It's not a secret - Boulder and Denver can be a little competitive. With that said, we love our sister city and are excited to see its continued growth as a major tech hub not only in Colorado, but also in the country. Boulder tech companies are making waves on the map every single day.
By focusing on a few startups and tech companies that expanded or moved their HQ to Boulder, we're turning the spotlight on the rapid development in this savvy city. And trust us, there are many. It's easy to see why.
According to a new report from SmallBusinessPrices, Boulder is the top rising global tech hub based on average internet speed, the number of startups, and the cities' infrastructure scores, among other factors.
In addition to its inherent benefits to business, Boulder ranks among the top 20 most productive metro areas in terms of GDP. Plus, its unemployment rate is nearly two points below the national average at 5.4 percent. It's also the home to a startup incubator, Techstars, and a healthy venture capitalist community. The lifestyle, like Denver, is also pretty awesome (and, in our opinion, unbeatable).
Even ten years ago, in 2010, the city had six times more tech startups per capita than the nation's average. That's twice as many per capita as runner-up San Jose-Sunnyvale in California.
Over the last few years, we've seen significant growth in the Boulder tech scene. Aside from new startups, there are big companies planting roots in the city. Two of those include Apple and Google (oh, you know, just small potatoes in the tech world). In 2018, Apple announced expansions around the country to bring more jobs to the U.S. They added about 200 jobs to its local office in Boulder.
Google made a more significant investment in the tech hub, building a large-scale campus with thousands of jobs. Also, the company invested in a $63 million renovation project that created 238 units of affordable housing to help create more options for people in the city.
Founded in 2015
Number of Employees: 47
Overview: A BWBacon partner, Redeam is a CO-based global technology company that empowers the growth of tours, attractions, and activities so that more people can enjoy the world. By utilizing Redeam’s connectivity and API technology, they enable gate-ready scannable ticketing so operators can easily process mobile or paper vouchers and eliminate the costly and time-consuming practice of manually sorting and counting physical tickets. They also provide tech infrastructure and system services to a wide range of clients and operations globally.
Founded in 2010
Number of Employees: 100
Overview: Sphero creates robots injected with humanity and personality. Unlike traditional toys, their robots and software help change the way people play, learn, and explore by fusing emerging technology with the latest innovations in robotics. One of their biggest successes was their BB-8 robot, selling millions.
Founded in Boulder, they love the city for its beauty and lifestyle. It also helped a vast majority of their team to relocate to their headquarters.
Founded in 2017
Number of Employees: 10
Overview: Another robotics company, Misty Robotics, is unique in that it provides a new world of opportunities with robots for business, personal, research, and educational use. The platform is purpose-built for developers and has the tools and docs to build the robot's skills quickly. It's also readily extensible via third-party APIs, hardware modifications, and additional sensors.
Their journey is to make the dream of a personal robot for everyone a reality. The company also boasts that they chose Boulder because of its connections, possibilities, and beauty.
Founded in 2015
Number of Employees: 26
Overview: Switching gears to a focus on health, TrueCoach builds software that helps fitness professionals plan, deliver, and track their clients' training online. Since they founded, they've helped thousands of personal trainers in over 30 countries provide individualized programming to their clients and grow their coaching businesses.
And with a serious focus on health and wellness, it's no wonder why their headquarters is in the highly dynamic city of Boulder.
Founded in 2017
Number of Employees: 10
Overview: We love this idea, especially since our HQ is in a coworking space. Upsuite is where teams go to find coworking space. For businesses looking to accelerate their search for the perfect coworking office, Upsuite takes the guesswork out of finding the ideal fit office for their business. Upsuite currently operates in Denver, Boulder, and Toronto, and is opening markets in Chicago, Vancouver, Seattle, and more.
Upsuite started during an entrepreneurship accelerator called 101010 Cities. They founded the organization in Boulder before expanding to other major cities.
As you can see, Boulder is a beautiful and growing place to be a tech hub. Attracting new companies and new folks, the makeup of Boulder has shifted to allow room for a more sophisticated technical industry. If you would like your Boulder tech company to be featured in this post, please let us know!
Here at BWBacon Group, we know and live what you are experiencing as an employer or job seeker in Denver, Boulder, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City or any of the other cities we work in. We believe great recruiting starts and ends with understanding people.
If you have any questions about living, working or playing any of the areas we serve, please contact us. We are happy to help. Seize the day, every day, that’s what we say!