Swiss tech firm lands permanent U.S. HQ in Downtown Crossing

By: Catherine Carlock, bizjournals.com | October 27, 2016

A Switzerland-based technology company has chosen 99 Chauncy St. in Boston’s Downtown Crossing as its permanent U.S. headquarters and has plans to double its employee base in the coming year.


Nexthink, an IT analytics company for enterprise-level clients, first announced its U.S. expansion last year. The company first opened a temporary office at One Kendall Square in Cambridge in March before landing in its permanent 3,500-square-foot Downtown Crossing office this month.


When it came time for a permanent headquarters location, Nexthink selected Boston because of the city’s technology culture, local talent, proximity to Europe and its status as a hub for business in the Americas, said Pedro Bados, CEO and co-founder of Nexthink.


“Nexthink was drawn to the opportunity to open an office in the heart of Boston’s emerging technology district and to join a community of some of the world’s largest technology innovators in Downtown Crossing,” Bados said.


Nexthink is another in a long line of technology tenants that have landed in Boston’s Downtown Crossing. Some 93 technology, advertising, media and information-based companies occupy around 1.8 million square feet of space in Downtown Crossing and the area around North Station, according to research by Boston Properties.


Greg Hoffmeister, managing director of real estate brokerage T3 Advisors, said Nexthink explored several different neighborhoods throughout Boston and Cambridge but ultimately landed on Downtown Crossing “given its central location, public transportation access and the proximity to other high growth successful tech companies” such as Rapid7, Carbonite, Sonos, Jana, DraftKings and Starry.


The firm employs 20 in Boston now and has plans to add another 20 employees next year, Bados said. Earlier this year, Bados told the Business Journal that Nexthink plans to employ 150 people in Massachusetts as the company prepares for a potential initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market.


Companywide, Nexthink employs 250 in offices in France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Spain and India.


The move to Boston is financed in part through a $40 million round of venture funding led by Highland Capital Partners Europe, which Nexthink secured earlier this year.