Member news: January 2022

Carvana leads industry as fastest to sell one million vehicles online

Carvana, the leading e-commerce brand for buying and selling used cars, is the fastest to sell one million vehicles online in nine years and the fastest used car retailer to organically sell 400,000+ vehicles in one year. Founder-led Carvana with its people-first values and an unwavering pursuit of customer dedication and innovation, achieved its one millionth car sold in Q4 2021 and is the only online automotive retailer to hit this milestone so quickly since founding. Read more >>

Amazon makes more big industrial moves in Mesa

Amazon.com Inc. has multiple major developments in the works in Mesa. One of the world’s largest and most valuable companies is spending millions of dollars on at least three new warehouse projects near the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airports. In December, according to Maricopa County records, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) closed on two large properties totaling about 114 acres, costing the company a total of $35 million. Read more >>

Advanced Business Learning Academy launches a custom-built cyber range to match your infrastructure

Phishers can gain access to a company’s computers, networks and systems by tricking unsuspecting employees into clicking on email links with embedded malware. When employees use public access points that are not secure, cybercriminals can use wireless snooping tools to access sensitive data and transactions in combination with unsecure file sharing, where directories and files are made available for sharing. Read more >>

WebPT acquires competitor Clinicient, cementing Valley startup’s role as market leader

WebPT, one of Phoenix’s largest homegrown software companies, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Portland, Oregon-based Clinicient, a major competitor in the physical therapy software space. The acquisition, WebPT’s fourth, cements its role as a dominant provider in the U.S. physical therapy software market, with the combined company expected to service 27,000 clinics and 43 million patients, or more than half of the market. Read more >>

Cybersecurity students earn spots in Phoenix externship

Four students from the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) were accepted into the 2022 Cybersecurity Externship with the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation. Students Aaron Miller, Candice Benett, Emilio Cress, and Hunter Autrey will join the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and their participating business partners for their March externship rotation. Read more >>

LaneTerralever acquires digital media firm Convince & Convert

LaneTerralever, a Southwest-based digital marketing and branding agency, said Monday that it has acquired digital media and consulting firm Convince & Convert, and will operate both agencies under a new collective called Experience Dynamic. The two agencies will maintain separate client relationships but together will offer a complete portfolio of customer experience services — including insights, strategy and creative  — under the Experience Dynamic umbrella. Read more >>

Tech Parks Arizona Director of Communications named President of local public relations chapter

Jessa Turner, director of communications for Tech Parks Arizona, has been appointed 2022 president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Southern Arizona Chapter.  PRSA is the country’s leading professional organization serving the communications professionals. The Southern Arizona Chapter serves members and professionals throughout the Greater Tucson region and beyond including surrounding communities from Douglas to Yuma. Read more >>

Three Arizona entities bring in $1.5M ‘Build Back Better’ bucks for startups, economic development

Arizonans will soon benefit from $1.5 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan designed to boost local entrepreneurs and economies recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the city of Tucson and the Hopi Utilities Corporation each received about $500,000 as part of a $1 billion program called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The challenge has so far awarded funds to 60 recipients across the country. Read more >>

Venture Madness announces 16 presenters for annual Valley pitch contest

Venture Madness, the largest and longest running pitch contest in the Valley, has announced the names of 16 companies that will present at the event in March. Invest Southwest, the nonprofit organization that hosts Venture Madness, said on Thursday that it had received 95 applications and chosen 16 companies to present in four different categories this year. One of the 16 companies chosen is based in California and the rest are based in Arizona. Read more >>

SciTech Festival adds horsepower to kick off the 2022 season

ASU again among nation’s top research universities

New University of Arizona Center for Innovation startup sponsorship opportunity with Perkins Coie

The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) has teamed up with Perkins Coie LLP to sponsor one promising startup team with resources, facilities, services, and expert guidance to grow their business. The year-long program will also foster networking opportunities for its participants. In alignment with its mission to serve as a business incubator and fuel Arizona’s economy through startup support, UACI seeks collaborations with other regional organizations. Read more >>

Paradox software firm hits unicorn status with new $200M capital raise

Paradox, a Scottsdale company that makes conversational recruiting software, announced Monday that it had raised $200 million in series C financing that includes a company valuation of $1.5 billion, vaulting it to unicorn status. The funding came from a bevy of investors, co-led by Stripes, Sapphire Ventures, and Thoma Bravo with participation from Workday Ventures, Indeed, Willoughby Capital, Twilio Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Geodesic, Principia Growth, DLA Piper Venture Fund and current investor Brighton Park Capital. Read more >>

Behind the deal: Mayo Clinic, ASU to lead development of biotechnology corridor in north Phoenix

Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University officials have been talking about building a biotechnology corridor in north Phoenix since at least 2013, and the project is now closer to fruition. Mayo Clinic was the winning bidder in an Arizona State Land Department public auction, paying $139 million for a 228-acre parcel next to its Phoenix campus on Dec. 15. Currently dubbed Discovery Oasis, this biotechnology corridor has been a long time coming. Read more >>

GoDaddy moving into new headquarters in this tech-rich portion of metro Phoenix

GoDaddy Inc. is in the final stages of moving into a new headquarters in Tempe, joining a growing mix of companies in the technology-rich southeast Valley. The move from Scottsdale to Arizona State University Research Park near Loop 101 and Warner Road was eight years in the making since the domain registrar and web-hosting company first broke ground in Tempe. In April, GoDaddy began to consolidate its local employees into the new Tempe campus and an office in Gilbert, with plans to complete the process by the end of July. Read more >>

The interview: Northern Arizona University’s president targets state’s workforce-development challenges

José Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona University, has homed in on a workforce-development issue that’s challenging his new state. While scores of employers are expanding into Arizona and hiring workers, the state’s level of education attainment, which is the percentage of adults who complete education after high school, trails the national average. Cruz Rivera wants to address this gap by adding credentials, executive education offerings and graduate programs to reskill and upskill Arizonians to position them as job candidates for the region’s growing economy. Read more >>

Leadership through experience: How KEO Marketing’s Sheila Kloefkorn gives back to businesses

For Sheila Kloefkorn, it wasn’t enough to be the founder and CEO of business-to-business marketing agency KEO Marketing. She also wanted to give back to businesses whose owners may only dream of being where she is now. That, in part, is why KEO Marketing launched the Fractional Chief Marketing Officer offer. Kloefkorn knew she was far from the only business owner interested in growing their business, and wanted to offer opportunities for growth to medium-sized businesses interested in going to the next level. Read more >>

STEM Sports equips students for science, tech, engineering and math careers with athletics

Historically, it’s a no brainer. Survey kids and usually most of them will tell you they prefer a P.E. class over a math one. When it comes to STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – education, those subjects tend to pale in popularity overall. Educators find students have more difficulty retaining those concepts, which are crucial in many daily applications and jobs. If only there was a way to harness the approachability of sports and use it to make those subjects approachable as well. Read more >>

Honeywell satellite communications partnership could lead to manufacturing facility in Arizona

Arizona is in the running for a new manufacturing facility that will be developed as a result of a new satellite communications partnership between Honeywell International and Bay Area telecommunications company Skyloom Global. The two companies entered a teaming agreement to produce optical terminals for high-capacity and high-data-rate internet connectivity, allowing laser-based communications between ground and space, spacecraft and spacecraft and spacecraft and aircraft. Read more >>

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