California tech firm doubles Chicago footprint with new West Loop office

Video software maker Vyond unveiled its new office space Thursday in the West Loop, an area that’s becoming a growing tech hub in Chicago.

The 6,000-square-foot office at 401 N. Morgan St. is double the size of its previous home a few blocks south at 159 N. Sangamon St.

The company’s Chicago workforce has grown rapidly from three employees in December 2022 to 43. Vyond is planning to fill more roles in Chicago such as software engineers, sales and customer service, according to its website.

At its grand opening event, the firm touted Chicago’s strength in supporting startups.

“We’ve grown our own team rapidly in large part due to the Chicagoland area’s market of highly skilled talent,” Vyond CEO Gary Lipkowitz said. “Chicago and Fulton Market specifically have proven to be the perfect Midwestern hub to support our growing customer base here and on the East Coast.”

The city’s large variety of businesses in financial services, manufacturing, transportation and other industries was also appealing, he added.

The company’s software and web platform helps clients — like Amazon, Whole Foods, Cargill and American Express — create videos for marketing, social media, sales and more. Last year, the San Mateo, California-based firm launched software that uses artificial intelligence to create videos, akin to a ChatGPT for videos.

Vyond’s “local investment and growth is a feather in the cap of Chicago’s burgeoning tech hub,” said Kevin Willer, a Vyond board member. Willer is the co-founder of Google’s Chicago office and founding CEO of 1871 Tech, a nonprofit digital startup incubator at the Merchandise Mart.

More tech companies like Vyond are setting up in the West Loop, historically Chicago’s meatpacking and produce district, and nearby.

Vyond is located a few blocks from Google and about a mile from mHub, an incubator that opened a $50 million space last year off West Fulton Street on the Near West Side. Meanwhile, NanoGraf, maker of advanced lithium-ion batteries, this month announced plans to open a 67,850-square-foot manufacturing and research facility in the West Loop.

Other tech-centered offices will also open in the area, such as the research hub CZ Biohub Chicago by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

At the opening of Vyond’s office, Abin Kuriakose, chief strategy officer of World Business Chicago, highlighted investment in the region.

Chicago startups have raised record levels of funding from venture capital and private equity firms and other investors in recent years, though it dropped last year.

Startups raised $19.2 billion in 2022 and $10.3 billion in 2021, according to World Business Chicago. But investment dropped to $4.3 billion in 2023, in line with national and global trends, due to rising interest rates, tighter capital and international conflicts.

Overall, Chicago counted 117 business expansions and 46 relocations and new businesses to the region last year, compared to 183 such moves in 2022, according to a report released this month from World Business Chicago.