Member news: July 2022
Fast growing Q&A platform, Terkel, closes $1M seed round
Terkel, a question and answer site that is disrupting how small businesses build authority online, today announced that it has closed a $1 million Series Seed. Venture capital firms, Sonoran Founders Fund, Stout Street, and Calm Company Fund participated in this round of seed funding. The Terkel platform has experienced impressive growth since launching in February of 2021, reporting nearly 7,500 users to date, including over 350 paying users. Terkel’s user base includes premier publishers like SHRM, GoDaddy, University of Arizona, SCORE, and more. Read more >>
Tucson-based Universal Avionics gets $33M contract to help supply head-worn vision systems for pilots
Universal Avionics Systems Corp., a Tucson-based manufacturer of systems for commercial aircraft, has been awarded a $33 million contract to supply enhanced flight vision systems that can be worn by pilots. The company won the contract from AerSale (Nasdaq: ASLE), a Florida-based company that provides integrated aftermarket services and products for airlines operating jets from Boeing, Airbus and McDonell Douglas. The deal calls for Universal Avionics to supply AerSale’s ClearVision enhanced flight vision system (EFVS). Read more >>
Fast-growing Chandler tech company acquired by India-based Mastek
Looking to expand its United States footprint, Mumbai, India-based Mastek has acquired Chandler-based MST Solutions. MST, a Salesforce software consultant that works with clients in the health care, public sector, education nonprofit and manufacturing industries, has been a fast-growing company in the Valley since it was founded in 2012. The firm has been on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in the nation list in 2020 and 2021, showing a 104% growth rate over a three-year span. MST’s Chandler office is at Portico Place, which is located at 2195 W. Chandler Blvd in Suite 160. The company also has two offices in India, according to its website. Read more >>
Insight cuts ribbon on new global headquarters in Chandler
Insight Enterprises, a Fortune 500 solutions integrator helping organizations accelerate their digital journey, welcomed local innovation leaders to the grand opening of Insight Way, Insight’s new global headquarters based in Chandler, Arizona, designed as a modern workplace for the hybrid, anywhere worker. The more than 200,000-square-foot innovation hub, located at 2701 E. Insight Way, emphasizes collaboration via 83 meeting spaces, and mobility through technology that allows Insight’s 1,400 Arizona teammates to transition effortlessly between collaborative teamwork in the office and individual work at home or anywhere else. Read more >>
ZorroSign lauded as one of most innovative fintech solution providers in 2022
ZorroSign, Inc., a global leader in blockchain-based digital signature solutions, today announced an Insights Success cover story lauding the company as one of the “Ten Most Innovative FinTech Solution Providers in 2022.” The article celebrates ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform as a groundbreaking solution in financial technologies and driving force for blockchain and web3. For financial service organizations, adopting emerging technologies has historically been a slow endeavor, but with the boom in fintech in the past ten years, things have changed. Read more >>
MicroAge expands its cybersecurity and infrastructure expertise with the acquisition of cStor
Blue Yonder names new CEO ahead of plans for public company spinoff
Blue Yonder, the fast-track Scottsdale shipping and logistics software maker, has named a new CEO as the company prepares to be spun out from parent company Panasonic into a new publicly traded entity. The new chief executive is Duncan Angove, a veteran tech sector executive with more than 25 years of enterprise software, retail and supply chain experience. Blue Yonder has not had a permanent CEO in place since Girish Rishi left the company earlier this year to join a Norwegian tech company. Mark Morgan had been serving as interim CEO since February in the wake of Rishi’s departure, and will soon transition out of the company. Read more >>
PADT launches Flownex SE user forum and subsite
PADT has been supporting Flownex in North America for around ten years now. During that time they have seen usage grow across industries. In fact, they have had enough user growth to where we felt like it was time to launch a user forum and a resource site for those users. This corresponded with the launch of their new PADT website, so they made a Flownex User Forum and subsite part of that project. You can find the results here: Flownex User Forum and Flownex Subsite. Read more >>
University of Arizona Center for Innovation awarded inBIA Soft Landings Designee of the Year
The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) is thrilled to announce its win as the Soft Landings Designee of the Year which was announced at the 36th International Conference on Business Incubation (ICBI36) hosted by the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA). ACI earned the InBIA Soft Landings designation in 2020 after proving its capability to meet the high-level and multi-faceted accommodations needed to ensure that international companies experience a supportive foundation when conducting business in a foreign country. UACI is one of only 50 entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) that have earned the coveted Soft-Landing’s designation. Read more >>
CSIA names Vertech 2022 Integrator of the Year
