Virgin Mobile takes to downtown skyline for HQ, plans to hire 100
January 12, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
About six months after announcing its move to Kansas City, Virgin Mobile has selected the site of its new headquarters.
Virgin Mobile announced Wednesday that the firm signed a lease at One Kansas City Place at 1200 Main St. in downtown Kansas City. Virgin selected Kansas City as the location for its new headquarters in July as it relaunched its rebrand under Overland Park-based Sprint. Virgin hired 27 full-time employees in 2016, but hopes to hire up to 100 more this year.
“Kansas City is a national hub of entrepreneurial spirit and sophisticated start-ups, which is the perfect backdrop for our new office as we evolve the Virgin Mobile brand and elevate it to new heights,” Virgin CEO Dow Draper said in a release. “Also, this innovation district is a natural setting for a bold brand like Virgin, which does things differently and changes business for good.”
To focus on pre-paid phone sales, Sprint — then Sprint Nextel — purchased Virgin Mobile for $483 million in 2009. English business mogul Sir Richard Branson founded the Virgin Group, of which Virgin Mobile USA was a part. The conglomerate owns more than 400 companies around the world.
If Virgin creates 84 new jobs over the next five years, Missouri agreed to grant up to $1.87 million in incentives through its Missouri Works program.
“We are proud of our role, as well as our Missouri partners’, in attracting the headquarters of Virgin Mobile to Kansas City,” said president and CEO of the Kansas City Area Development Council Tim Cowden in a release. “Virgin Mobile seriously considered several major metro areas for its headquarters, but we made the case through a strong entrepreneurial and tech community along with vibrant livability, proving that Kansas City was the best choice.”
Architecture and design firm GastingerWalker& was tapped for the project. Draper said the design reflects the culture of Virgin, which he hopes will attract the right employees.
“We’re looking for pattern breakers and smart disruptors with restless start-up energy and ideas that will add real value to people’s lives through mobile products and services,” Draper said.
Virgin Mobile now has positions in customer service, mobile technology, digital marketing, branding, operations, logistics, finance, IT and engineering.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KC firm Handy Camel raising $600K for invention workshop
What do sheep farming and innovation have to do with one another? Quite a lot, if North Kansas City-based Handy Camel is any indication. Since he was a boy, Handy Camel CEO Tom Gray has fostered an innovative ethos, creating a number of doodads to make his work easier as a sheep farmer in New Zealand.…
Rawxies founder: ‘I didn’t give up’ on fundraising in KC
Vegan snack manufacturer Rawxies is en route to closing a funding round that will significantly increase its production. The Kansas City-based company has now raised $512,000 of its seed round, which will boost manufacturing of its raw, vegan snacks by roughly 400 percent. Investors thus far include England’s family, Liz and Brian Kelly, the Women’s…
Meet KC’s Cisco Smart City leaders
Kansas City Mayor Sly James announced on Friday 11 people to serve on the city’s Smart City Advisory Board. With a mixture of corporate, non-profit and civic experience, the board will manage and guide policies for Kansas City’s public-private Smart City project. Announced in the summer of 2014, the project will turn downtown into a…
ClaimKit’s Cheatham: listening scored big business
Adaptability is a cornerstone of launching a successful business. Without that — and a willingness to listen — ClaimKit CEO Chris Cheatham said he would’ve been pursuing a much smaller market with his company’s tech product. ClaimKit, which created a document management system for insurance claims professionals, recently pivoted its model to create a collaborative…