg. Pole Star, a London-based company that collects real-time data on active vessels to piracy occurring on ships, is the largest tenant in the Hub.
• Embark: The Dallas-based consulting firm that specializes in solving problems for CFOs and their teams relocated from Dallas to St. Petersburg.
• Appraisal Vision: The company created a platform that aims to use technology to reinvent the home appraisal process. It was based in Indianapolis and relocated to St. Petersburg.

Companies that relocated or opened a Tampa HQ

TrustLayer co-founders John Fohr, left, and Vincenzo Acinapura. Photo courtesy of TrustLayer.

• Branch: Branch, which provides on-demand digital payments for companies, opened its Tampa office inside the Industrious Ybor co-working space – making it Branch’s first office to open outside of its headquarters. The tech firm relocated from Minneapolis.
• Fisher Investments: The investment adviser, which manages over $120 billion in assets opened its first office on the East Coast in Tampa.
• Pfizer: The pharmaceutical giant opened its global capability hub in Tampa. It brings together Pfizer’s multi-disciplinary professional services, such as finance, human resources, digital and sourcing, into a consolidated and simplified structure.
• TrustLayer: The tech startup was founded in Silicon Valley in 2018 and relocated to Tampa. TrustLayer is an automated software insurance verification platform.

A photo of the WaterCube technology from Genesis Systems. Photo provided. 

• Genesis Systems: An advanced technology company that aims to solve global water scarcity relocated its HQ from Kansas City to Tampa. Its water system – running entirely on green energy and renewables – is the only technology in existence that can provide up to 10 million gallons of water per day with no access to a water source required.
• ID.me: A technology firm focused on identity verification opened an office in Tampa. ID.me, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, provides digital identity credentials to consumers and recently raised $100 million.
• Manta: Manta, a data lineage company based in Prague, has established its U.S. headquarters in Tampa. “The surge of Tampa’s tech scene is a major reason why we decided to build our team in the hub of top talent,” Manta founder and CEO Tomas Kratky said in a news release. The firm recently raised $13 million in a Series A funding round that was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, SAP.io, Senovo VC and Credo Ventures. The company has roughly 40 employees in a WeWork space in downtown Tampa.
• AFC Transport: AFC, a leading freight company, relocated its AFC Logistics division to Tampa. The company is working toward reaching a revenue goal of $300 million in three years, therefore it plans to hire up to 150 employees to accomplish that target.

The list goes on to include QuoteWizard, Signode Industrial Group, SuzukiMarine USA, HSP Group and MRA Capital Partners. The report also lists California-based company Fast, which has now shuttered its operations.

However, the report did not include OPSWAT, Rapid7, Avanade, the $2 billion-plus Microsoft solutions provider, that announced its new Tampa Bay engineering hub will be the first of its kind in the United States, and other firms that have relocated or expanded in Tampa.

Please be aware this story includes information from the EDCs and Berkadia’s report. It does not list every single company that has relocated or become established in the markets as the region’s business climate continues to evolve.