State and local officials today announced plans for a San Francisco-based software company to expand in Des Moines. Governor Tom Vilsack introduced the company. He says Project InVision International plans to locate eventually hopes to create 89 jobs in Iowa. Vilsack says the company’s job will average around 75-thousand dollars a year. The governor says state and local officials are offered incentives of around one-million dollars to the company. He says the state is investing approximately 700-thousand dollars in the venture to match the 250 to 260-thousand dollars offered by local officials. InVision C-E-O Matthew Meblin says they’ve already found some Iowa clients for their software products. He says when they first started looking at Iowa they weren’t looking at it for the business opportunity to sell here, but says they’ve met many business leaders and think there are many opportunities. He says they’re also interested in the “wonderful pool of resources” as he says they think they can recruit the type of people that’ll make them successful. Company President Andy Shotz says they’re looking for a location in downtown Des Moines, and have already started hiring people. He says they’re actively recruiting and will continue until they fill all their positions. Shotz says they’ve been impressed with the people who’ve applied for positions. He says, “I think we were surprised to see some of the technology experience in this area. We knew we had a talented pool here because we’d done a little bit of research. But, uh, really the quality of the candidate and the type of experience they’ve had, and the breadth from all different areas and companies is really surprising and wonderful.” Shotz says Des Moines won out over Jacksonville, Florida and Dallas and Plano, Texas as the site for the expansion.
