After raising millions in venture capital and solidifying a number of strategic partnerships in recent months, tech startup project44 has moved into a new, custom-built office space in downtown Chicago. The company provides an application program interface (API) hub connecting shippers, carriers and others in the distribution business for better information visibility and communication.
The new office space triples the company's former footprint and makes room for a wave of new hires, since project44 says it has "more than doubled" its employee headcount over the last three months.
Some key new hires for project44 include:
• Director of People Rima McIntire;
• Director of Strategic Account Sales Nadav Weinberg;
• Vice President of Engineering Steve Henkels;
• Vice President of Product Management Steven Jones; and
• Vice President of Sales Engineering Jason Kerner.
The office move and new hires come on the heels of a $10.5 million funding round announced in September. Led by Chicago Ventures and Emergence Capital, project44 says the investment has fueled its strategic talent and product growth.
"The Chicago logistics and software-as-a-service technology sectors are extremely hot, making the competition for talent stiff," said new Director of People Rima McIntire. "Yet, project44 continues to attract some of the smartest, most well-rounded talent I've seen in a long time. Building a winning team continues to be a priority here, and we're laser focused on doing exactly that as we continue to scale."
project44 notes that the new office space is custom-designed and built with a focus on stress relief and management, which includes "abundant light and floor-to-ceiling walls donned with real plants" as well as a number of special work lounges.
"We wanted a space that would creatively combat the workplace pressure common to technology start-ups," stated project44 CEO Jett McCandless. "While certain stressors can be unavoidable, we aim to create an environment that will help our team react better to those events."