Vertech is proud to announce that the company has received the Integrator of the Year Award by CSIA. This award recognizes Vertech’s commitment to advancing their industry by designing innovative industrial automation solutions that improve productivity and are a joy to use. President Titus Crabb founded Vertech 18 years ago with the vision to build a team that does masterful work while treating each other with dignity and respect. He commented, “We have attracted an amazing, talented team of people that believe in that vision. We love what we do, and we love that we can inspire each other to grow professionally and personally.” Read more >>
Intel’s biggest fab is coming to Ohio, and Arizona is the blueprint
When Intel Corp. first arrived in Ocotillo in Chandler, Arizona, it was host to sprawling farmland and the occasional neighborhood, far flung from the heart of the metro Phoenix city. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) bought over 700 acres in 1987 and built its first semiconductor fabrication plant, or fab, at the time the biggest clean room of its kind. It’s since expanded with subsequent fabs in 2000, 2006 and 2020. The Ocotillo plant is not done yet — construction has begun on a fifth and sixth fab in a $20 billion dollar expansion, which will bring in 3,000 new employees, 3,000 construction jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. Read more >>
KORE Power announces hirings for senior team at Buckeye gigafactory
KORE Power, a leading U.S.-based developer and manufacturer of battery cell technology, has announced the hiring of several members of the team that will run the day-to-day operations at its KOREPlex lithium-ion battery cell production gigafactory. The KOREPlex is expected to begin construction later this year and will employ 3,000 people when it reaches full production. “We have assembled a team that will define the KOREPlex’s workplace culture and will allow us to attract and keep employees,” said Lindsay Gorrill, KORE Power’s Co-Founder and CEO. Read more >>
Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce celebrates 75 years of excellence
The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce is celebrating its 75th year of promoting and supporting business in Scottsdale. On March 6th, 1947, the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce incorporated under then President Wes Segner. The city had a population of just over 2,000. The Chamber urged Scottsdale businesses to build or remodel buildings with Western-type architecture to amplify the town’s unique character and adopted the slogan “The West’s Most Western Town.” A lot has changed in Scottsdale in 75 years. The population is now over 250,000, and the Chamber has over 1,000 members, but one constant has been the Chamber’s endless drive to make Scottsdale a great place to live and do business. Read more >>
Greater Phoenix Chamber names new board members, further promoting prosperity
The Greater Phoenix Chamber announced new leaders within its board of directors to lead the organization in its mission to promote regional prosperity and serve as a catalyst for economic vitality and strong communities in fiscal year 2023. Erin Mettille, public & social impact leader, Slalom Consulting, will serve as the 2022-2023 board chair, succeeding Christina Noble, chief growth officer of Sonora Quest Laboratories. Scott Smith, managing partner or TowerHunter, will serve as chair-elect. Read more >>
GitKon 2022: Tech conference turned TikTok
GitKraken, the world’s leader in premier Git tools for software developers, has announced that it will be hosting GitKon 2022, a unique TikTok style virtual tech conference, October 11th through October 13th. While the format is radically different, the event will once again be held online, free of charge, making it one of the most accessible educational events for software developers, technical teams, managers, and executives in the world. Last year’s inaugural GitKon attracted over 4,000 global registrants, featuring 25 sessions on a variety of Git topics presented by experts from GitHub, GitLab, CircleCI, and more. Read more >>
Steward Observatory research, testing and demonstration operations expand at the UA Tech Park
Tech Parks Arizona is pleased to announce that the University of Arizona, Steward Observatory is expanding the Engineering and Technical Services research, testing and demonstration operations at the UA Tech Park off Rita Road and Interstate-10. The University of Arizona is a world leader in space sciences and as a Tier 1 research university with a moonshot goal of a Billion dollars in research, activities are constantly growing. University of Arizona has emerged as a principal leader in infrared astronomy through the work of the staff, students, and faculty of the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory. Public-private partnerships with industry giants such as NASA and countries around the world have put Steward Observatory on a fast-track growth trajectory. Read more >>
Carvana named #2 automotive brand on Forbes 2022 most customer-centric companies list
Accenture North America CEO is all in on the metaverse
Accenture PLC’s North American CEO sees a wealth of opportunities in the metaverse. For the past year, the Irish company, with nearly 700,000 employees across the globe and around 65,000 in the United States, has used a virtual environment it built with Microsoft to onboard new employees and get them immersed in the company’s culture — and has distributed more than 60,000 Oculus headsets to do it. In fiscal 2022, the company expects 150,000 new hires to be working in the metaverse on their first day, up from just 11,000 last year. Read more >>