In a time of social distancing and remote working during the coronavirus pandemic, video-conferencing software such as Zoom and Google Hangouts have become household names. Raleigh-based Bandwidth, which helps develop the communications software behind video-conferencing applications for Google, Microsoft, Cisco and Zoom, is reaping the benefits of the industry’s recent explosion with plans for major growth.
Today, the company said it will add 1,165 jobs over the next eight years as part of an incentives agreement with the state of North Carolina. The company, which now has more than 750 employees, is paying $30 million for a 40-acre site in Raleigh from the state of North Carolina. Plans call for a 500,000-square foot headquarters building. The jobs, which will include positions in research and development, operations, sales, marketing and administration, will have an average salary of $96,832.
North Carolina is providing Job Development Investment Grants of up to $32.3 million over the next 12 years. They are dependent on Bandwidth reaching job and investment targets. In addition to those grants, Bandwidth is eligible for $10.75 million from a state industrial development fund.
“Today’s announcement by Bandwidth showcases the resiliency and reliability of our state and its renowned economic assets — especially our tech-savvy workforce,” said Commerce Secretary Anthony Copeland in a press release.
CEO David Morken co-founded Bandwidth in Park City, Utah in 1999, but moved the business to North Carolina shortly thereafter. It moved to the N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus from Cary in 2012.
The company, which was ranked No. 32 on our 2019 list of the state’s top 50 public companies, had 1,728 customers in 2019, up 40% from 1,230 in the previous year and reported $232.6 million in revenue for 2019, up 14% from 2018.
“Our city and our world is going through an unprecedented challenge,” said Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin in a press release. “Despite this, companies like Bandwidth still want to grow and expand here – and call Raleigh home. We appreciate this commitment to grow jobs here, as well as the company’s philanthropic spirit and its leadership in the innovation space.”
